This month will be marked by thousands of new communicants entering the Catholic faith in Ireland.
I admire Hilary Fannin’s ability to take a light-hearted and humorous
approach to this sacrament and its associated commercialism in her
recent column (
Irish Times
, May 17th), but I cannot see any funny side to this sacrament
given the impact its promotion has on those pupils in Catholic schools
who are not a part of it.
After almost four years of involvement in cake
sales and fundraising, bingo games, summer fetes and school plays, my
daughter’s sense of belonging and inclusion in her local national school
has come to an abrupt end.
For the past few weeks, my daughter has, for
vast swathes of time, been reading, drawing and colouring on her own to
alleviate her boredom and provide distraction during what is official
class time. She is not making her Communion, unlike almost all her
fellow pupils.
Notwithstanding the kindness and professionalism of her
teacher, my daughter’s exclusion is palpable and has caused considerable
distress.
I know some readers will ask why I chose to
send her to a Catholic school in the first place.
To that question the
answers are simple.
First, it is the local school, the school for my community and I wish my family to be a part of that community.
Second, I am a taxpaying citizen of this State and my taxes fund this school.
Third, the non-Catholic school options in the
area in which I live are minimal, as is the case nationwide: the vast
majority (96 per cent) of primary schools in Ireland are owned and under
the patronage of religious denominations and approximately 90 per cent
of these schools are owned and under the patronage of the Catholic Church.
How will we ever achieve tolerance and
diversity in education and by extension society if we continually
exclude non-Catholic children from some of the activities of these
classrooms?
The system of education that exists in Ireland today is
essentially one of fundamentalist State-sponsored Catholic control.
‘One religion here’
Ireland of the thousand welcomes is a different place inside the four walls of a national school classroom; there it is a case of “one religion here”, “others, or none, over there”.
If the rights of the child, which are said to
be taken seriously by State and society, are of genuine concern, then
why can we not discuss the rights of the child in the classroom? Why
must non-Catholic children continue to endure a different education to
their Catholic peers? Where is the equality in that?
Can religious tuition not be undertaken outside
of core school hours so that a level playing pitch is provided in the
classroom?
While there are such pilot schemes under way around the
country as a result of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the
Primary Sector established in 2011, anyone who has observed the speed at
which the church relinquishes control in this country understands that
such schemes may not be rolled out for decades, during which more
children will suffer discrimination in a room that should prize them as
equals.
I am still baffled at the inertia shown with
regard to removing the education of so many of our children from the
control of the Catholic Church.
I am aware that in the 2011 census 84.2 per
cent of respondents ticked the “Catholic” box.
But how many of these are
“Catholics” that have not been inside a church since their wedding day
or their child’s christening? How many of these are the same “Catholics”
who do not know when to genuflect, kneel or stand during the Communion
Mass?
Are these also the “Catholics” who complain
that they are forced to attend six Masses before their child can make
his or her Communion?
Are these the same “Catholics” who have told me
that they will get their child into better secondary schools if they are
seen to have their children take Catholic sacraments?
My experience of
many fellow parents suggests little evidence of genuine faith or
Catholic practice on their part.
State-sponsored religious control
I am not intolerant of any religion.
What I do object to is
the exclusion of my children inside their classrooms.
This
State-sponsored religious control is not tolerant or inclusive.
To many
of my peers, my generation of 40-somethings who espouse liberal views on
women’s equality, the environment, social issues and rights, and who
are forthright and outspoken and for the most part proud of their
tolerance on these questions, I say this: you have a blind spot when it
comes to the Catholic Church and display much hypocrisy.
Whether it is to keep grandparents happy, or
smooth your child’s path through the education system or just to make
life easy, your selfishness, blind box-ticking and facilitating your
children’s induction into a church that you are not a real, practising
part of, all have the same end result: the continuance of church control
of schools and a failure to create diverse and inclusive classrooms.
Sheila Maher is a writer and VEC teacher based in Dublin