Christianity “has been an overwhelming force for good in the world”, according to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Speaking at the launch of World Youth Day in Sydney, Mr Rudd said that while many criticised the Church it was important to speak about the great good it does as well. The launch and opening Mass was attended by 150,000 people.

The UK father of a teenage boy who was shot dead as he went for a haircut has urged parents to "get closer" to their children to better understand their lives. Rashid Chaiboub said parents should be aware when their children stop sharing their thoughts and feelings with them, as his 17-year-old son Tarek had.

Fathers are being increasingly marginalised in children's lives, according to the UK's equality watchdog. According to the chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Nicola Brewer, said that maternity leave laws had led to an increased disparity between the time mothers and fathers spend with children.

This had created a situation in which fathers were seen as good “seasoning” for a family, but not as “essential for parenting” she added.

She added that fathers should be given paternity leave on an equal level with the maternity leave obtained by women. Dads, she said “need a slice of the action too”.

According to a report by the Commission, most men in the UK are more involved with their children than ever, but longer and more unsocial working hours limited the amount of time they could spend with them.

While recent UK legislation enabled the last six months of maternity leave to be transferred to fathers, the traditionally higher wages earned by men often made it unrealistic to expect them to take time off.

Men, Ms Brewer said, ought to be entitled to 12 weeks parental leave on 90 per cent of their earnings, on a par with women.

The Commission's report found that 70 per cent of fathers took at least two weeks off for their child's birth, most used holiday leave, rather than relying on low rates of paternity pay.

The comments were welcomed by father's advocate Mr Duncan Fisher. Mr Fisher, who runs an internet site for fathers, dad.info, said that fathers ought to have the choice to spend more time with their children.

The mental health and emotional wellbeing of young teenage girls is being placed under pressure from numerous directions, according to new research. A report by Girlguiding UK and the Mental Health Foundation discovered that girls feel pressure as a result of sexual advances from boys and also to wear clothes that make them look older.

Children and adults who are the result of IVF, the technique developed by Professor Bob Edwards and Dr Patrick Steptoe in the 1970s, gathered in Cambridgeshire yesterday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the creation of In Vitro Fertilisation.

A State-employed Christian registrar who refused to carry out same sex civil unions because they went against her faith has won a landmark discrimination battle and hailed her triumph as a victory for religious liberty.

A culture of “moral neutrality” is preventing politicians and other leaders from saying what needs to be said about the problems facing British society, according to the leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron.

Catholic education authorities have proposed a radical plan to stop the ‘flight’ of parents from urban schools all over the country. The plan involves requiring parents to send their children to the school closest to them.

A Swedish school has accused an eight-year-old boy of violating the rights of fellow school children for not inviting two of his classmates to his birthday party.

Addressing the need for legislation to protect vulnerable people in dependant relationships does not require the redefinition of marriage, Senator Jim Walsh said in the Seanad yesterday. Responding to reports about his Fianna Fáil Parliamentary Party motion last week, he said that the current understanding of marriage as intrinsically heterosexual was “for the propagation of society and the welfare of children”.

A proposed EU anti-discrimination directive, aimed at outlawing any discrimination based on sex, religion or sexual orientation outside the workplace could have implications for Church property.

Gang life is replacing the family for a generation of young people, according to a leading UK police chief. Barbara Wilding, the Chief Constable of South Wales, says that a culture of gangs, drugs and crime has become a way of life in poorer areas in large English cities, and family breakdown is a major part of the problem

A clear majority of parents would prefer State-run schools to religious run schools, a poll published on Monday suggests. According to a RedC poll carried out on behalf of the Irish Primary Principals Network, over 70 per cent of parents indicated they would prefer a State run school system.

The UK Labour Government is engaged in a “witch hunt” against faith schools, according to a new document published by think tank the Centre for Policy Studies. And this policy could end up alienating the UK's growing Islamic population, as Islamic faith schools help to integrate young Muslims into British society, the document says.

A group of Fianna Fáil TDs and Senators are supporting a motion in the parliamentary party to secure the special status of marriage under the Constitution. The motion comes just days after the Government published the heads of a Bill which proposes giving same sex couples many of the rights currently enjoyed by married couples.

Same sex couples are to be granted marriage like rights under new Government proposals published on Tuesday. Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern launched the proposals, saying that the Civil Partnership Bill did not equate to “gay marriage”.

A Canadian court has stated that a father of a 12-year-old girl cannot ground her for disobeying him, his lawyer said last Wednesday.

Limerick has the highest percentage of births outside marriage, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The data shows that 56.4 per cent of children born in Limerick city in 2005 were outside wedlock.

A new report has shown that women do the bulk of caring in the home for children and elderly or ill family members. The report by the ESRI, Gender Inequalities in Time Use is published by the Equality Authority. According to the study, women spend twice as much time as men each day doing unpaid work, including caring and housework.

Ireland could be given opt-outs from the Lisbon Treaty if it would help the Government win a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, according to reports, including an opt-out from family policy.