The Iona Institute held a conference on Saturday called ‘After the Referendum: Where now for marriage and the family?’
Dr Catherine Kavanagh of Mary Immaculate College considered the referendum itself and why Ireland voted Yes.
Brenda Almond, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Hull University, looked at the right of a child to a mother and a father.
Dr Tom Finegan of The Iona Institute highlighted the revolution that has now taken place in family law in Ireland, a revolution that says ‘intentional’ parenthood is more important than natural parenthood.
Dr Gregor Puppinck of the European Centre for Law and Justice in Strasbourg looked at the issue of surrogacy and how it is inherently exploitative.
David Quinn of The Iona Institute discussed what we must now do to protect the true rights of children, the true nature of marriage, freedom of religion and the freedom of faith schools to teach what they believe about marriage and the family.
Overarching theme
The overarching theme of the conference was that, thanks to the marriage referendum and the Children and Family Relationships Act, the natural family of mother, father and child, no longer has a special place in Irish law despite the obvious fact that this family remains the “natural, primary, and fundamental unit group of society”, no matter what the law says.
The fact that all other families originate in this family (even when the father and mother are sperm or egg donors) proves this.
Our task is to keep this basic truth before society in the years to come.
This was also the main message of the newly installed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, Alphonsus Cullinan, in his keynote address to the conference.
He told participants that they and the Church must “continue to advocate for society to recognise that the permanent, fruitful, faithful union of one man and one woman makes a unique contribution to the common good, and so deserves — once again — unique protection and support in law.”
He said: “This will, in the short term, create more room for social tolerance of this venerable view of marriage, and in the long term, make the day come sooner when, inevitably, this decision will come undone. I know that I as bishop must teach the whole truth about marriage and nothing but the truth.”
Texts of talks
Links to the talks and presentations at the conference can be found below.
Bishop Cullinan’s talk is here [1].
Dr Catherine Kavanagh’s talk was based on an article she wrote for the American journal, First Things, and it is here [2].
Professor Brenda Almond’s talk, ‘Mothers, Fathers and the Rights of Children’ is here [3].
Dr Tom Finegan’s presentation on the revolution in Irish family law is here [4].
Here [5] is Dr Gregor Puppinck’s presentation on surrogacy.
And here [6] is David Quinn’s presentation, ‘Where to from here’?
(Note: The image above comes from a conference held at the Vatican last year called ‘Humanum’, which dealt with the complementarity of man and woman).