A senior bishop has criticised Catholic parents who avoid sending their children to schools which cater for pupils of immigrants.Bishop of Killaloe Willie Walsh issued his criticism at the launch in Dublin yesterday of a pastoral letter from the Irish Bishops Conference, titled 'Vision 08: A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland'.
Accepting that it was natural for parents to try to enrol their child in what they regard as the most suitable school, Bishop Walsh said he had observed occasionally that there was a moving out to a country school from a town where immigrants were living.
"I would certainly try to discourage that as much as possible," he said. "Particular exclusivity in relation to class is not part of the Catholic ethos of our school system."
Bishop Walsh regretted that for too long the Department of Education allowed the Catholic Church to shoulder the burden of social integration in the Irish education system.
"The Church has been used as a scapegoat, somewhat unfairly, and some blame has been attached to the Catholic school system for social problems," the bishop said. "It was long-term planning by the Department of Education that caused that difficulty.
"We (the Catholic bishops) accept the fact that we have more schools than we need to cater for those who want a Catholic education, and we welcome the entry of other patrons such as the VEC into the system to shoulder the burden."
Blueprint
Bishop Leo O'Reilly, who chaired a three-year consultation process to produce the blueprint, said that although the Church was not opening many new primary schools, all its schools had expanded three-fold in the past 10 years.
The Catholic Church controls 90pc of the country's 3,200 primary schools and runs over 400 voluntary secondary schools.
"You might get the impression from figures published by the Department of Education that Catholic schools are on the wane, but the fact is there are far more pupils attending Catholic schools than a decade ago," he said.
The Cavan-based bishop announced the setting up of a Catholic education service to offer support and bring cohesion to Catholic education in Ireland, North and South.
Bishop O'Reilly said 'Vision 08' aimed to raise awareness about the valuable contribution and unique character of Catholic schools in Irish society.
"As Ireland changes from a homogeneous country to a multicultural society, diversity in schools increases," said Bishop O'Reilly. "We are conscious of this dynamic and we will play our part in assisting our schools in continuing to be places of welcome, respect and tolerance."
Sister Elizabeth Maxwell, president of the Conference of Religious in Ireland, reaffirmed their commitment to Catholic schools in spite of the decline in vocations.
"We have not withdrawn from Catholic education," she said. "Religious congregations have devoted much energy over the past 10 years to developing new models for the trusteeship of schools. Increasingly, we have involved lay people in assuring the distinctive ethos of our schools into the future."
The document, which is being translated into Irish and Polish, will be sent to the teachers' unions, parent associations, patron bodies, trustee bodies, boards of management and policy-makers, as well as Dail deputies and members of the Stormont parliament.
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