Government belittling Church's educational achievements, says bishop

The Catholic Church has accused the Government of trying to belittle its role in educating tens of thousands of schoolchildren over several decades.

Bishop Leo O'Reilly also called on Leaving Cert students to consider the priesthood or religious in their career options.

Speaking at the Parnell Summer School in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, the senior cleric said the Church wanted to be consulted more in the provision of new schools in communities.

Education is the theme of the annual six-day event, held in the ancestral home of former political leader Charles Stewart Parnell in Co Wicklow.

Bishop O'Reilly said a recent Department of Education dossier only briefly acknowledges the Church's long-time role in running hundreds of schools across the country.

"The only mention of school patrons, who are after all the providers of education, in the entire document is in this brief paragraph which seems to relegate them to the past and seems to consign their role in school ownership to history," said Bishop O'Reilly, who is chair of the Bishop's Commission on Education.

"There seems to be a policy assumption in the Department of Education that every new school at second level should be multi-denominational," he noted.

Bishop O'Reilly said only two voluntary secondary schools have been built in the past 30 years.

He added that the Catholic Church intends to provide Catholic education schools for as long as there is demand from parents.

Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin said recently that the Catholic Church may relinquish control of some primary schools to provide a wider mix of education options for parents.

The prelate, who is a patron of 460 primary schools across his sprawling diocese, was speaking at a conference in Dublin addressing the challenges facing the governance of schools.

In a bid to woo school leavers towards religious careers, Bishop O'Reilly said: "I would ask young men and women to consider the religious life and priesthood as a vocation option.

"I have no doubt that God is calling young women and men of this generation to give their lives to spreading the Gospel and our society needs this service too."

Integration Minister Conor Lenihan will address the Parnell Summer School tomorrow while the North's Education Minister Caitriona Ruane will speak on Friday.

The event in Avondale House has drawn academics form Trinity College, Boston College, UCC, UCD, NUI Galway, Dublin City University and the University of Ulster.