THE POSITION paper issued last week by the Catholic Schools
Partnership (CSP) – the new umbrella group for Catholic schools –
represents the opening salvo in what is likely to be a long war on
school patronage.
Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn wants 1,500
schools (about 50 per cent of all primary schools) transferred to other
patrons.
But achieving this will be a very tall order.
The
CSP paper outlines the value of Catholic schools as places where the
emphasis is on “the dignity of the human person as a child of God called
to work with other persons in creating an inclusive community in
service of the common good.”
It argues that a transfer of
patronage should only take place where sufficient demand for a school
under different patronage can be demonstrated, following some pilot
projects, and only after dialogue with the local community.
Who could possibly argue with this very reasonable approach to this issue?
Well I think the CSP is wrong to oppose the Quinn plan.
I
believe that the minister’s initiative is a very positive one.
If
implemented will greatly strengthen both Irish society and the Catholic
Church.
Some teachers who know me may be surprised by these views,
coming from an ex-seminarian and someone with 20 years experience of
religious education.
I have also acted as course co-ordinator to the
post- graduate religious education programmes in UCD over 15 years.
Here’s my reasoning.
I
believe that there is nothing more destructive to the faith of a child
than to be catechised and prepared for sacraments by teachers who are
not themselves practising Catholics.
It is a lose-lose situation.
The
teachers can resent having to do this work.
It teaches the child at a
very early stage in their personal development that it is okay to say
one thing, and believe something completely different.
Where has that
insight led us to as a society?
The current situation is
unsatisfactory in another way.
At the moment all schools can give
preference to applicants within their own faith community.
I spoke
recently to a parent who declared himself an agnostic.
He was forced to
obtain a baptismal certificate for his child in order to enrol him at
the local school of his choice.
What does this say to the fellow pupils of that child?
They
find themselves queuing up to receive confirmation with someone who
openly declares that they have never been in a church before and may
never be again.
I believe this kind of hypocrisy undermines our
civic society and personal morality.
And we have had very serious
failures of business ethics in this society in the past two decades.
It is for these reasons that I support the minister’s proposals to give real choice to parents.
If
parents and teachers have a real choice – between a school where
Catholic faith formation is an integral part of the curriculum and an
alternate patronage model - it will result in a far healthier civic
society.
And a far healthier Catholic Church.
Brian Mooney is a guidance counsellor at Oatlands College, Stillorgan, Dublin - Some
teachers who know me may be surprised by these views, coming from an
ex-seminarian and someone with 20 years experience of religious
education