As long as Catholic parents want Catholic schools, the Church will endeavour to provide them.We believe in a partnership approach to education.
Teachers, parents and parish, working together in the best interests of the child, make for a good educational experience and serve the best interest of society.
For historical reasons, patronage has been undertaken in large part by the main churches in Ireland. This system has served Irish society well but in the present context of a rapidly developing pluralist society and major social change there is need for re-evaluation of current school provision.
Any re-evaluation must take account of the wishes of parents. This is clear from recent research on parental attitudes determining school choice.
In a nutshell, the Catholic Church strongly believes that there ought to be greater diversity in the patronage of schools, and therefore greater choice for parents. A prerequisite in this regard is the requirement that teachers, and school Boards of Management, are adequately supported in terms of resources by the Department of Education and Science. For our part, the Catholic Church is conscious of its responsibilities to teachers and parents and will continue to work in partnership with them at a local level.
Importantly, the Church views diversity in society and denominational education as complementary rather than being mutually exclusive. The Church has an exemplary record in providing education to both Catholic pupils and to those of other faith traditions where possible and subject to resources available. A 'one-size-fits-all' model for primary school provision is inadequate to meet the needs and complexity of modern society. An education system which gives no recognition to legitimately held philosophical, ethical, cultural and religious beliefs, runs counter to the need for inclusion in the multicultural Ireland of today.
For these reasons I welcome as I did before the proposed new model of patronage announced by the Minister of Education and Science last year.
But I welcome it as an extra model which will provide greater diversity in the education system, not as a model which will replace and will become the default choice for all new schools. I welcome particularly the fact that the new model is to be genuinely multi-denominational. In this context I again reject the charge that the Church is asking for a veto on teacher appointments in these new schools.
We are simply asking for what any other denomination or faith body would require, namely that those who teach a particular faith should be qualified to do so, and that it be recognised as it always has been, that the Catholic Church is the best judge of who is qualified to teach the Catholic Faith. The factors that influence parents in their choice of school seem not to have been considered by those who oppose denominational education as a patronage model. The current public debate and the research results serve as significant challenges to Catholic education at primary level. There are children in Catholic schools who have not chosen the school because it is Catholic. In some cases it was the only school with places available.
There are a number among the non-EU parents who do not find it easy to enrol their children.
Figures for those who would choose schools under a religious denomination reveal differing attitudes to faith schools.
A substantial minority would not choose a school under the management of a religious denomination.
These findings, and others, point to challenges ahead for Church and State.
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Sotto Voce