A Bill aimed at weakening a religious ethos protection clause in the Employment Equality Act is to go before the Cabinet. It seeks to amend Section 37 of the Act. with a view to preventing religious-run schools from dismissing staff on the grounds of being a lone parent or a divorcee, or on the basis...
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the owners of most American businesses do not have to comply with an Obama administration mandate requiring them to pay for health insurance covering abortifacients for their employees; provided that the business owners have a religious objection to providing such coverage. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme...
Ireland, along with other Western countries, has voted against a resolution at the UN which recognises the importance of the family and commits States to protecting and supporting it. Western countries voted against the resolution, which was passed, on the ground that it did not refer to ‘families’. However, Article 16 of the UN Declaration...
In four adoption cases before the High Court, the fathers of the children could not be notified that their children were to be adopted by other men because the fathers are unknown. The usual procedure is that the fathers are told if their children are to be adopted but this was impossible in these cases....
The Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan (pictured), has recommended that children produced via egg and sperm donation and/or surrogacy be given the right to know their origins. The recommendations is one of a number contained in a response to the Government’s proposed Children and Family Relationships Bill. However, in other respects the report from Ombudsman...
THE State must respect freedom of conscience, the new Bishop of Limerick, Dr Brendan Leahy, said in a talk delivered in Limerick last night. The talk was hosted by The Iona Institute and The Irish Catholic. It was attended by almost 200 people. In his talk, Dr Leahy warned against “tendencies that would interpret religious...
The Church cannot stand aside in debates about the family, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told a conference on the family organised by the Catholic hierarchy ahead of October’s Synod on the family in Rome. Referring to the ongoing debates on the family, he said: “The Church cannot stand aside from these important debates about the defence...
Only one in seven Irish women who have abortions in the UK are married according to the latest figures which confirms once again that being married hugely decreases the odds of a pregnancy being unwanted. The new figures also show that the number of Irish women travelling to Britain for abortions declined by more than...
In a decision welcomed by religious freedom advocates, the European Court of Human Rights has found in favour of the right of a Catholic bishop in Spain who did not renew the contract of a religion teacher after he publicly campaigned in favour of married priests. In a narrow 9-8 ruling the court decided this...
The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Council for Marriage and the Family is holding its second annual conference in Clonliffe college, Dublin, tomorrow (Saturday). The conference comes in advance of the Vatican’s Synod on the Family, where the heads of Catholic bishops’ conferences worldwide will meet and discuss the challenges facing families in the world today, and...
