The children of divorced parents can suffer the effects of the break-up well into their adult life, a new study has found. Family breakdown during childhood was “consistently associated with psychological distress in adulthood during people’s early 30s”, the study says. The picture was the same across different generations, suggesting that although divorce and...
The deadline for filling out Department of Education surveys being conducted in five areas to determine whether to transfer the patronage of primary schools from the Catholic Church to other patrons is midnight tonight. But according to a report on RTE Radio News, many parents in those areas are not aware of the survey, and...
A Catholic charity that has helped tens of thousands of children through its adoption services since 1865 will no longer be able to offer that service due to its opposition to adoption by same-sex couples. The UK’s Upper Tribunal, the equivalent of the High Court in the administrative justice system, rejected an appeal by Catholic...
Government spending of public money on an information campaign on the Children’s Referendum was not fair, impartial or equal, the Supreme Court ruled today. The court held that the information in leaflets and on a website produced by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs did not conform to the required principles laid down by...
Three US states narrowly passed referenda in favour of same-sex marriage on Tuesday, while a fourth saw a measure defining marriage as being between a man and a woman defeated by a slender margin. The winning margin was an average of four points. They are the first states ever to vote for same-sex marriage. Campaigners...
The first meeting of the constitutional convention will take place on Saturday, December 1st, in Dublin Castle. The chairman of the convention, Tom Arnold, yesterday paid a courtesy visit to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, The Irish Times reports. The Convention is set to look at a range of controversial issues, including...
Fathers not living with their children are set to get the legal right to spend time with them, unless they are likely to cause them harm, under changes to access laws unveiled yesterday by the UK Government. Ministers said they were pushing ahead with the new laws despite opposition from legal experts, the Daily...
The Government’s Children’s Rights referendum has struck “a reasonable and balanced approach” to child protection, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ conference has said. In a statement on the referendum yesterday, the Bishops said that they shared the concerns of others “to ensure that the proposed amendment on children does not undermine the rights of parents and...
The campaign against the French Government’s plans to legalise same-sex marriage has gathered momentum in the last few weeks, with Catholic bishops and opposition politicians leading the way. Opinion polls published last week and at the weekend suggest there has been a significant fall in public support for the proposal. Surveys by the Ifop polling...
A group of young militants shouting, “Where are the priests? We’re going to burn them at the stake,” attacked a Catholic school in Spain last month, leaving one teacher wounded. The attack occured at Mary Help of Christians Salesian School in the Spanish region of Merida, Catholic News Agency reports. According to the Salesian Press...
