Three
leading Catholic academics have criticised a Department of Education
survey seeking views on how Church-run schools can be made more
inclusive.
Prof Eamonn Conway, Dr Eugene Duffy and Dr Rik Van Nieuwenhove, from
the Dept. of Theology & Religious Studies at Mary Immaculate College
in Limerick sent their submission in a personal capacity to Education
Minister Ruairí Quinn this week in response to his eight-week
consultation process on religious and cultural inclusion in primary
schools.
Their joint submission, seen by The Irish Catholic, accuses the
department of “conveying the impression that currently in Catholic
schools inclusion is the exception, rather than already the norm”.
Evidence
The theologians support divesting patronage from Catholic schools
where there is “sufficient and convincing evidence of parental demand”,
and on the basis that schools remaining under Catholic patronage will be
“allowed to function in accordance with their characteristic spirit”.
However, they “do not accept that the findings of the consultation thus
far conducted by the Department of Education and Skills have produced
such evidence of parental demand”.
Their submission alleges that what is being proposed requires
Catholic schools “to fulfil the State’s duty of catering for children of
non-Christian parents”.
Spirit
“Bizarrely, Catholic schools are to be given the impossible task of
supporting all faiths and none, regardless of the impact this will have
on their own characteristic spirit,” the statement says.
“If these proposals are implemented, a legitimate concern to
safeguard the rights of a minority will effectively vitiate the rights
of the majority. The Irish State has the obligation to facilitate the
provision of education of people with non-Christian worldviews.
“However, it cannot reasonably expect Christian schools to diminish
their own identity and renege on their mission to provide a formation in
the Christian faith for the children in their care,”
it says.
Practical suggestions made in the submission:
▪ Support
fully the development of non-Catholic and non-religious schools where
there is a properly documented demographic and sociological demand for
same.
▪ Work with
patrons of Catholic schools and support bodies, e.g. the CPSMA, to
support the full, authentic and effective implementation of the
characteristic spirit of Catholic schools, which includes the
distinctively Catholic understanding of inclusion and respect for the
richness and diversity of other beliefs and cultures. This includes
co-operating with the Church in providing continuing professional
development for parents, teachers, principals and members of Boards of
Management of Catholic schools.
▪ Co-operate with appropriate bodies in the development of curricular and
other resources that support and encourage inclusion and the
acknowledgment of diversity in a manner fostered by, consistent with and
founded upon the distinctiveness of Catholic education. Useful here are
the principles for dialogue, and for respect for inclusion and
diversity developed in the context of the ‘Courtyard of the Gentiles’
project of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and the emergence of the
concept of a ‘culture of encounter’ in the ministry of Pope Francis.
▪ Accept
and acknowledge the reality that ‘neutrality is never neutral’, and that
the ethos of a school, whether religious or secular, is never a private
matter.
▪ Retain
sacramental preparation as an integral part of the programme in Catholic
schools, including in ‘stand-alone’ schools.
▪ Encourage
Catholic and other faith-based schools in their continuing excellent
work in the service of inclusion and involvement of all pupils in the
life of the school and community. This means encouraging them to
continue to display their religious symbols and artefacts in an
authentic and integral manner, while providing proper pedagogy in regard
to such symbols and artefacts to pupils of other faiths. At the same
time, support schools in continuing to provide opportunities for those
who hold other beliefs to respect them and deepen their own faith
commitment.
▪ Acknowledge and support fully in Catholic schools the appropriately
privileged position of Christian holy days, feasts, and sacraments, by
showing due respect for these, and ensure that Catholic children will
learn respect for the festivals of other religions, and non-Catholics
will learn to cherish their own.
▪ Retain and support Catholic Religious Education as an integral dimension of the
curriculum of Catholic schools. There is no need to introduce a secular
Education about Religion and Beliefs, and Ethics module because
Catholic RE will include engagement with other worldviews (both religious and non-religious) from a Catholic perspective; this can also involve knowledge of, and occasional exposure to, the practices and symbols of
other religions.
But it should not end up in an indifferent, relativist
‘super-market style’ display throughout the school of the religious
symbols of all denominations, as if they are all equally valid from a
Catholic point of view.