A meeting between the Catholic Church and the Government will take place in Dublin this afternoon. It is part of the ongoing “structured dialogue” process involving the churches, other faiths and ethical communities.
With Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Government Buildings will be Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn, Minister for Health James Reilly and Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald.
The church delegation will be led by Cardinal Seán Brady who will be accompanied by Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Dr Colm O’Reilly, Bishop of Cork and Ross Dr John Buckley, Fr Michael Drumm, chairman of the Catholic Schools Partnership, and Fr Gearóid Dullea and Fr Tim Bartlett of the Irish Episcopal Conference secretariat.
The agenda is expected to include abortion legislation, school patronage and the divesting of Catholic-run schools to other patron bodies. Recent unrest in Belfast and the pressures of the recession are also expected to be discussed.
A plenary meeting was hosted by the Taoiseach in May 2011. It was attended by Cardinal Brady, senior repre- sentatives of other Christian churches, senior Muslims, Jews, Bahá’is and humanists.
