Church of Ireland and Moravian Church links; Irish Deputy Prime Minister Gilmore: The time has come to recognise gay marriage; Top theologian criticises Church’s ‘disloyalty’ reflex; Silence on religious discrimination case is worrying; More NI pupils being taught by fewer and older teacher; Gender reading gap ‘not biological’
Church of Ireland and Moravian Church links
At the June meeting of the Standing Committee, the Archbishop of Dublin outlined the long–standing and close links between the Church of Ireland and the Moravian Church.
It was agreed that a group made up of members from the Anglican Affairs Working Group of the Commission for Christian Unity and Dialogue (CCUD) be appointed to consider the relationship between the Church of Ireland and the Moravian Church and consider the report ‘Finding our delight in the Lord’ which has brought about full communion between Anglicans and Moravians in the United States.
A link to the report may be found at:
http://www.mcsp.org/resources/ecumenical/Finding_Our_Delight_Official_Text.pdf
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Gilmore: The time has come to recognise gay marriage
Irish Examiner – Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said the “time has come” to recognise gay marriage and also called for a debate about stem cell research.
The Tánaiste said the issue of same-sex marriage would be debated during talks around the Constitutional Convention later this year. Speaking in Dublin, Mr Gilmore congratulated the organisers of Dublin Pride 2012 for a successful week. ”I don’t believe for example, that it should ever be the role of the State to pass judgement on whom a person falls in love with, or whom they want to spend their life with,” he said. ”I believe in gay marriage. The right of gay couples to marry is, quite simply, the civil rights issue of this generation, and, in my opinion, its time has come.”
He said modern Ireland was still dealing with the legacy of “the special relationship” between Church and State, from “our Constitution to the provision of public services in health and education”.
“And there are other issues which, I believe, will challenge us to reassess the interconnectedness of the views of one Church, with the laws of the country.
“The referendum on children’s rights, to take place later this year, is one. Stem cell research is another.”
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/gilmore-the-time-has-come-to-recognise-gay-marriage-199431.html
Irish Times –
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0702/1224319184720.html
Top theologian criticises Church’s ‘disloyalty’ reflex
Irish Examiner – A leading moral theologian has said it is regrettable that all too often any questioning of policy or leadership in the Catholic Church is still seen in the 21st century as an expression of disloyalty, if not of lack of faith.
Fr Patrick Hannon, the emeritus professor of moral theology in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, is critical of “a climate in which the impression is easily taken that loyalty to the Church requires that no one give voice to any question at all”. Writing in The Furrow, Fr Hannon emphasises that “a regard for public opinion and the right to freedom of expression is implicit in official Catholic teaching”.
However, if there is to be “a healthy public opinion and a fruitful freedom of expression” in the Church, there must also be “respect for the right to information”.
Writing against the background of recent events where prominent Irish priests have been “silenced” by order of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Fr Hannon says public discussion of these developments has been “hampered by a lack of information concerning the grounds for the measures by those who are in a position to provide it”, he writes.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/top-theologian-criticises-churchs-disloyalty-reflex-199426.html
Silence on religious discrimination case is worrying
Irish Times – A job tribunal finding against former SF minister Conor Murphy was barely reported on in southern media.
While the media in the Republic was busy working itself into a lather over last week’s special Sinn Féin ardchomhairle meeting (regardless of the fact that Martin McGuinness had been signalling for months that he would meet the queen), it was allowing another story on the North to slip by with hardly a mention.
Last Wednesday, an employment tribunal in Belfast ruled that while he was Northern Ireland’s regional development minister, Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy discriminated against Alan Lennon, a candidate for the post of chairman of Northern Ireland Water, because Lennon was a Protestant.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2012/0628/1224318886623.html
More NI pupils being taught by fewer and older teachers, reveals report
Belfast Telegraph – More pupils are being taught by fewer teachers in growing classes across the region, it has emerged.
Teacher numbers in schools across the province plummeted by 185 this year compared to the previous year.
New figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency (NISRA) show how the ratio of teachers to pupils has changed significantly over the past decade.
It shows that there are 312 fewer teachers now than in 2007/08 and 1,919 fewer than 2002/03.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/more-pupils-being-taught-by-fewer-and-older-teachers-reveals-report-16179141.html
Gender reading gap ‘not biological’
Belfast Telegraph -Teachers who pick texts that appeal to girls, a lack of books in the home and an expectation that they should be playing outside are all turning boys off reading, new research suggests.
Boys’ lack of achievement in reading is not down to “biological differences”. Instead there are key factors which lead to them lagging behind girls, according to a report by the Boys Reading Commission.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/gender-reading-gap-not-biological-16179819.html