Christians are still giving generously to charity despite the economic downturn, a new poll shows. Amid rising unemployment and financial uncertainty 16 per cent of Christians actually increased their charitable donations. Over two thirds (69 per cent) said their charitable giving had remained steady and just one per cent said they had stopped giving since...

The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin is set to meet officials from the Department of Education soon to discuss his proposals to divest control of some Catholic schools, according to a report in the Irish Times. Dr Martin last week reiterated his belief that the Catholic Church was in control of too many schools,...

The Church of England is set to attack the BBC in report which says that the corporation is treating Christianity like a ‘freak show’. Concerns have been raised about the appointment of Aaqil Ahmed as the BBC’s new Head of Religious Programming. Mr Ahmed has been accused of producing programmes “that have tended to look...

A culture of broken relationships is scarring children and damaging society, a leading family judge warned on Tuesday. Mr Justice Coleridge said the breakdown of families had become an “epidemic” and “a matter of concern for us all, especially where so many children are infected by it”. To stem the tide, marriage should be affirmed...

EU leaders have agreed to provide the legal guarantees, including on abortion, the family and education, being sought by the Irish Government ahead of a planned re-run of the Lisbon Treaty referendum later this year. The accord is reported to have given the guarantees the status of a treaty protocol, but also explicitly states that...

Parental choice “must be at the heart of education policy”, according to Fine Gael’s education spokesperson Brian Hayes. Speaking to the Irish Catholic newspaper, Mr Hayes said that there should be no “one-size-fits-all approach to educational provision”. Speaking in the wake of calls for a State takeover of denominational schools, Mr Hayes said that parents...

The right of parents to send their children to faith schools is recognised in the Constitution and cannot be brushed aside, the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has said. Speaking to the annual conference of the Irish Primary Principals network, the Archbishop accepted that “a system in which 92 per cent of all primary...

Half the children born outside wedlock in the third quarter of last year were to cohabiting couples, new figures show. The data, published today by the Central Statistics Office, shows that, out of 6,226 births registered as outside of marriage in quarter three of 2008, 3,204 were to cohabiting couples. Births outside wedlock represented 33...

If secularist opponents of faith schools think religion is “a busted flush” they should stop being afraid of its influence, writes the editor of the Times Educational Supplement (TES). Instead of fearing faith schools, secular liberals who believe in diversity should support parents’ “right to educate their children in an ethos of their choosing”, says...

Guarantees protecting the Irish Constitution as regards family, abortion and education from aspects of the Lisbon Treaty, plus the accompanying Charter of Fundamental Rights, have been published by the Government ahead of a second referendum in the autumn. The text of the draft guarantee reads: “Nothing in the Treaty of Lisbon attributing legal status to...