That "Institute". What is it really?

eblistic

Hi, didn't want to drag the countmeout thread off-topic. Does anyone know what the Iona Institute really is? Or why their few figureheads are afforded so much air-time and so many column inches? What's their mandate?

I know they claim to be the representatives of "Conservative Christianity" in Ireland but I'm confused by the unquestioning acceptance of them as such by media and politicians. Is it all for the sake of "balance"? Are they just happy to be able to have someone other than Dana or Catholic clergy around to provide this?

gimme5minutes

I reckon the Iona 'Institute' is basically David Quinn using a made up organisation so his views are given more weight. He could have a few pals in it with him too. I can't abide these unelected moral guardian organisations that are made up of an extremely small number of people but manage to get quite a bit of airtime because they basically sound important.

Dubhghaillix

They're essentially the Irish strain of the anti-LGBT rights movement. From what I've heard about them they're mostly concerned with preventing marriage law reform, (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6888989.ece http://www.marriagequality.ie/news/2008/03/04/marriagequality-cochair-sets-out-case-for-gay-and-lesbian-marriage/) and promoting the Catholic Church. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't also doing their damnedest to undo the Divorce referendum; outlaw traveling for an abortion etc.. I think that god-awful Senator Rónán Mullens (The one who attacked PZ Myers on 4FM) and Brenda Power (The insufferable gay-bashing Sunday Times Columnist) have something to do with them. I've had the displeasure of encountering some of their bile in Constitutional Law articles and it's an experience I'd rather not repeat.

studiorat

Ho-ho-ho.
The Iona my favourite topic.

Well...
There's one family up their aristocratic, ultra right wing ears in it. Anti-Lisbon supporters back in the day from the looks of it too.
So culled from the "People Korps" blog comes this...

Deirdre Ascough’s sister in law Jacki is a writer for the far right fundamentalist Catholic ALIVE! newspaper. Jacki’s husband Tom Ascough is a director of the Iona Institute, a fundamentalist Catholic organisation. http://www.ionainstitute.ie/board_of_directors.php .

Brother Sean Ascough, like Tom, is a self-employed Chartered Mechanical and Electrical Engineer, and has almost twenty years experience of youth evangelisation and other religious initiatives.

Jacki is also a leading practitioner of Christian fertility initiatives. Jacki Ascough is a well known media commentator writing regularly in the ALIVE! newspaper. She is also a fertility care practioner. Her husband, Tom, is a mechanical engineer and sits on the board of The Iona Institute which is dedicated to arguing the case for marriage in civic society.

There's a few more but I'm in a bit of a rush, basically they want to put this country back in Medieval times. Caroline Simons of SPUC/Libertas fame is also up to her eyes in the Iona.

PeterIanStaker

This crowd sound like they'd be at home in the American Bible Belt. I hope people come to see that they are not interested in progress and merely preach a message of hate.

Zillah

It's a little ironic that a group describing themselves as a "think tank" do little more than mindlessly support conservative doctrine.

Wacker

I know Breda O'Brien (Conservative Catholic Irish Times columnist; writes on Saturdays) is a patron.

Galvasean

Should have known they had (family) ties with Alive! Truly a weird newspaper. As said here they wouldn't look out of place in the Bible belt. Alive! spend a lot of column inches trying to discredit evolution which is odd considering they are a Catholic newspaper (the official CC stance is that evolution happens).


On a side note, as per a prior conversation, Robindch will be pleased to know that my shop no longer stocks this rag.

eoin5

Alive!... Its like a window into sunday mass for my grandparents in their hayday. I kinda enjoy reading it tbh, I dont enjoy that some people might take it seriously though.

Well I suppose if youre talking about views gaining spotlight the more extreme the views are the fewer followers you need to end up getting airtime.

sponsoredwalk

Galvasean wrote: »

Should have known they had (family) ties with Alive! Truly a weird newspaper. As said here they wouldn't look out of place in the Bible belt. Alive! spend a lot of column inches trying to discredit evolution which is odd considering they are a Catholic newspaper (the official CC stance is that evolution happens).

Woah man, this paper is unbelievable! I've never read people more interested in Leninism, Marxism, young girls, condoms, asking for money & the immorality.

I read a Peter Hitchens column in it & he comes off like some dictator, absolutely scary.

Is there any action people can take against these contemponazi's spreading their 'filth' (Peter Hitchens favourite phrase ).

Shenshen

studiorat wrote: »

Ho-ho-ho.
The Iona my favourite topic.

Well...
There's one family up their aristocratic, ultra right wing ears in it. Anti-Lisbon supporters back in the day from the looks of it too.
So culled from the "People Korps" blog comes this...


There's a few more but I'm in a bit of a rush, basically they want to put this country back in Medieval times. Caroline Simons of SPUC/Libertas fame is also up to her eyes in the Iona.

What on earth are "Christian fertility initiatives"?






And do I even want to know, I wonder...

Dubhghaillix

Shenshen wrote: »

What on earth are "Christian fertility initiatives"?

My money's on either rogue crisis pregnancy agencies or an experiment with Conception through Abstinence.

Galvasean

Galvasean wrote: »

On a side note, as per a prior conversation, Robindch will be pleased to know that my shop no longer stocks this rag.

Correction: Was in the shop today. they are still there, just crammed into the corner partially obscured by the Irish language papers. The current edition has Scarlette Johansen on the cover, for what i do not know.

robindch

Galvasean wrote: »

Was in the shop today. they are still there, just crammed into the corner partially obscured by the Irish language papers.

Glad to hear you didn't leave them there

Galvasean

robindch wrote: »

Glad to hear you didn't leave them there

It's nothing personal, just business....

sonicthebadger*

Galvasean wrote: »

It's nothing personal, just business....

Do you own the shop or just work in it?

Galvasean

sonicthebadger* wrote: »

Do you own the shop or just work in it?

Just work. Might be a tad overstepping my authority to tell them to eff off with their propaganda.
Actually now that I think about it, I've worked there for nearly five years and have yet to see them being delivered or put on the shelves once....

studiorat

Shenshen wrote: »

What on earth are "Christian fertility initiatives"?

And do I even want to know, I wonder...

Aw no. You went and whetted my interest:

For the last eleven years Jackie Ascough has been practicing as a Fertility Care Practitioner in Killiney, Co. Dublin where she has worked with over 250 clients. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio/TV/Film from the University of North Texas.

Her qualification as a Fertility Care Practitioner was earned from The St. Joseph Healthcare Natural Family Planning Teacher Education Centre in St. Paul, Minnesota in the United States. Jackie is a board member of the Fertility Care Centres of Europe where she serves as the Public Relations Officer.

She also serves as a board member of Spirit Radio, the first National Christian radio station in Ireland. In summer of 2006 she co-hosted a radio chat show on Spirit FM.

Jackie lectures for Nurture Institute on the topic of psychosexual development of children 0-18. She is also involved with Nazareth Family Institute where she gives talks for marriage preparation concerning fertility and sexuality.

She has spoken at conferences held by HLI, Youth 2000, Pure In Heart and others. Jackie has appeared on RTE programmes such as PC, The Big Bite, Seoige and O’Shea, and the Late Late Show. She also is interviewed regularly on Newstalk and FM104. She writes a monthly column, Handing on the Faith, for the "Alive!" Paper. She also wrote for the "Voice Today" while it was in publication.

Jackie lives in Co. Dublin with her husband, Tom, and their six children Katie, Andrew, Hope, John, Christopher and baby due in February. They have home educated their children for the past seven years.

I'm amazed at her arrogance that she considers herself fit to educate children with a poxy media studies degree... Still I suppose they can buy their kids into one of the Catholic Madras' in the states at some stage.

Galvasean

"Bachelor of Arts degree in Radio/TV/Film from the University of North Texas."

Holy crap, I'm more qualified! :eek:

sonicthebadger*

"Jackie lectures for Nurture Institute on the topic of psychosexual development of children 0-18."

Oh dear. Does that include visits to the local man in black you think?

fisgon

Scarily, Patricia Casey, who is, I think a Professor of Psychology in UCD, is also a patron of this group. The mind boggles.

robindch

studiorat wrote: »

She writes a monthly column, Handing on the Faith, for the "Alive!" Paper

Somebody writes for "Alive"? 'nuff said.

fisgon wrote: »

Scarily, Patricia Casey, who is, I think a Professor of Psychology in UCD, is also a patron of this group. The mind boggles.

Casey is professor of psychiatry (not psychology) in UCD and is also a member of David Quinn's the Iona Institute, another far-right, dinner-party-sized pressure group.

Casey, BTW, was responsible for a weird one-sided, four-color glossy document named "The Psycho-Social Benefits of Religious Practice" which claims that being religious -- a bit like Guinness -- is good for you. Much more on this is on another of the II's expensively-produced websites here.

studiorat

You'll believe if you know what's good for you. The implications are kind of frightening.

What a waste of bandwidth. How the hell can you make a decision to believe simply because it might be good for you?

I suppose it's the modern version of hel and damnation, instead of being afraid of going to hell you're now meant to be afraid of having a nervous breakdown.

Dubhghaillix

Can't remember who said this but "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunk man is happier than a sober one"

PeterIanStaker

Dubhghaillix wrote: »

Can't remember who said this but "The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunk man is happier than a sober one"

George Bernard Shaw said that:)



Is the Iona institiute funded by the American Christian Right? Read that somewhere, maybe on this forum

robindch

PeterIanStaker wrote: »

Is the Iona institiute funded by the American Christian Right?

Unlikely, since the vast majority of the US's christianists are protestant and the II is hard-line catholic.

I'd imagine it's more likely that somebody like Tom Monaghan is behind the II. Actually, Monaghan has quite an interesting story. He's an American who was raised from early childhood by catholic nuns in an orphanage and he's been bankrolling catholic organizations for many years. My sources close to the Vatican (seriously ) indicated to me that he had, and probably still has, access to the highest levels there. Monaghan also set up a bizarre settlement named Ave Maria in Florida, the centerpiece of which is a university, the purposes of which are somewhat unclear. Monaghan was no doubt inspired by the Scientologists settlement of Clearwater, some three hours away.

Next time you order a Domino's pizza, remember where the money's going!

Anyhow, I'd love to hear where the II is getting its money from.

kiffer

robindch wrote: »

Unlikely, since the vast majority of the US's christianists are protestant and the II is hard-line catholic.

I'd imagine it's more likely that somebody like Tom Monaghan is behind the II. Actually, Monaghan has quite an interesting story. He's an American who was raised from early childhood by catholic nuns in an orphanage and he's been bankrolling catholic organizations for many years. My sources close to the Vatican (seriously ) indicated to me that he had, and probably still has, access to the highest levels there. Monaghan also set up a bizarre settlement named Ave Maria in Florida, the centerpiece of which is a university, the purposes of which are somewhat unclear. Monaghan was no doubt inspired by the Scientologists settlement of Clearwater, some three hours away.

Next time you order a Domino's pizza, remember where the money's going!

Anyhow, I'd love to hear where the II is getting its money from.

Sounds like the plot to SnowCrash...

Dubhghaillix

robindch wrote: »

Anyhow, I'd love to hear where the II is getting its money from.

Nothing obvious from the website. They have charitable status and are a private ltd company. They list a couple of Patrons, and I assume they're financial ones.

Dr James Sheehan: James Sheehan is founder of the Blackrock, Galway Clinics and Hermitage Clinics, private medical facilities which operate according to a Catholic ethos.

I'd guess he'd have a bit of dosh to throw their way.

Couldn't hurt to ask 'em, they're on twitter. If they were truly conservative they'd be using carrier pigeons, to match the age of their opinions.

studiorat

robindch wrote: »

Monaghan also set up a bizarre settlement named Ave Maria in Florida, the centerpiece of which is a university, the purposes of which are somewhat unclear.

Nice post. Garreth Kellegher (Shelbourne Properties) sits on the Board of Regents at Ave Maria University. Kellegher is also the chairman for Legatus in Ireland a Catholic Business Cabal.

Legatus Executive Membership Criteria are as follows:
Primary membership for the top ranking Catholic in a business
Requirements
Manufacturing/Sales/Service
1) Title: Chairman, President, CEO, Owner, Managing Director, Managing Partner, Publisher
2) Personnel: 30 employees Or 10 employees and $1M annual payroll
3) Volume/Value : $5 Million OR $10M Net Value

Financial Services
1) Title: Same titles
2) Personnel: 10 employees
3) Volume/Value :$100 Million (assets)

Apparently Kellegher is into Anglo Irish for €50million on the Chicago spire.
http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2008/dec/28/anglo-irish-crisis-leads-to-work-halting-on-chicag/

Oddly enough Kellegher also owns the office in Brussells where Libertas had their offices and used to sit in on their meetings.

And guess what? Kellegher's wife Maeve sits on the board of the Iona Institute aswell !!! Its website describes her as "married with six [now seven] children. She is a stay-at-home mother," but doesn't mention her half a dozen company directorships.

http://www.avemaria.edu/boardofregents2/

http://www.legatus.org/public/index.asp

In the words of former employees and members, Legatus has become:

• “a salve to soothe the consciences of Catholic businessmen who screwed their way to the top”
• “a once-noble vision that is now reduced to a convenient donor list for Tom Monaghan’s pet projects”
• “a superficial exercise in meet, greet, and eat”
• “an organization that does not practice what it preaches in terms of ethics”

http://avewatch.com/?p=43#more-43

studiorat

From my new favorite website:

“Woman Kneels Before Monaghan“ – “In the presence of other employees, Monaghan then proceeded to tell Daum to kneel in front of him so that he could determine whether the skirt touched the floor and was subsequently in compliance with the dress code.”

http://avewatch.com/?p=701

You couldn't make it up...

robindch

studiorat wrote: »

Oddly enough Kellegher also owns the office in Brussells where Libertas had their offices and used to sit in on their meetings.

Interesting. I wonder if that's linked to Declan Ganley's late flowering in the matter of hard-line religion early last year and his weird appearance at a far-right religious gathering in Donegal last year organized by an anti-abortion group and the "John Paul II Society":

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0209/1233867926979.html

Also interesting to see that young Kellegher wasn't listed amongst the property developers who donated large sums to the Vatican a year or two back:

http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/top-developers-donated-huge-sums-to-vatican-2072679.html