Civil servants dealing with the Catholic Church should be “screened” to ensure they do not show “inappropriate deference” to the Church, according to a motion to be debated at the Labour Party Conference in April, according to The Irish Independent. The motion says that civil servants “who feel they are ‘Catholic first and Irish second’...
Bishop Philip Boyce of Raphoe (pictured) has been accused of incitement to hatred and is being investigated by the Director of Public Prosecutions after he said the Church was being “attacked from outside by the arrows of a secular and godless culture”. The Sunday Independent reported that the gardai have confirmed that they have prepared...
Allowing the children of sperm or egg donors to find the identity of their donor parents will mean fewer donors and greater expense, according to an IVF practioner with a leading Dublin clinic. Speaking to a conference on Assisted Human Reproduction at the Royal College of Surgeons at the weekend, Graham Coull, a laboratory director...
The Catholic Church in England and Wales and the Church of England are planning a campaign of opposition to the Coalition Government’s plans to introduce same-sex marriage. In a meeting this week, Home Secretary Theresa May told Church leaders that the Government intends to press ahead with its plans to bring forward legislation on the...
Americans believe overwhelmingly in the importance of marriage, and believe that it is important for children to grow up with two parents, according to a new poll. And a sizable number also continue to believe that it is too easy to get a divorce in the US. Overwhelmingly, American feel that children raised by two...
Religious freedom is being trumped by an overemphasis on equality in British courts, according to a leading philosopher. Professor Roger Trigg (pictured) of Kellogg College, Oxford, said that judges increasingly “curtail” the religious views of people in favour of other “social priorities”. Professor Trigg spoke at a conference on religious freedom organised by The Iona...
The Catholic Church “is committed to providing Catholic Schools to cater for the needs of parents who wish to exercise their constitutional right to the provision of faith education,” Archbishop Sean Cardinal Brady (pictured), the Catholic primate of All Ireland, has said. Speaking yesterday at Saint Mary’s College, Dundalk at the launch of Catholic Schools...
Legislation currently before the Oireachtas poses a serious threat to the right of faith schools to protect their ethos if passed without amendment. According to a report in this week’s Irish Catholic, the Education (Amendment) Bill 2012, introduced in the Seanad earlier this month, removes the right for school patrons to agree before a teacher...
An amendment to give some measure of protection to religious freedom is being put in same-sex marriage legislation in the US state of Maryland, Governor Martin O’Malley said this week. Governor O’Malley, a Democrat who is making same-sex marriage a priority of his legislative agenda this year, said bill drafters were especially sensitive to protecting...
Catholic leaders have blasted President Barack Obama’s (pictured) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for deciding to press ahead regardless of religious objections with its plan to force church-affiliated organisations to give their workers coverage of contraception, including abortifacients, as part of their health insurance plans. The policy has also been criticised by The...
