Parents’ role in study of faith in the spotlight

Catholic parents may have to do more to help their children’s faith formation as schools’ share of the duties risks being removed, the Church’s leader in Ireland said.

Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin suggested this as a likely positive outcome of education policy changes that he raised concerns about, such as the preparation for sacraments being moved outside of class times at non-Catholic schools.

The primate of the Catholic Church in all of Ireland said that, by choosing to send their children to a Catholic school, parents exercise a human and constitutional right to have them educated in accordance with their religious beliefs. However, he said the Catholic school may also be relied on too much in recent years to be the ‘driver’ in the process, rather than links being built between families, schools, and local church communities. He said it is no surprise that Catholic parents, families, and parishes will defend the spirit of their school’s ethos “against those who lack an understanding of it, or would actively seek to undermine it”.