The words “woman” and “mother” are being erased from Irish legislation.

The move was revealed in a letter to the Irish Times on Tuesday.

Last month, a parental leave bill removed the word “mother” from seven existing Acts.

Another bill, to allow paid time off for undergoing IVF or suffering a miscarriage, doesn’t mention women or mothers even once.

Two further bills, to provide free period products, also do not cite women or girls, preferring gender inclusive terms instead.

The news prompted a flood of highly critical letters to Thursday’s and Friday’s Irish Times asking what’s wrong with the word ‘woman’?

One letter writer said for years women and girls were taught that the natural biological processes they lived with were shameful and dirty and should not be mentioned in polite company.

“Given that we’re finally moving beyond this extremely harmful silliness, it’s very difficult to understand why the words “women” and “girls” cannot be used in discussions about these same natural biological processes. Is it now shameful to mention women and girls in these discussions? If so, why?”, she wrote.

The Irish Catholic Bishops are seeking suggestions on how best to consult the faithful in preparation for a recently announced Synod of the Church in Ireland.

Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick said they are inviting submissions on what methods and models to adopt in the coming two years of conversations.

He said parish hall meetings, focus groups, questionnaires, or deep-listening sessions are all possibilities, as also are family-focused gatherings; summary of findings of assemblies that have already taken place across dioceses; and/or conferences.

He requested feedback of no more than 300 words to be submitted on a dedicated website by Pentecost Sunday, the 23rd of May.

Authorities in China are detaining Christians in secretive, mobile “transformation” facilities to make them renounce their faith using techniques similar to those used against muslim Uighers, Radio Free Asia is reporting.

A member of a Christian “house church” in Sichuan said he was held in a facility for 10 months after a raid on his church in 2018.

The man said he was held in a windowless room, during which time he was beaten, verbally abused and “mentally tortured” by staff.

His account is chillingly similar to those of former inmates of “reeducation” camps in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

“They use really underhand methods,” the man said.

“They threaten, insult and intimidate you. You have to accept the statement they prepare for you, . . . If you refuse, you will be seen as having a bad attitude and they will keep you in detention and keep on beating you.”

“There is no time limit for the brainwashing process,” he said. “I don’t know the longest time anyone has been held there, but I was detained for eight or nine months.”

“You can’t see the sun, so you lose all no concept of time.”

He said suicidal ideation and self-harm was commonplace.

“I couldn’t sleep; after you’ve been in there a week, death starts to look better than staying there,” he said. “I bashed myself against the wall to self-harm.”

“One time in there, I was groggy and was trying to open my eyes but I couldn’t,” he said. “Four or five of them grabbed me by the arms and legs and pinned me to the ground.”

“They injected me with some drug, and brought me back to consciousness.”

Fathers in the US State of Utah are now legally obliged to pay half the cost of a mother’s medical care related to pregnancy and delivery.

Supporters of the law – which is thought to be the first of its kind in the US – say it will help alleviate the financial burden of motherhood for American women and lessen the circumstances that conduce to abortion.

The law, which will take effect on 5 May, passed unanimously with bipartisan support in the state’s Senate but faced some Democratic opposition in the House of Representatives.

Utah’s Shared Medical Costs law applies to biological fathers, but if paternity of the child is in question, fathers are able to delay payments until paternity is proven.

The payment process is not automatic. Similar to child support, if a woman does not seek assistance, the father will not be notified.

Fathers will not be required to contribute to the cost of an abortion if it is sought without their consent, except in the case of rape or if the mother’s life is in danger.

One of the bill’s sponsors, Republican state Congressman Brady Brammer, has said that he wanted a bill that was fully “pro-life” rather than just “anti-abortion”.

Since joining the legislature in 2019, Mr Brammer has seen a number of abortion bills introduced. Each time, “they’re contentious and they’re emotional”, he said. But at the “core” of the issue, “there’s someone in a really tough position in life, making a real tough decision in life”.

Abortion is often an act of desperation, made by someone who is, “scared, alone and poor”.

“Perhaps we could make that situation a little bit easier,” he said.

The pastor of an evangelical church in the UK has expressed his dismay at being branded anti-gay in the wake of an apology by the Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer for having visited them.

The head of Jesus House of All Nations, Pastor Agu Irukwu said “we have felt prosecuted, judged, and sentenced unfairly”.

“Some of the language that has been directed at us can only be described as vile, abusive, hateful, and possibly criminal. It is tantamount to cyberbullying”.

The pastor has in the past spoken out against same-sex marriage and aspects of equality legislation. LGBT+ groups accused the Church of promoting “conversion therapy”, a charge the church strenuously denies.

“We do not engage in any form of conversion therapy. We, as a church, provide appropriate pastoral support, including prayer, to all our members, whatever life situations or circumstances they find themselves in. This is consistent with the basic fundamentals of freedom of speech and freedom of religion and the government’s current position.”

He added he’s “very concerned” for the thousands of churches and millions of Christians who hold traditional biblical understanding of marriage and sexuality.

“There is an increasing atmosphere of bullying and intimidation which is a cause for concern, but we do not take our lead from politicians and others.”

A non-denominational Christian pastor has been given a prosecution notice and threatened with up to six months in prison by Gardaí for opening her church on Easter Sunday.

Gript media reports that Pastor Sharon Perry of the Abundant Grace Christian Assembly in Ringsend, Dublin, said her congregation were upset and anxious after Gardaí took action when she opened her church during the Level 5 restrictions.

The Easter indoor gathering of around 25 people – which was fully socially distanced, and featured roughly an hour of prayer and religious song – was ultimately allowed to go ahead. However, while most worshippers were allowed to leave unimpeded, Pastor Perry herself was confronted by Gardaí as soon as she stepped outside.

“The inspector was waiting for me as I left the building and quietly told me that I would be prosecuted for having the service, which would result in a fine of up to €2,500, or a six months prison sentence.”

Pastor Sharon Perry has already received a €500 fixed penalty notice for opening her church the previous Sunday, which she says she has no intention of paying.

On that occasion another pastor was arrested after police broke up one of the church services.

Sir Keir Starmer has apologised after visiting a church which has been criticised for its traditional teachings on marriage and family, while another Labour MP has praised the very same congregation.

The church’s senior pastor, Agu Irukwu, has in the past spoken out against same sex marriage and aspects of equality legislation. LGBT+ groups claim it promotes “conversion therapy”, a charge the church denies.

The Labour leader visited Jesus House in London on Good Friday to see its vaccination centre, posting a video on his Twitter feed praising it as a ‘wonderful example of a church’ for its work with the community.

In 2017, Theresa May visited the church, while more recently Boris Johnson and the Prince of Wales have both been to the pop-up vaccination centre there.

But after a backlash including from his party’s LGBT+ members, Sir Keir called it a mistake and deleted the clip.

He said he “completely” disagreed with the church’s views on LGBT+ rights and was not aware of them beforehand.

“I apologise for the hurt my visit caused and have taken down the video,” he said. “It was a mistake and I accept that.”

In a twist, and following his Party Leader’s apology, Stephen Timms, the Labour MP for East Ham tweeted: “I applaud the extraordinary work of @jesushouseuk, and of churches and other faith groups, in supporting our communities throughout the past year.”

After criticism from LGBT groups, he responded with: “Given the attention this afternoon, I have checked with Jesus House. They tell me they don’t practise anything like conversion therapy, and regard homophobia as anti-Christian.”

On Easter Sunday a dawn Mass was held at a Mass rock on Achill Island for the first time in living memory. Public worship is currently banned under the Government’s Covid-19 restrictions.

Local curate, Fr Gerard Quirke celebrated the liturgy at the site used during penal times when priests risked imprisonment or death for saying mass publicly.

The action recalled Easter Sunday in 433 when St Patrick lit a Paschal Fire on the Hill of Tara in defiance of the High King of Ireland.

In his homily, which was broadcast online, Fr Quirke prayed for the coming of the day when believers would again sing the praises of God in churches.

Pope Francis has used his traditional Easter message to pray for an end to restrictions in parts of the world that have banned Christians from worshipping together at the most important feast in the Christian calendar.

The Pope’s prayer – delivered in his Urbi et Orbi address from St Peter’s Basilica – comes as religious believers in the Irish Republic face some of the most draconian restrictions in Europe.

Pope Francis said: “once again this year, in various places many Christians have celebrated Easter under severe restrictions and, at times, without being able to attend liturgical celebrations.

“We pray that those restrictions, as well as all restrictions on freedom of worship and religion worldwide, may be lifted and everyone be allowed to pray and praise God freely,” the Pontiff said.

Life in religious congregations is showing signs of slowly returning to normal as coronavirus cases, hospitalisations and deaths decline and vaccination rates rise across the United States,.

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that Americans are increasingly confident they can safely go to services at a church, temple, mosque or other house of worship. And the percentage who say they actually have attended religious services – in person – in the past month is slightly higher than it was last summer.

Three-quarters of U.S. adults who normally attend religious services now say they are “very” or “somewhat” confident they can do so safely, without spreading or catching the coronavirus – up 12 percentage points from when this question was last asked in July 2020. Over that period, there also has been a considerable drop in the share who say they think their congregation should be closed to help stop the spread of the virus.

Roughly four-in-ten people who typically attend religious services at least once or twice a month say they actually have done so, in person, during the past month – up 9 points since last summer. And as in-person attendance has trended upward, there has been a corresponding decline in the share of regular religious attenders who recently have watched services streamed online or on television.