Archbishop Eamon Martin has welcomed comments by Pope Francis at his Regina Coeli address in Saint Peters’ Square, Rome, on Sunday 6 May in which the Pope spoke of the welcome that must always be afforded to the unborn.
Archbishop Martin said, “The words of Pope Francis over the weekend have a particular resonance with us as our country considers the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland. The Holy Father spoke about the Gospel teaching of Jesus to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (Jn 15:12) and that this love must be part of our everyday lives as we are called to care for the elderly ‘as a precious treasure’; to provide ‘every assistance possible to those who are sick’, even when they are approaching the end of their lives; and to always welcome the unborn. This, Pope Francis said, is why ‘life must always be defended and loved, from conception to its natural end.’”
Archbishop Martin continued, “The comments of the Holy Father are very important in situating our teaching on the sacredness of unborn life within the context of our belief in the centrality of the commandment of love. Pope Francis said that the love of Christ is ‘not a superficial feeling’, but rather, ‘a fundamental attitude of the heart’. Our belief in this teaching of Jesus should inspire us to defend life from conception to its natural end.”
The General Secretary of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association says the removal of faith-based admissions to schools is not necessary as the provision of extra schools has already addressed the problem of the shortage of school places.
Seamus Mulconry told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the changes in the law agreed at a Cabinet meeting yesterday, to remove the so-called “baptism barrier” are redundant. “The issue is the lack of school places, not religion. Ninety-five per cent of schools are not over subscribed. The Minister announced he is building 16 new schools. He’s solving the problem, so I don’t know why there is a need for this.”
Mr Mulconry said that Catholic schools want to accept everyone who applies and they do so when there are sufficient places. “This is not a massive deal for us. Even schools that are oversubscribed take non-Catholic children under the sibling rule.”
“If Damien from ‘The Omen’ turned up, we’d take him in.”
The Save the 8th group has defended the practice of allowing pro-life lay speakers address Masses all over the country at the invitation of priests and bishops. It was responding to a statement from the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP) which said the practice could be regarded by some Church-going Catholics as “inappropriate and insensitive” and “an abuse of the Eucharist”.
The ACP said that as a group “of men who are unmarried and without children of our own, we are not best placed to be in any way dogmatic on this issue”. Yet it decried the practice of laypeople with experience of marriage, or child-rearing, or expertise in medicine or law addressing congregations. And despite their disavowal of wisdom on the matter, they said they acccepted Church teaching that life is sacred but added that “human life is complex, throwing up situations that are more often grey than black and white and that demand from us a sensitive, non-judgemental, pastoral approach”.
A spokesperson for Savethe8th said the ACP “appears to be worried that Catholics may hear Catholic teaching reflected at Catholic Masses”.
“If we have reached the point where speaking about the right to life in a Christian church is in some way controversial, that would be a sign that hysteria has overtaken rational discourse in this referendum campaign.”
The Government is bracing itself for potential legal challenges for plans to remove the right of some denominational schools to give preference to members of their own faith in admissions to their own schools.
Minister for Education Richard Bruton is due to bring an amendment to school admissions legislation to Cabinet on Tuesday which would prohibit Catholic primary schools in particular, but not schools of other faiths or denominations, from giving enrolment priority to baptised children in cases where they are over-subscribed. While Mr Bruton announced the plans last year, the planned amendment has been subject to extensive legal advice from the Attorney General’s office.
The Irish Times reported earlier this year that Catholic bishops, trustee bodies for thousands of Catholic schools, along with management bodies and missionary groups, were preparing to fight the changes.
Leaders of the Baptist church in Ireland have released a statement urging their members to vote No to retain the Eighth Amendment. “It is our belief that a mark of a truly progressive society is in its commitment to protect its most vulnerable. Any move to eliminate that protection would be a regressive step for our society. The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution recognises the worth of both women and unborn children. The 8th Amendment is a progressive measure that enshrines the equal right to life for all and helps make our society more meaningful, more compassionate and a model for other nations”, it said.
“We, therefore, urge our church members and our fellow citizens to resist this misguided call to repeal the 8th Amendment, and continue to work towards a better, more caring and compassionate society.”
A vigorous defence of the Church’s RSE teaching has been offered by the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin. Speaking at the Joint Managerial Body/Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools (JMB/AMCSS) annual conference in Galway on Thursday, he noted that a recent debate in Dáil Éireann described the approach of Catholic Schools to RSE as “backward”, “grossly distorted”, not “objective”, non “factual”, and even biologically incorrect. “It was argued that relationships and sexuality education has to be ‘non-ethos based’. These negative perceptions of the approach to relationships and sexuality education in our schools will sound unfair, harsh, uninformed and agenda-driven to many parents and to those who have been sensitively working in this area within our Catholic schools”.
He agreed that a review of RSE in schools is essential in order to help young people cope with the risks to their health and well-being. “A sound Relationships and Sexuality programme, developed in consultation with parents, will include age appropriate information, debate and discussion about contraception, sexually transmitted infections, same sex attraction and unions and the full meaning of consent,” he said.
RSE should be an integral part of the curriculum in a Catholic school and it should present the positive and challenging “Catholic vision for relationships, chastity, marriage and the family”.
A bill that would criminalise the ministry of many Church groups to those with same-sex attraction, including the Catholic ministry Courage Ireland, was enthusiastically welcomed by senators from all parties when it was debated for the first time in the Seanad on Thursday.
Courage does not teach ‘conversion therapy’, but does help gay Catholics to live celibate lives if they so wish. Banning such a group could be unconstitutional. Speaking for the Government, Minister of State Catherine Byrne did say there might be legal problems with aspects of the bill, but otherwise, the bill was warmly received by the Government.
The bill by Senator Fintan Warfield of Sinn Féin would make it unlawful to advertise, perform or even offer to perform “any practice or treatment by any person that seeks to change, suppress and, or eliminate a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity and, or gender expression“. The bill also provides criminal sanctions of up to 12 months in jail for offences against the law.
“I believe in this Bill. While a number of issues have been raised at the legal end, I believe the Bill should be enacted as soon as possible. It is very important that people should not be coerced or in any way made feel they are not a whole person due to their identity or sexual orientation, and that they have the right to choose their sexuality now and into the future”, she said.
The Catholic Church has called Gardaí to investigate images apparently showing a man in priest’s vestments performing a sex act with another man on the altar of an Irish church. The church confirmed to the Irish Independent the matter had been reported to gardaí and a full investigation is expected to follow. A spokesperson for the diocese declined to comment further for legal reasons in view of “the criminal nature of the alleged incident”.
The graphic images show two men engaged in sexual activity or in intimate poses across what appears to be the altar of a small country church. They have been described as deeply sacrilegious in their depiction of a priest, or man dressed as a priest.
Any investigation will examine the veracity of the images, and the church where the act is alleged to have taken place. “The photographs depict something that appears somewhat satanic,” the source told the Irish Independent.
The LoveBoth campaign has said the Irish public are being consistently and seriously misled about the nature of the Government’s proposed abortion regime. Speaking at a press conference in Dublin yesterday, the group said the level of misinformation has now reached a new high as, they claimed, both the Government and leading repeal campaigners are willing to say anything in their push to introduce abortion on demand to Ireland.
Cora Sherlock of LoveBoth said: “The tsunami of misinformation and manipulation of the Irish people in this debate has to stop. The debate on the Eighth Amendment has to be grounded on fact and on what is actually being proposed by the government, and the reality of abortion in neighbouring countries. Anything less than frank, open and factual discussion is an insult to the Irish people.”
Joining her, Consultant Obstetrician Dr Trevor Hayes sharply criticised recent commentary on maternal healthcare services in Ireland. “In my many years of medical practice I have never been prevented by the Eighth Amendment from doing everything necessary to fully care for women and to fully protect them in my practice. Any suggestion that Irish doctors cannot intervene to protect women is deliberately misinforming the Irish public and creating unnecessary fears. I’ve never gambled with the lives of my patients. I’ve never lost a mother. The Eighth Amendment has never prevented me from doing my job to the best of my ability.”
He continued: “Professional guidelines for obstetricians are very clear, there is no doubt whatsoever nor should there be any doubt that we can intervene to protect the life of women, doctors do not have to wait until the threat to life has become imminent.”
Dr Hayes added: “I am very concerned that recent weeks have seen significant and untrue public statements about the practice of maternal healthcare in this country. No doctor doing their job properly would wait until there is an immediate and critical threat to a pregnant woman’s life before acting to protect the woman, the Eighth Amendment does not stop me from doing my job. Never has and never will. If repeal were to happen, 99% percent of abortions would take place for any reason at all or on supposed mental health grounds. That’s the reality based on what has happened in other countries but you wouldn’t think it based on how the present debate is being conducted”.
Proposals to raise the digital age of consent from 13 to 16 years of age were rejected by an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday. At a meeting of the Oireachtas justice committee, Fianna Fáil, Labour and the Social Democrats sought to raise the age of digital consent through an amendment to data protection legislation. FF’s justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said 13 was “too young” and meant young people were vulnerable to being exploited. “We must recognise now that children are growing up with levels of intrusion that we didn’t experience,” he said. Mr O’Callaghan noted that a child could not legally enter a contract until aged 18. He was supported by Labour TD Sean Sherlock who said by making 16 the age limit, the onus was being pushed back on to the social media companies.
Independent TDs Mick Wallace and Clare Daly argued strongly for 13, citing a wide range of expert opinion behind that threshold, including the Children’s Rights Alliance. Both said that education was the best protection for children and not a “nanny state”.
The move was welcomed by children’s rights groups.
