The Iona Blog

Why men stay at home to mind children

By Dr Angelo Bottone

The ‘housewife’, which is a woman who stayed at home to raise her children and look after the home, used to be a very common figure. The ‘househusband’ was extremely rare, and still is. New American figures show that today 26pc of mothers and 7pc of fathers are stay-at-home parents. The number of stay-at-home mothers...

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More Americans are unhappy because fewer are married

By Dr Angelo Bottone

Happiness levels are declining in the United States, according to a new study, and one big factor seems to explain this, namely falling marriage rates. Conversely, married people are significantly happier than the unmarried.  Sam Peltzman, professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, has studied trends and differences in happiness among the US population...

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How family breakdown is contributing to homelessness

By Dr Angelo Bottone

We rightly hear a lot in the media about rising levels of homelessness. What we hear less often is that the single biggest cause of homelessness in the case of families is what a new report calls ‘relationship breakdowns/family circumstances’ rather than termination notices. It is the second biggest cause for single households. The ‘Homeless...

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How should SPHE class teach gender ideology?

David Quinn was interviewed on Niall Boylan’s podcast about how gender ideology should be taught in schools, in particular in Social, Personal and Health Education. He debated Irish Times contributor, Derek Byrne. David said the key is for schools to teach pupils that everyone should be treated with full respect regardless of their religion, ethnicity,...

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Committee hears ‘assisted dying’ should be available to the mentally ill

By Dr Angelo Bottone

The hearing of the Oireachtas committee on the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) in Ireland has probably revealed a lot more of the agenda of some of its proponents than they intended. For example, at one of the sessions, Senator Lynn Ruane suggested that so called “assisted dying” should be offered to those...

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The problems with the draft SPHE syllabus

David Quinn of the Iona Institute was interviewed on Premier Christian Radio in the UK about the draft of a new Social Personal and Health Education programme for Leaving Certificate students. He expresses concerns about what it will teach about abortion, sexual consent, gender ideology, “allyship” and “privilege”. He says if denominational schools are forced...

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Social trends in Ireland

Introduction: Ireland has witnessed some very dramatic social changes in the last decades and we see these strongly at work in the area of family life. We have witnessed a decline in the rate of marriage, a huge growth in the number of people who are divorced or separated, a decline in the fertility rate...

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‘Christians in a post-human world’: a talk by Dr Gerard Casey

Dr Gerard Casey, former head of the Department of Philosophy at UCD recently addressed a meeting organised by The Iona Institute called ‘Christians in a post-human world: a sneak look at our near future’. Dr Casey described how our world is changing even more rapidly than we realise. As Artificial Intelligence (AI) develops, there is...

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Pro-life activist tells meeting about being arrested praying near abortion clinic

By Dr Angelo Bottone

A woman who was arrested while praying in silence outside an abortion clinic in the UK was in Dublin on Saturday for the Rally for Life and told a gathering before the march about her ordeal. Some local councils in Britain have introduced exclusion zones outside centres that provide abortions and the Irish government wants...

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In Defence of Catholic Healthcare: A talk by David Quinn

David Quinn, Chief Executive of The Iona Institute, recently delivered the 4th Rosemary Sheehan Memorial Lecture. His theme was ‘In Defence of Catholic Healthcare’. In his talk, he reminded people of the immense contribution Catholics have made to healthcare in Ireland and worldwide both historically and down to the present day. He explained the origins...

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