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Opinions contained in The Iona Blog are not necessarily those of The Iona Institute. The Iona Blog is open to anyone who broadly shares the views of The Iona Institute. If you wish to post a comment on a relevant topic please email 200 – 400 words to info@ionainstitute.ie and it will be considered for inclusion in the blog.
Sean has two dads, one mum, and another adult with ‘access’
~Among the other proposals found in the new document of the Law Reform Commission called ‘Report on Legal Aspects of Family Relationships’, is one that would pave the way for the one child having three or more legal parents. Read more...
Unmarried men and the Law Reform Commission
~The Law Reform Commission issued a new paper on family law yesterday and needless to say it would propel us in a still more liberal direction that could only further undermine the social institution proven to be of most benefit to children, namely marriage. Read more...
EU Ministers must resist intrusion on family law
~The European Commission has issued a Green paper that aims to make it easier for EU citizens to have their legal status in one country fully recognised in another. For most of us, a major legal status is our marital status, which the EU calls our ‘civil status’ in order to take into account same-sex civil unions. Read more...
The Marriage Effect: Is it all selection?
~In sociology there is something called the ‘selection effect’. For example, sociologists wonder whether religious people are less likely to divorce because they are religious or is it because the sort of people who are religious are less likely to divorce anyway? Read more...
Why does The Irish Times want to cut parents out of the picture?
~The Irish Times today editorialises in favour of minors being given the Pill without the consent of their parents. It believes the Government should adopt the recommendation of the Law Reform Commission in this regard and copy the example of the UK. Read more...
What the Time survey on marriage left out
~A recent survey by the Pew Centre and Time magazine entitled The Decline of Marriage and Rise of New Families highlights changing US attitudes to marriage and family. The poll shows declining support for marriage, but on the other hand it is constructed in such as way as to maximise support for family diversity ideology. Read more...
Sweden the fairest place for families? Not on your life
~Sweden is the world’s fairest place for families according to a new report from The Fatherhood Institute in the UK. How do they come to this conclusion, you may ask? In a nutshell, they base it on how equally Swedish men and women divide up work and home duties. Read more...
Gay activists force Apple to censor Christian statement
~The Manhattan Declaration is a pro-marriage, pro-life, pro-religious freedom statement signed by dozens of Christian leaders in the United States and by thousands of ordinary Christians. Read more...
Tax and the war on stay-at-home wives
~As noted in the last blog-post, the Government’s four-year plan unveiled this week represents yet another attack on that most despised of all breeds, the stay-at-home married woman. Having already attacked the one-income married family through tax individualisation, the four-year plan will now erode the remaining tax differential between one-income married families and single people. Read more...
'Get to work', Government/IMF tell mothers
~The new four-year plan unveiled yesterday will impose a heavier burden on one-income married couples than on single people. This is direct attack on stay-at-home mothers and appears to be a sop to the IMF, the European Commission and the OECD all of which want women to enter the workforce and children to be placed in day-care. Read more...
Charity or tolerance: which is better?
~Robert Putnam of ‘Bowling Alone’ fame has co-authored a new book with David E Campbell called ‘American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us’. Its findings are that religious people are more charitable and non-religious people are more tolerant. Here’s my question, which is better for society, charity or tolerance? Of course, a person can be both charitable and tolerant, both intolerant and uncharitable, and various other combinations in between. Read more...
Defending Catholic ethos: a teacher’s view
~I have recently retired after spending thirty five years as a Secondary school teacher in Ireland all of it spent in Catholic schools. I thank you for highlighting the possible dangers contained in the Teaching Council’s Code of Professional Conduct which I feel may not be fully appreciated by Boards of Management or school Principals or indeed by the teachers themselves. Read more...
Abortion providers target conscience rights
~We don’t normally comment on abortion on this blog and in fact this blog isn’t really about abortion at all, but rather about the conscience rights of doctors and of medical institutions like hospitals and the attempt by abortion supporters to severely curtail if not eliminate those rights. Read more...
Does preschool really make kids more moral?!
~A report in today's Irish Times suggests that children who are preschooled don't just do better economically and educationally, but also grow up to be more moral. They quote Dr Larry Schweinhart, who carried out research on a preschool scheme launched in the 1960s. According to this research, children who attend preschool are less likely to lie, cheat or steal as adults, a conference was told yesterday. Read more...
A Catholic headmaster’s fight against political correctness
~Thank you for highlighting the issue of the proposed new professional code for Irish teachers, with all its inherent dangers for Christian teachers in your most recent e-letter. It reminds me an issue that I faced in London some years ago. Read more...
New Teaching Code has serious implications for religious freedom
~Very few people will be aware of the Teaching Council of Ireland or its Code of Professional Conduct. The code could have potentially far-reaching and worrying implications for the teaching of religion in our schools. Read more...
Are the kids really alright?
~The movie the chattering classes are talking about at the moment is ‘The kids are alright’, about a lesbian couple and their children via a sperm donor. It’s based on a true story and the message of the movie is in the title. Read more...
Roscommon case does not show need for children’s rights amendment
~Children’s rights organisations plus a number of politicians have reacted to the publication of the Roscommon Child Care Case report by calling for a children’s rights referendum. For example, in a statement the Children Right’s Alliance said: “The Constitution currently does not grant individual rights to children, within marital families. It is clear that constitutional reform must take place, as a matter of urgency, to ensure that all children are protected.” Read more...
The social issues: what FF and FG promised in 2007
~In the run-up to the 2007 General Election The Irish Catholic sent a questionnaire to the various political parties asking them for their position on various social issues including the family and the right to life. Last week I did a follow-up piece for The Irish Catholic and I compared what the two main parties promised then and what they have delivered since. Read more...
The Oireachtas report that can’t face up to the facts about the family
~Earlier this week the Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection issued a report called ‘Financial Disincentives to Marriage and Cohabitation’. On the plus side, the report admits that children raised by lone parents often face bigger problems than those raised by two parents. On the negative side, it refuses to recognise that marriage is generally better for kids than cohabitation. Read more...
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