Catholic schools in Northern Ireland secured the top 11 places in league tables for 2014/15, it has been revealed. The success of Catholic schools was laid out by The Belfast Telegraph which gained the tables as a result of a freedom of information request. The good results have led to a call for the Department of Education to examine what makes Catholic schools such a success story. “They should be asking what is the magic ingredient which is making all the top performing schools in Northern Ireland Catholic schools,” said Sean Rafferty, head of St Louis Grammar in Ballymena in County Antrim. Meanwhile, DUP education spokesman Peter Weir MLA said lessons could be learned from Catholic schools.
A new group is calling on Catholic schools to set aside 10% of places for unbaptised children and those of minority faiths in the event of overcrowding. The Faith in Our Schools group, consisting of leading Catholic educationalists and a Senior Counsel, says it fully supports the ethos of Catholic schools but also recognises that communities served by the schools have changed significantly in recent years, leading to its call. “A change to admissions policy along the lines suggested would be fair to both the faith community and those who do not belong to it,” the new body said, adding that it also supports faster and wider divestment of Catholic schools.
There have been 412 same-sex marriages in Ireland in the year since the passage of the marriage referendum one year ago. Of these, 223 were pre-existing Civil Partnerships. Figures released by the Department of Social Protection show that all but one county – Clare – registered at least one same-sex marriage. Dublin recorded just over half of all marriages, with 43 in Cork, 25 in Limerick and 17 in Wicklow.
Irish doctors too readily accept negative perspectives on Church involvement in healthcare, a leading member of the Irish Medical Council (IMC) has said. Quoted in The Irish Catholic newspaper, Dr Ruairi Hanley, commenting on media coverage of the governance conflict between the National Maternity Hospital and St Vincent’s University Hospital, said some of his younger colleagues “rarely miss a trick when it comes to denouncing Catholicism via Twitter” while “many GPs seemingly prefer the official narrative of the violent Christian Brother and the sadistic guardians of the Magdalene Laundries”. Dr Hanley went on to praise the role played in healthcare by the Church which “deserves better than to be routinely condemned for its very existence”.
Hopes for the establishment of five new Catholic schools have been raised with confirmation that one Catholic schools trust is applying for patronage next year and in 2018. CEIST, a Catholic schools trust founded by five religious orders, confirmed to The Irish Catholic newspaper that it is making applications for five of nine proposed schools. The trust is already patron to 110 primary schools in Ireland. Dr Marie Griffin, CEO of CEIST, described the potential of taking on the new schools as “a wonderful challenge”.
The Obama administration has threatened hospitals across America with the loss of federal funding and possible legal action unless they provide for abortions and ‘gender transitions’. Citing a drive for ‘equity’, the Department of Health and Human Services published an update to the so-called Obamacare mandate on health facilities, stating that unless complied with, funds would be discontinued while facilities could find themselves referred to the Department of Justice. The Family Research Council condemned the threat, stating: “This intolerant and unjust rule, in turn, threatens to force health care providers to participate in and perform services that substantially violate their consciences.”
Unborn babies with Down Syndrome accounted for 40 abortions sought by 3,400 Irish women who travelled to Britain for terminations last year, new figures have shown. Released by the country’s Department of Health, the figures reveal that Down Syndrome abortions were granted on the basis that such babies were at risk of serious disability. Of 135 women citing potential disability or foetal abnormality in seeking abortion, nine terminations were carried out after a spina bifida diagnosis and one for cystic fibrosis.
