Church and State - Review of clerical role is long overdue

THE row between Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Tánaiste Mary Harney and PD Deputy Liz O’Donnell over the involvement of the Catholic Church in the primary education system has rekindled arguments over the relationship between Church and State in Ireland.

Following Ms O’Donnell’s forthright call to end the Church-State special relationship, sharp differences have emerged in the Coalition.

On one side of the argument, Mr Ahern no doubt had an astute eye on the clerical vote when the Fianna Fáil leader strongly defended the Church’s role in education. On the other side of the battle, PD leader Ms Harney has backed her party colleague, saying she strongly supports many of the sentiments expressed by Ms O’Donnell.

Over-arching these political divisions are the damning conclusions of the investigation into child sex abuse by priests in the diocese of Ferns.

Significantly, it found that for decades Church and State officials had swept the nefarious activities of paedophile clerics under the carpet.

Historically, there have long been tensions between the interests of the Church and an increasingly secular State. These strains were graphically illustrated in the course of bitterly-fought referenda on divorce and abortion.

Young people are now leaving the Church in droves, disillusioned by what they regard as the hypocrisy of a Church that preached a doctrine of sexual morality while priests in dioceses across the country were involved in a series of appalling scandals. As a result, its once unquestioned authority has been severely eroded.

Against the backdrop of a litany of abuse against young children in Ferns, the outspoken demands by Ms O’Donnell to cut the umbilical cord linking Church and State are bound to gain considerable public sympathy.

However, the PDs must bear a measure of responsibility for the controversial Government decision to indemnify religious orders in the institutional abuse scandal, leaving tax-payers with a compensation bill running to hundreds of millions of euro.

Nonetheless, it must also be acknowledged that the vast majority of priests and nuns are above question. Moreover, the Church has wielded a highly positive influence on this country’s social and educational development.

But modern Ireland is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Our many-layered society is multi-ethnic and multi-religious. Increasingly, parents are demanding greater choice in the education of their children.

For the Catholic Primary Schools Association to claim that studies show the majority of people are satisfied that the Church should manage schools will not convince the sceptics. The association should publish those studies.

While the Taoiseach believes the Catholic Church’s role in managing primary schools is ‘indispensable’ his comments were seen as ill-timed and poorly-judged by Colm O’Gorman, director of the abuse victims’ organisation One in Four.

As a separate probe opens into the scandal of widespread clerical sex abuse in Dublin, Mr O’Gorman’s acid conclusion was that the Taoiseach “has either not yet read the Ferns Report or has yet to grasp its significance”.

It goes without saying that the debate sparked by Ms O’Donnell ranges far beyond the controversy currently engulfing the Church over the appalling sexual abuse of children by priests.

Arguably, given the rapid transformation of Irish society, an educational regime that puts 98% of primary schools under the managerial control of one Church is no longer feasible or desirable.

Amid mounting clamour for a radical overhaul of the Church’s involvement in the realm of primary education, a dispassionate and in-depth review of its role and of its special relationship with the State is not only warranted but long overdue.