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‘Spiritual’ people at greatest risk of having mental health problems
~People who are‘spiritual’ without having a specific religious affiliation are at greater risk of developing mental health problems than those who have a specific religion or those who have no religion, a new study suggests. Researchers at University College London found that those who claim to be spiritual but not religious were more disposed towards anxiety disorders, phobias and neuroses, eating disorders and drug problems. Read more...
School being sued for banning Muslim headscarf
~A school in the UK is being sued by Muslim parents after banning pupils from wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf in lessons. St Cyprian's Greek Orthodox primary in south London is set for a case in the High Court after it was claimed that their uniform policy breaches children’s religious freedom, the Daily Telegraph reports. Read more...
Minister wants Child Benefit replaced by State-subsidised child care
~Child Benefit payments should be replaced with State-subsidised child care, the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald (pictured), has said. In an interview with the Irish Times, Ms Fitzgerald said that the Government spent €2 billion a year on child benefit. She proposed replacing this monthly payment with a subsidy for childcare. Read more...
Christianity ‘threatened with extinction’ in biblical heartlands
~Christianity is threatened with extinction in the biblical heartlands of the Middle East because of Islamist oppression, according to a report from a UK think-tank. And the report goes on to say that Western politicians and media ignore the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the wider world because they fear being accused of racism. Read more...
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A dad is the tenth most popular Christmas present for children
~A 'dad' is tenth most popular Christmas list request for children in the UK, according to a new survey. In Britain, 40 percent of children are now born outside marriage. In Ireland the figure is 34 percent. Many have no contact with their fathers. The poll of 2,000 British parents found most children will put a new baby brother or sister at the top of their Christmas list, The Daily Telegraph reports. Read more...
Christ disappearing from Christmas cards says new research
~Only one in a hundred Christmas cards sold in British High Street stores feature the birth of Jesus, according to new market research, prompting accusations that retailers are “airbrushing” Christianity out of Christmas. Out of almost 6,000 types of Christmas card on sale in supermarkets, card shops and convenience stores sampled, only 34 featured nativity scenes, the Daily Telegraph reports. Read more...
‘True structure’ of the family under attack says Pope
~The ‘true structure’ of the family is under attack, Pope Benedict has said in his annual Christmas address to the Curia. Quoting the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, the Pope said the very notion of what it is to be a man or a woman is being called into question by theories which say our natures are not given and that we can be choose which gender we really are. Read more...
Gardai to investigate threat against Archbishop Martin
~Gardaí have said they will investigate threats made to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin (pictured) that warned him to be careful while "out on the streets" because of his views on abortion. Dr Martin said he received the letter in the past week and reported it to gardai straight away, according to The Irish Independent. Read more...
Marriage in ‘middle America’ declining rapidly says new report
~Marriage in “Middle America” is declining rapidly, a new report by a leading think tank has warned. According to the study, entitled “The President’ Marriage Agenda for the Forgotten Sixty Percent”, 44 percent of children of ‘moderately educated’ women are now born outside of marriage, up sharply from 13 percent in the 1980s. Read more...
Births outside marriage hit 58 percent in Limerick city
~Nearly 60pc of births in Limerick city were to unmarried parents in the second quarter of this year, according to new figures from the CSO. In addition, more than half of all births (52pc) in Waterford City were outside marriage, while just under half, or 49pc of all births in Cork City were outside marriage. Read more...
Minister Rabbitte says bishops must not ‘dictate' to the Government
~Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte (pictured) has accused the Catholic bishops of using “strident” language in the abortion debate and said they must not ‘dictate’ to the Government. He was commenting on remarks made by Bishop Leo O'Reilly, who said that the Government's decision to introduce abortion legislation was "the first step on the road to a culture of death". Read more...
France announces plan to monitor religious groups
~The French Government has announced that it is to set to monitor ultra-traditionalist Catholic groups, as well as other religious organisations, for signs of "religious pathology", Reuters reports. Socialist Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that a shooting spree last year by a French Islamist, in which three soldiers and four Jews were murdered showed that religiously radicalised people could turn quickly to violence. Read more...
Ireland an expensive place to be a mother says OECD report
~Ireland is an expensive place to be a mother because the earning power of mothers suffers compared with men, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to the report, entitled Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now, the arrival of children has a more drastic impact on the earning abilities of Irish women than anywhere else in Europe. Read more...
Pope defends marriage in World Day of Peace message
~Moves to legally redefine marriage harm and destabilise that institution, Pope Benedict has warned. In a message to mark the World Day of Peace next month, the Pope said that there was a need “to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union”. Read more...
Cameron moves to appease Anglicans over marriage
~The Church of England will be legally prevented from carrying out same-sex marriage under the UK Government's plans to redefine the institution. The move is being made to appease senior Anglicans and Tory MPs, according to the Times. Read more...
Catholic school ordered to stop teaching Catholic religion course
~A Catholic school is Canada is considering petitioning the Supreme Court after the Quebec Court of Appeal issued a decision obliging it to stop teaching a Catholic course on religion. The ruling, issued last week, told the school that it must replace the course with a state-imposed Ethics and Religious Culture course (ERC) which is at odds with Catholic teaching, according to Vatican Radio. Read more...
High Court to rule on assisted suicide by January 10
~A decision as to whether Ireland's ban on assisted suicide is constitutional will be made by the High Court on January 10th. A three-judge High Court has been hearing the challenge to the ban brought by a woman terminally ill with multiple sclerosis. Read more...
Number of married people in England hits record low
~Fewer than 50pc of adults in England and Wales are married for the first time since records began, new figures from the Office of National Statistics show. The ONS reveals that the number of people who are married in England and Wales had fallen from just over half of the population a decade ago to 45pc now. Read more...
Small minority of parents take part in school patronage survey
~Only a small minority of parents participated in a pilot survey in five areas chosen by the Department of Education to determine parental preferences on primary schools patronage, the Catholic Bishops’ Council for Education has said. Fr Michael Drumm (pictured) of the Catholic Schools Partnership estimated that at most a quarter of parents took part in the survey. Read more...
Legalising assisted suicide would harm vulnerable people High Court hears
~The current ban on assisted suicide make matters “crystal clear” for doctors and its removal could result in vulnerable people opting to have their lives ended so as not to be a burden on others, a palliative care specialist has told the High Court. Giving evidence yesterday in the case of Marie Fleming, Dr Tony O’Brien said he supported the total ban on assisted suicide here, the Irish Times reports. Read more...
US Supreme Court to hear same-sex marriage cases
~The US Supreme Court is set to consider the issue of same-sex marriage for the first time after it agreed last week to review two challenges to federal and state laws that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. It said it would review the ruling which overturned California's Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. This was passed in 2008 by popular ballot but was later overturned by the Ninth Circut Court of Appeals. Read more...
Gap between Catholics and Protestants in NI down to 3pc
~There are now only three per cent more Protestants than Catholics in Northern Ireland, according to the latest census results. According to the results, 45pc of the population were either Catholic or brought up as Catholic, while 48pc belonged to or were brought up in Protestant, other Christian or Christian-related denominations, The Irish Times reports. Read more...
No constitutional right to assisted suicide High Court hears
~There is no right to be assisted to commit suicide under the Irish Constitution and to argue such a right exists for a small number of people is "radical and unprecedented", the State has told the High Court. Michael Cush SC, arguing for the State, said that, while suicide has been decriminalised, the State did not accept there is any right for a person to take their own life, the Irish Times reports. Read more...
Churches will be allowed to conduct same-sex marriages in UK
~Churches will be allowed to conduct same-sex marriages in the UK it was revealed over the weekend. The move represents a major U-turn on the position set out in a formal Government consultation earlier this year which proposed a blanket ban. Read more...
Involuntary childlessness linked to earlier death says new research
~Involuntary childlessness may increase the likelihood of early death, according to new research. The Danish study published in the the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, looked at more than 21,000 couples seeking IVF treatment. Read more...
Children raised by same-sex couples less likely to do well at school says study
~Children raised by same-sex couples are 35pc less likely to make normal progress through school according to a new study. The study, published in the journal Demography, is based on data from 1.6 million children in the 2000 U.S. Census, which included 8,632 children who lived in same-sex households. Read more...
DPP opposes assisted suicide prosecution guidelines
~Guidelines outlining the factors to be considered when deciding whether to prosecute for assisted suicide would be tantamount to providing a “road map” for committing a crime, the Director of Public Prosecution has told the High Court. Lawyers for Claire Loftus, the DPP, said she would be aiding a crime if she granted a request from a terminally ill woman to provide such guidelines, the Irish Independent reports. Read more...
Widespread anti-Catholic bias in media says ACP leader
~There is now widespread anti-Catholic bias in the Irish media, a leading Irish cleric has said. Fr Sean McDonagh, a founding member of the Association of Catholic Priests, said that the manner in which the media in Ireland had dealt with Church-related issues demonstrated that the bias against Catholicism was both “widespread and deep seated”. Read more...
Child Benefit cut hits families hard
~Budget 2012 has cut Child Benefit up to €240 a year per child, which amounts to a fall in income of €696 for a family with four children. The Budget, announced yesterday by Finance Minister Michael Noonan (pictured), cut monthly payments by between €10 and €20 per child, depending on how many are in the family. Read more...
No right to assisted suicide in European Convention on Human Rights
~No right to assisted suicide has been found in the European Convention on Human Rights despite claims to the contrary by the legal team of Marie Fleming, an MS sufferer whose right-to-die case is currently before the High Court. Brian Murray SC and Ronan Murphy SC, arguing for Ms Fleming, told the High Court that Ireland's ban on assisted suicide breaches the Constitution and European Convention on Human Rights, the Irish Times reports. Read more...
EU report targets ‘traditional’ images of mothers and fathers
~Books which portray ‘traditional’ images of mothers caring for their children or fathers going out to work could be banned if a European Parliament report on gender equality is implemented. An EU report claims that ‘gender stereotyping’ in schools influences the perception of the way boys and girls should behave and damages women’s career opportunities in the future, the Daily Mail reports. Read more...
Groups warned not to excessively lobby Convention members
~Lobby groups may be prevented from the making presentations to the Constitutional Convention if they engage in excessive lobbying of its members, its chairman, Tom Arnold, has warned. The Convention is set to examine a number of controversial issues, including same-sex marriage and amending the clause on the role of women in the home. Read more...
Tax on one income married families second highest in developed world
~Ireland has the second highest effective tax rate for one income married families in the developed world, according to new research. The study, carried out by a UK pro-marriage charity, Care, showed that Ireland has a marginal effective tax rate of 64pc for such families. Read more...
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School advent services in Sweden must be religion-free say guidelines
~Swedish schools are permitted to gather in church premises during Advent but the services must be free from any religious element, under new guidelines drawn up by the country's National Agency for Education (NAE). The stance of the NAE has been criticised by politicians and other public figures. Read more...
Washington State looks set to remove ‘bride’ and ‘groom’ from marriage documents
~The health department in the US state of Washington looks set to remove the words “bride” and “groom” from marriage and divorce certificates, after same-sex marriage was approved in a referendum last month. Spaces once reserved for a "bride" and "groom" will become more gender-neutral, according to MyNorthWest.com. Read more...
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