Tonight. RTE airs a documentary called ‘Rome v Republic’. To judge by the preview articles, it will be sharply critical of the Catholic Church. How original. Its director, Niamh Sammon, had an opinion piece in the Irish Times the other day in which she asks if it is right ‘that institutions that presided over the...
In a talk recently in Malahide. Maria Steen (pictured) of The Iona Institute outlined the growing threat to denominational education and the right of parents, including Christian ones, to send their children to schools that will educate them according to their wishes. Increasingly, it is the State’s view that prevails over that of parents. You...
Parents and teachers are objecting to proposals to divest one of eight Catholic schools in Malahide, Kinsealy and Portmarnock in north Dublin to another educational patron. David Quinn appeared on the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk during the week to discuss the matter, as well as on RTE’s Drivetime. You can listen to items here...
This is a sort of man bites dog story that reverses the usual expectations, but according to a big new American survey, people in their 20s are having sex less often than people in their 30s, or even in their 50s. But your 20s are supposed to be the time of maximum libido, so what...
A new article on the Institute for Family Studies website looks at the positive outcomes associated with praying by married couples. Researchers have found an association between couple prayer and “forgiveness, trust and unity, decreased infidelity, and increased relationship satisfaction and commitment, particularly when couples pray for one another (i.e., intercessory prayer).” You can read...
The Oireachtas Health Committee met recently for the last pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill that will regulate Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR). The hearings have confirmed that the Committee suffers from huge blind spots about some of pitfalls of AHR and the undermining in many cases of the rights of the resultant children. Two representatives of...
A new 11 country survey, which includes Ireland, examines the relationship between cohabiting couples compared with married couples. It finds that cohabiting couples are less likely to be satisfied with their relationships and family life generally. This has implications for the stability of those relationships and therefore, for children. Professor Patricia Casey wrote about the...
By David Mullins Let us imagine for a moment that An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, was invited to a meeting with the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference. The point of this meeting is to discuss how they can urge all citizens to engage in the European political debate and to vote with responsibility to protect and promote...
A new survey -the first of its kind in Ireland – examines the self-reported quality of relationships and family life between cohabiting couples with children compared with married couples with children and finds stronger levels of commitment and satisfaction among married couples. The survey took place across 11 countries and The Iona Institute is presenting...
Health Minister Simon Harris wants the State to provide free contraception as a way of reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. Evidence from other countries suggests that his plan won’t work and may be another waste of public money that would be better spent elsewhere. If we look at and compare abortion rates with easily...
