Madam, - I write to comment on the feature "Is the flame about to die?" (Weekend Review, April 14th). This article dealt with the apparent diminution in the knowledge of the Catholic faith in Ireland as highlighted by recent surveys.
I was interviewed by the author of the article and now wish to take issue with the contents on the following grounds.
1. The article concentrates exclusively on the primary school and on its role in passing on the faith. Primary school religious education programmes are mentioned 20 times in the article and the current Alive-Oprogramme is specifically mentioned 10 times.
In the recent survey from the Iona Institute and the Evangelical alliance, the cohort of 15- to 24year-olds scored badly when answering knowledge-based questions. This cohort of respondents was in primary school between the years 1986 and 2002. Given the phased introduction of the Alive-Oprogramme (beginning in 1996), it should be pointed out that at most 5 per cent of that group actually came into contact with the programme. Therefore any criticism of the Alive-Oprogramme, either direct or implied, in connection with the recent survey is very wide of the mark.
2. My second point of issue, which I made to the writer of the article but which was omitted, is best illustrated by the following quote from an Irish bishops' pastoral letter: "Sad experience the whole world over shows that Catholic schools on their own just cannot and will not make children good young Catholics. Unless there is religion in the home, even the most perfect school religion programme will be a total failure."
3. Besides the home and the school a third agency, under God, is required in order to communicate and nurture faith. This third agency is the local parish. It is in the parish that sacramental preparation, liturgical education and adult faith development can fruitfully be achieved.
The loss of Christian memory can best be remedied when home, school and parish work together to rekindle the light of faith rather than wasting our energies in cursing exaggerations of our current darkness.
- Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O'REILLY, National Director for Catechetics, Columba Centre, Maynooth, Co Kildare.