Madam, – The Irish Catholic Church has lately intimated through Archbishop Diarmuid Martin that it would no longer insist on continuing to govern the very large number of public primary schools which it owns and controls, and has done since the foundation of the State (Home News, February 23rd). This volte-face is to be welcomed, seeing that the majority of the population no longer feels its children should be force-fed any one particular religious ethos or creed.
The State will therefore assume the ownership of these many schools, and will as a consequence be compelled to purchase them from their clerical owners. In view of the tardy and inadequate manner in which the institutional Catholic Church has so far behaved regarding the recompense and treatment of the huge numbers who have suffered abuse and pain at the hands of its ministers and clergy, would it not now be just and proper that these school buildings and appurtenances should be donated free and unentailed to the State? After all, the Irish State has always paid for the maintenance and salaries of these schools and their teachers over the years, and the cost of such a purchase, despite the recent fall in real estate worth, would amount to yet another serious financial burden on this already deeply indebted country.
Such a gesture on the part of the Irish Catholic Church would go some way towards making up for the terrible deeds, so long covered up, of its clergy. Handwringing and the public washing of feet may be symbolic, but are singularly inadequate in such circumstances, and the institutional church has a long road to travel towards its hoped-for rehabilitation. This could be seen as a welcome step in this journey. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn wants to see half of the schools currently under church patronage moved to an alternative guardianship. If promoting pluralism is one of the reasons for this change, then that logic should operate in other spheres, especially in the political arena. The Labour Party claims to be a socialist party and yet it has gone into coalition with a centre-right party Fine Gael, giving the Government the largest majority ever achieved in the Dáil. In the interests of political pluralism, Mr Quinn’s Labour Party should be willing to donate one half of its assets to the Socialist Party. This would make the Socialist Party a more effective opposition force, which in turn, would be good for Irish democracy. Would the faithful of the Labour Party welcome this gesture?
I value faith-based schools because they can give a more holistic education.
For example, when a biology teacher is sharing with her/his students the extraordinary biological and biochemistry processes involved in photosynthesis, in a faith-based school this can include, not alone the stupendous complexity at work in the process, but the awe that this knowledge might evoke from the students. This could then lead to a discussion of the connectedness of all life on the planet, and the need for humans to stop being a destructive force for other creatures. Encouraging students to link biology with faith and ethics promotes a much more rounded education than if one banishes the faith from this discourse.
Mr Quinn, and others who promote a secularist educational philosophy, would like us to believe that their position is value–neutral. It is nothing of the sort, since it denies the existence or relevance of the spiritual dimension of life. I believe that, when people fill in the census form on April 10th, the vast majority will indicate that they are religious people. Will Minister Quinn shape Government education policy to cater for their needs, or those of a small, campaigning secularist minority? – Yours, etc,