Bishops’ education blueprint — so what’s new?

VARIOUS sources in the media have given the recent bishops’ pastoral letter on the future of Catholic education a warm welcome.

I’m not sure the letter deserves such rapturous attention.

As far as I can see, the bishops said three things of importance:

1. Some schools will be going from direct management by dioceses and religious orders to a new trusteeship arrangement. This is not new. For example, the Christian Brothers have had such an arrangement in place for more than a year. The trusteeship arrangement neither necessarily empowers parents (the trustees are appointed by the brothers, not elected) nor increases the chances that a school becomes multi or non-denominational (the CBS trust charter explicitly states that schools under the trust’s wing should be Catholic and denominational).

2. Children of all religions and none will be welcome in Catholic schools. This is not new either. Everyone knows non-Catholic children are accepted into Catholic schools when Catholic children have been accommodated. And the Dublin archdiocese went further last autumn when it said it wouldn’t prefer Catholic children over non-Catholics in their schools (and here indeed credit was due). But the latest pastoral doesn’t even go as far as extending the Dublin policy to the rest of the country.

3. The bishops admitted there are more Catholic school places than are needed to meet demand. This isn’t new either. It could even be argued this is the real reason that non-Catholic children are welcomed into Catholic schools.

Three recently-published surveys (all by organisations close to the Catholic Church) confirm that about half of Irish parents do not want denominational education for their children in a country where well over 92% of school places are denominational and Catholic.

Having read the bishops’ letter and the accompanying blurb, I have to admit I can’t see any special insight, any particular generosity or any remarkable originality in any of it. Of course, I’d like to be in a position to give credit where it’s due. But perhaps someone should point out what special merits the bishops’ statement in fact had — apart from its effectiveness as a PR operation.

Jaime Hyland

Heinrich-Mann-Str 26

13156 Berlin