THE Catholic Church does not see this week's national debate on
primary school patronage as being about the number of buildings it will
hand over to other bodies, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said.
Speaking
in St Colmcille's parish at Knocklyon, Dublin, Archbishop Martin
insisted that bishops were concerned about "the quality of the faith
life of the Catholic school".
He was responding to Education
Minister Ruairi Quinn's call for the church to divest itself of 50pc of
its 3,000 schools from its control to accommodate the growing
non-Catholic sector.
The debate opens on Wednesday in the Department of Education.
"The
current discussion on changes in school patronage is not just about
management or ethos or about numbers," said Archbishop Martin. "Catholic
patronage of a school does not on its own bring about a truly Catholic
culture to a school.
"For the church the discussion about schools
today is not about the number of schools that may change patronage, but
about the quality of the faith life of the Catholic school."
Ninety
per cent of Dublin primary schools are under Archbishop Martin's
patronage, although parents wanting a Catholic education for their
children could be as low as 50pc of the school population.
But in a
submission to forum chairman Professor John Coolahan, four bishops
heading the Council for Education of the Episcopal Conference challenged
Mr Quinn's 50pc suggestion as "very unhelpful".
Bishop of
Kilmore, Leo O'Reilly, explained that Mr Quinn's stance suggested that
Catholic schools "will be forced into change against their will".
"We
are not involved in social engineering but in the voluntary transfer of
patronage where there is demonstrable demand for such," added Bishop
O'Reilly.
Negotiated
The bishops' education council said any change in patronage must be negotiated locally.
"A
decision to change patronage must be a voluntary operation," they
warned, pointing out that in any case of a change of patronage,
provision must be made for the rights of Catholic parents and their
children.
Last April Mr Quinn set an "ambitious" objective for the
forum. "If we aim high, there is a greater chance of success," he said,
stressing that he was not rigid about the 50pc figure.
The
archbishop was speaking at a commissioning ceremony of nine pastoral
workers who will ease the pressure arising from numbers of clergy by
assisting in parish work.