Catholic education - Time to end dominance of one voice

WHETHER he said it or not the phrase sometimes attributed to Éamon de Valera – “a Catholic State for a Catholic people” – rang true, especially for non-Catholics, in this country for very many decades.

There were few spheres where this influence assumed more power, a more active presence, than in education. The Catholic Church dominated education for most of the last century and the consequent legacy still prevails. Its authority was absolute and Catholicism was not slow to wield its power; or as others might see it, impose its intolerance.

In living memory teachers were fired because their private lives did not satisfy Catholic expectations. It is only a few decades since some Catholics felt the need, or felt browbeaten enough, to seek the permission of their bishop to attend Trinity College.

It must be acknowledged however, that the education provided by the teaching orders did more than anything else to improve the lot of Irish people. However, recent events have reopened the debate about Catholic influence in national schools.

Some views have been influenced by the horrors recorded by the Ryan and Murphy reports. The repeated failings of a society that seems unable to follow an effective moral compass despite generations of Catholic education has had an influence too. The half-witted, demeaning charades being played out in Stormont, which after all are rooted in centuries-old religious hatreds, have an influence as well.

The Catholic Church is patron of 92% of the 3,200 primary schools in this country. This inherited dominance no longer reflects our reality. It also gives rise to pathetic hypocrisy on the part of so many parents and the Catholic Church, especially where admission policies give priority to members of a certain church.

Though the majority of Irish people are Catholic, nominally if not in practice, a system that does not put religious barriers between students and access to education is more appropriate. This system could advance a universal ethos to serve and build a pluralist society rather than a culture dominated by one set of beliefs. It would honestly reflect what we have rather than what we sometimes pretend we have.

An ever-evolving society, a multicultural population, globalisation, and communities who will support belief systems but reject hatred and discrimination as a response to difference make this inevitable.

The Catholic Church faces many challenges. How it continues to participate in education is just one. Changing a situation where the Catholic Church is patron to 92% of our national schools is desirable but it does not mean the end of Catholic education. It just means that it would be one voice among many.