A very important new study that compares children raised in families headed by same-sex parents for part of their lives with children raised in other families was published this week. The study has been heavily criticised by advocates of same-sex marriage but the criticisms they are levelling at it apply with much more force to...
It often seems puzzling, given the overwhelming evidence showing that marriage is the best family structure for children, that politicians are so unwilling to acknowledge this and make policy accordingly. This was one of the topics addressed in a very thoughtful speech made by Fianna Fáil Senator Jim Walsh (pictured) at the Seventh World Meeting...
Kay Hymowitz is one of America’s most acute social observers. In an article in The Los Angeles Times last week she draws attention to the link between single motherhood and poverty. The figures are both devastating and tragic. She writes: “Poverty remains relatively rare among married couples with children; the U.S. census puts only 8.8%...
One of the arguments used by those who have insisted on maintaining the current definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman has been that redefining marriage would suddenly mean that anyone who thinks that a child needs a mother and a father would suddenly be defined as a bigot. Once the...
The rise in the number of civil marriages in Ireland is a sure sign of the rise of secularism in Ireland as well. According to the latest CSO figures, in 2009 no less than 29pc of weddings conducted in the State were civil weddings. That was up 17pc on the year before. There was huge...
When it comes to public health, we have come a long way. Having improved hygiene and medical treatments, a whole series of infectious diseases which claimed millions of our forebears have been banished. This is often presented as just another victory for reason over ignorance, science over wrongheaded thinking. But when it comes to our...
This is a battle coming soon to a Catholic school near you, namely the clash between demands that school introduce anti-gay bullying programmes and the insistence by the Church that such programmes would contradict the identity and ethos of Catholic (and other denominational) schools. This clash is particularly intense in Ontario, Canada at present where...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published their “Better Life Index” this week, and it had some rather interesting things to say about Ireland. In particular, it showed that we have one of the highest levels of volunteerism in the developed world. According to the report, on average, “people in Ireland spend 8 minutes...
The European Court of Human Rights issued another very important ruling last week. The decision upholds the right of the Spanish hierarchy to sack teachers of the Catholic religion who flout the teachings of that religion. If the ruling had gone the other way, the implications would have been far-reaching for obvious reasons. It would...
Last week, the Church of England Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir Ali (pictured), gave a talk to the Iona Institute on aggressive secularism. You can listen to him debate the topic here with secularist David Robert Grimes on Today with Pat Kenny. Grimes, you might recall, wrote a piece in the Irish Times earlier...
