Sir, - Mgr Faul's article on Catholic education (December 1st) is a strange mixture of observations, ideas, innuendoes and non-sequiturs. His starting parable links contraception, homosexuality, divorce, abortion, profitmaking and the non-toleration of trade unions with the sending of children to multi-denominational schools.
Further on he links the increase in murders, the decline in spiritual values and the greed for money among the "newly rich, half-educated conformists of present day Ireland" with the same cause. The remedy, he argues, is a Catholic education, presumably controlled by priests, brothers or nuns.
While I agree with Mgr Faul about many of the ills which beset our country, I cannot agree with him about the cause of these or the remedy he puts forward. Who educated our present leaders, the people who got us into this mess? Who educated our TDs, judges, lawyers, doctors, newspaper editors, managers, taoisigh? The Catholic Church has had almost total control of education in Ireland for over a century. Its pupils are the people who now make our laws, set standards, have status, own property. The Monsignor refers to Ireland as a land of non-stop tribunals. Whose misdeeds are these investigating? Who is profiting from these tribunals? Who educated the culprits?
Mgr Faul writes about the influence of the crucifix on the wall to inculcate the virtues of reverence for life, temperance, charity and purity. In the religious-controlled schools, when these were staffed almost entirely by priests and brothers, the presence of the crucifix did not stop the use of fists, canes, straps, plaited ropes, sarcasm, and unfortunately, occasional groping.
Greally and Rossi did a lot of research in the USA on the influence of Catholic schools. They concluded that there was no significant difference in later life in the moral behaviour of those who attended Catholic schools and those who attended other schools.
If a Catholic education was the recipe for a morally healthy society, Ireland would be an example to the world. In Mgr Faul's opinion this is not the case and I agree with him. So what went wrong?
Mgr Faul's solution has already been tried, for 100 years. It has not worked. He advocates more doses of the same medicine. The solution is not so simple. - Yours, etc., Padraig McGinn,
Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.