News Briefs

Noting that more than a third of registered Irish births occurred outside marriage in the first three months of 2010, Patricia Casey, a professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin, called for a national debate on the benefits of raising children in a married setting. • Though supporters of the initiative could not cite a single case of Shariah law being used in Oklahoma, voters there approved a ballot measure on Nov. 2 that blocks judges from considering Islamic or international law when making a ruling. • Thomas P. Gaunt, S.J., executive secretary for the Jesuit Conference in Washington since 2001, was named executive director of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University on Oct. 27. • A group of survivors of sexual abuse were prevented from observing a moment of silence in St. Peter’s Square by Italian police on Oct. 31, but their representatives were allowed to leave letters for Pope Benedict XVI. • Israeli legislation proposing that community boards be allowed to reject new residents who do not suit “cultural and social perspectives” provoked a walkout of the Knesset’s Arab members on Oct. 27.