Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has justified the initiative to remove some primary schools from the patronage of the Catholic Church
on the grounds that parents must be given a choice of schools according
to their religious beliefs or lack thereof.
The Minister seems to
mistakenly believe that parents who wish to send their children to a
second-level school where there is no religious influence have access to
such schools.
In Ireland, most second-level schools are
controlled, directly or indirectly, by Catholic religious orders.
Community schools, which many people believe to be secular, have
trustees, who, except in the case of five Church of Ireland
community schools, are Catholic religious orders and vocational
education committees (VECs).
This situation has arisen because many
community schools originated as amalgamations of religious secondary
schools and vocational schools.
Community schools
Community schools
When new community schools were being established, the Catholic Church insisted that they would also have religious trustees.
It judged
that, given the low status of vocational schools, parents were more
likely to accept new schools in which the Catholic teaching orders were
involved.
The principal negotiator for the church when the community schools were being established was Dr Brendan Comiskey,
later to become Bishop of Ferns.
Comiskey strongly resisted demands for
a greater role for teachers and parents in managing community schools.
Some of the first principals and teachers in the new schools were former
members of the orders who were patrons of the schools.
While there are two parent representatives on
the board of management of community schools, they have little influence
on key decisions as they are outnumbered by the representatives of the
religious orders, the teachers’ unions and the VECs .
All community schools teach religion as a core
subject and have chaplains paid by the State.
A challenge in the High
Court by the Campaign to Separate Church and State to the payment of
such chaplains was rejected. Although community schools purport to
facilitate pupils who do not wish to participate in religious education,
this rarely occurs.
Church involvement
Even the VEC-managed community colleges, where there is no
direct church involvement, teach religion and have Catholic chaplains,
although they are not paid by the State.
Last year a pupil at Borrisokane Community College
who subscribes to no religion publicised the fact that, while the
college claimed to be non-denominational, he was forced to attend a
Catholic prayer service.
The school principal confirmed this had
occurred, stating that students could not be exempted from the service
because they would otherwise be unsupervised.
Only Protestant pupils in Ireland are guaranteed the right to attend a second-level school which conforms to their ethos.
If they cannot afford the fees to attend a Protestant boarding school, they are subsidised by taxpayers.
Several of these so-called Protestant schools
now have a majority of pupils who are not Protestant, and whatever
religion is taught is broad and uncontentious.
Religion addresses the meaning and purpose of life.
It should therefore be taught to those who wish to learn the answers to those questions provided by Christianity and other faiths.
For those who do not, schools should provide other opportunities to examine questions of meaning and morality.