[lbo-talk] Abortion in the Irish courts again

Bill Bartlett billbartlett at aapt.net.au
Wed May 2 16:22:21 PDT 2007


http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1909245.htm Sunday, April 29, 2007. 3:00pm (AEST)

Tas Catholic Church pushes for changes to anti-discrimination laws

The Catholic Church in Tasmania wants anti-discrimination laws changed so it can legally enrol Catholic students in its schools ahead of non-members of the Church.

The Archbishop of Hobart, the Most Reverend Adrian Doyle, is hoping to open a new Catholic school in the Kingborough municipality, south of Hobart, by 2009.

He says the exemption would help ensure that at least 75 per cent of students at the relocated and expanded St Aloysius School would be Catholic.

The Archbishop says he has met the state's Attorney-General, Steve Kons, and asked for his help to protect the Church's policy.

"From a technical point of view, the policy places the education system, and me personally I might add, in breach of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1988," he said.

"Tasmania is the only jurisdiction in Australia where such a situation exists."

At 5:41 PM +0100 2/5/07, Wendy Lyon wrote:


>On 5/2/07, Jason <lists at moduszine.com> wrote:
>> Organised religion has no power in Ireland.
>
>Wow. I really cannot agree with you on this. The Church still has an
>enormous amount of power and influence here, a key example being its
>control of something like 95% of the schools in the 26 Counties -
>which, among other things, allows it to essentially control what Irish
>people are taught about abortion (etc). You can't overstate the effect
>of this. I'm regularly shocked by the number of people I come in
>contact with in Ireland who are otherwise left-wing but nonetheless
>hold strong anti-abortion views. I am convinced this is due to the
>Church's influence because I simply never encountered it in the US or
>England - *except* among devout, pacifist Catholics, which is a good
>example of an exception proving the rule, I think. And I've heard the
>same surprise expressed by expats I know from the US, England, Canada,
>Australia - abortion is basically a left-right issue in most of those
>countries. Why isn't it here? Because of the Church. Why else?
>
>It's also been in the news lately that in a number of areas, children
>are being denied access to their local school - which is almost always
>a Catholic school - unless their parents can produce a baptismal
>certificate. And I have a friend who is a qualified language resource
>teacher - a skill that is *desperately* needed in schools today - who
>has been unable to find work because she lives in a western county
>where all the schools are Catholic and she isn't. The law allows them
>to discriminate against her on that basis (even though she wouldn't be
>teaching religion!) and the Minister, who is generally believed to be
>a member of Opus Dei, has flatly refused to intervene.
>
>The Taoiseach said in the Dáil just last week that he believes there
>is a role for the Church in the running of the State and the most
>likely alternate Taoiseach, having recently described Ireland as a
>Christian country, is hardly going to challenge that position if he
>gets into office.
>
>Of course things are not as bad as they used to be, when even divorce
>and contraception were illegal, but we've still a *long* way to go to
>get to a point where it can truly be said that the Church has "no
>power" here!
>
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