Clogher Diocese » Education

Address by Bishop Leo O’Reilly, Chair of the Bishops’ Commission for Education to the Annual Conference of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association

adminwp — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:11:50 +0000

Celebrating a Vision for Life in Catholic Primary Schools

Address by Bishop Leo O’Reilly, Chair of the Bishops’

Commission for Education to the Annual Conference

of the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association

The vision for Catholic education today is rooted in faith

as it always has been. It takes its inspiration from the person

and the teaching of Christ.

We need to encourage teachers who are capable of exercising leadership in schools to do post-graduate qualifications in Catholic school leadership. I believe we need to be preparing for the day when such qualifications will not be just desirable in candidates for leadership positions, but will be a requirement.

Another important element of the Catholic vision for education is that it is person-centred. The aim is the full growth of the individual spiritually, socially and morally as well as intellectually, in communion with Christ.

The Catholic view of Education is that faith cannot be compartmentalised. It must permeate everything that takes place in the school.

Teachers teach by example as much as by words. Their Christian witness, the values and attitudes that they embody in their daily interactions with those around them, in the small and large events of school life, these can be a powerful influence on their students.

An important aspect of the community dimension of Catholic schools is inclusivity.

On 12 May last year the Bishops of Ireland launched their Pastoral Letter Vision 08: A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland. While it was a Pastoral Letter of the Bishops it was written very much in collaboration with the Religious and other stakeholders in Catholic Education. In the meantime Catholic Schools Week 2009 took place, beginning on January 26 and ending on February 1. Whilst this was an all-Ireland initiative, it was the first time that such a week-long event was planned for the Republic of Ireland. The Catholic Church in Northern Ireland has hosted ‘Catholic Schools Week’ for some years now.

The Week was a celebration of the important role that Catholic schools play in the wider educational system. It was also an opportunity for all of us, pupils, parents, teachers, members of Boards of Management and Patrons, to reflect on our particular understanding of education, assimilate it into our lives and try to put it into practice more fully in our schools. The theme I was asked to speak on in today’s presentation, “Celebrating a Vision for Life in Catholic Primary Schools”, is an invitation to continue that reflection on our vision for Catholic education and to reflect on it particularly as a vision for life.

New Context
The Pastoral Letter restates the ideals and vision for Catholic education in the context of the present time. Clearly the new realities of twenty-first century Ireland make it necessary to take stock of where we are in Catholic education and what are the challenges and opportunities in this new situation. The opening paragraph outlines the main features of that context: decline in the practice of the faith in homes, the advent of a diverse, multi-religious and multi-cultural society, and the increasing influence of a culture of secularism. It is in this context that we must answer the question, what is the vision for Catholic education today? What are we offering to modern Irish society? What is this vision for life that we are talking about? How can we best provide for the education and formation of the pupils in our schools? What is the optimum environment for staff and students in which all of this can come about?

A VISION ROOTED IN FAITH

Christ the Model and Inspiration
The vision for Catholic education today is rooted in faith as it always has been. It takes its inspiration from the person and the teaching of Christ. Its philosophy of life cannot be accommodated within the narrow bounds of a worldview that is confined to what can be seen and measured and tested. It embraces the big picture. It works out of a worldview that embraces time and eternity. It is a vision for life based on the words of Jesus: “I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10). It is a vision for life lived to the full here on earth, and for eternal life in the presence of God hereafter.

We live in a world where people feel increasingly anxious about the future. We have the global threats of war and cosmic disaster on the one hand and the ever present threats to our individual existence, threats of adversity, violence, illness, and ultimately, death on the other. In such a world our greatest need is for hope. One of the most important and enduring characteristics of the Catholic vision for education in this context is the emphasis on hope. This is mentioned very early in the Pastoral Letter: “What is entailed here is not only the fullest possible human flourishing in this world but a hope for the world to come” (p. 2).

Person-centred
Another important element of the Catholic vision for education is that it is person-centred. That is a characteristic which most modern philosophies of education would lay claim to. The difference between the Catholic vision and that of other philosophies is why it puts the person at the centre. It does so because it recognises in each student someone created in the image and likeness of God and therefore someone with a dignity and destiny that transcend all other values. It aims at the full and harmonious development of the potential of every student as a human being. This means there is much more to education than achieving academic results. The aim is the full growth of the individual spiritually, socially and morally as well as intellectually, in communion with Christ. As Pope John Paul II reiterated time and time again, the wellbeing of society and of each individual rest on respect for the dignity of the person.

Integration of Faith and Culture
Clearly, religious education is a priority in a Catholic school and requires a serious commitment of time and resources in the school plan. However, the pastoral letter points out that “faith is not simply the subject-matter of particular lessons but forms the foundation of all that we do and the horizon of all that takes place in the school (p.3).” Here we touch on the integration of faith and culture that is spoken of so frequently in the Church documents on Catholic education. It is a particular challenge for the culture we live in today which, while it might be prepared to recognise the claims of faith in the private sphere, would prefer to keep it there. The Catholic view of Education is that faith cannot be compartmentalised. It must permeate everything that takes place in the school. It touches on every subject that is taught, every activity that is engaged in. It shapes not only the matter taught, but the way it is taught. It even shapes the environment of the school which will be rich in Christian symbols and iconography. In sum, it shapes the ethos, or characteristic spirit of the school.

SOME PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

There are many practical implications of this vision for the day to day life of the school, for teachers and principals and boards of management. There would not be time to list them all so a few examples must suffice.

Teachers and Principals
The document of the Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, speaks about the unique environment of a Catholic school as one “illumined by the light of faith… and permeated by the Gospel spirit of love and freedom.” It goes on to say that “[p]rime responsibility for creating this unique Christian school climate rests with the teachers as individuals and as a community” (par 25-26). Clearly, then, the implementation of a Catholic ethos in the day-to-day life of the school depends largely on the teachers and above all on the principal of the school. Teachers have a great need for ongoing support to enable them to discharge this responsibility in relation to the ethos of the school. At the very least young teachers need courses of induction into the ethos of the Catholic school at the beginning of their teaching careers. Many teachers respond enthusiastically to offers of ongoing formation by way of conferences, retreats, mentoring to enable them to grow in faith and understanding of their role. This is one aspect of the support needed. The other relates to knowledge and skills, and to that end in-service courses and opportunities for post-graduate studies in the field of Catholic Education are needed.

The principal of a school has the role of leadership of that educational community. The principal of a Catholic school has therefore a responsibility of spiritual leadership. That may sound daunting, but most principals that I have known down the years have exercised this role without even thinking about it. It grew out of their personal conviction and commitment to the faith. However, we live in a changed world today. Teachers cannot be assumed to have the level of faith commitment that was generally the case in the past. Hence the importance of the various supports mentioned above. In addition to that we need to encourage teachers who are capable of exercising leadership in schools to do post-graduate qualifications in Catholic school leadership. I believe we need to be preparing for the day when such qualifications will not be just desirable in candidates for leadership positions, but will be a requirement.

Boards of Management
The members of the Board clearly need to have an understanding of the ethos of the school and the vision of Catholic education that underpins it. The joint initiative taken by CPSMA and the Mater Dei Institute in devising and rolling out the Wellsprings programme on the Ethos of Catholic Primary Schools is a very important first step in providing some formation for Boards in this regard.

There are many aspects to the Boards responsibility for upholding the ethos of the school on behalf of the Patron, as required by the Education Act. Among the more important ones are making sure that the school plan allocates appropriate time and resources for religious education, and seeking to ensure that this is implemented in practice. The Board also has responsibility for the various policies operated in the school, many of which impinge on the ethos of the school. The admissions policy has particular relevance in this regard. The Board must also be careful to oversee the content of programmes used in the school where these are likely to touch on the school’s ethos, for example Religion and RSE programmes.

The most important service of the board to the ethos of the school is in its employment of teachers, and particularly of principals, who are able and willing to uphold the school’s ethos and promote it in the day to day life of the school. Clearly this requires that the whole board, but especially those involved in the selection process have a clear grasp of the ethos themselves and that they have the necessary skills for the tasks of interviewing and selection of candidates.

A VISION FOR LIFE

Education for Living
The Catholic vision of education is a vision for life. One of the distinctive characteristics of Catholic education is that it is an education for living. While academic studies, acquisition of skills and preparation for future employment are important elements of education they are not the whole story. They are not even the most important part of the story. Of course parents want results, and the better educated and more ambitious parents will send their children to schools where they are most likely to succeed. The survey that the Bishops’ Council for Research and Development published this time last year, “Factors Determining School Choice”, showed that, when it came to choosing a school for their child, parents ranked the religious education provided by the school only fifth in order of importance. Things such as meeting the child’s needs, providing a good grounding for secondary school, and good discipline came higher than religion. Nevertheless, more than 70% considered religion to be important or very important. That is encouraging.

A Holistic Education
A Catholic vision challenges conceptions of education which are aggressively market oriented and individualistic in approach (Grace, 1996, p.70). It challenges educational practice where the focus is solely on success measured in narrow academic terms. In the face of the populist demand for league tables and high performance feeder schools, “a Catholic conception of education…[is]…primarily moral and spiritual, concerned with principled behaviour and focussed upon community and public good outcomes…” (Grace, ibid.)

An education inspired by a Catholic vision for life is holistic. It is concerned with the integral formation of the whole person, and particularly with preparing students to live life as responsible members of society. It tries to teach them how to be in right relationship with the world around them, with other people, and with God. To quote the Pastoral Letter (p. 5):

[Catholic education] teaches students to recognise the difference between right and wrong in their personal lives and in their relations with others. It tries to develop each one’s capacity to reflect on and respond to the often difficult and complex moral issues which confront us as individuals and as a society. It does this in the light of the Gospel and the rich tradition of Catholic principles concerning respect for life, personal fidelity, justice, truthfulness and integrity of conscience.

This section goes on to say that a central part of the task of a Catholic school “is to inculcate in pupils the qualities of personal integrity and moral courage which are marks of an authentic Christian personality”. It suggests that Catholic teachers “will encourage their students to see their abilities as being for the benefit of others and not just for themselves. They are called to serve others, above all those who are victims of poverty and injustice of any kind” (ibid).

SOME PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Formation as well as Information
The most important practical implication of what I have been saying here for the life of the school is that it sees the teacher’s role as going far beyond just imparting information to her students to include forming the student in positive attitudes and values. I think most of our teachers have no difficulty in doing this in matters such as respecting others, treating others as we would like to be treated ourselves, avoiding behaviours like bullying, stealing, striking, shouting and other forms of aggression. The task of moral formation is integral to the work of the teacher. For the Catholic teacher this moral formation is rooted in the teaching and example of Jesus and it is supported by prayer and the sacraments. Some teachers may feel reluctant to see themselves as being responsible for the formation of students in these matters that are more directly to do with spiritual formation. Obviously, the primary responsibility lies with the parents with regard to all of this, but the teacher in loco parentis shares that responsibility too.

Example of Teachers own Lives
In the collection of essays “Reimagining the Catholic School”(2003), Thomas Groome speaks about the importance of the teacher’s own personal faith and its influence on the students. He says:

If we are to move beyond pious rhetoric, then spirituality must permeate the whole curriculum of Catholic education – what and why, how and who we teach. In gist, it invites teachers to bring their own souls and their deep heart’s core convictions in faith to the teaching task, and likewise that they engage the souls of their students, reaching into their ‘deep heart’s core’ as persons. (pp. 40-41)

In other words teachers teach by example as much as by words. Their Christian witness, the values and attitudes that they embody in their daily interactions with those around them, in the small and large events of school life, these can be a powerful influence on their students. In the famous words of Pope Paul in Evangelii Nuntiandi: “Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers it is because they are witnesses” (par 41).

Resist the market mentality
Perhaps the most important implication in this area is for Patrons, Boards of Management and teachers alike to resist the pressure to reduce education to some kind of points’ race. Happily that pressure is not as strong at primary level as it is at second level here. But vigilance is needed and sometimes intervention by Patrons to prevent some schools becoming ghettoised because they are committed to holistic methods and high standards of inclusivity.

THE COMMUNITY DIMENSION

The Parish School
Quoting a recent document from the Congregation for Catholic Education, the Pastoral Letter states: “Catholic schools recognise that ‘education can be carried out authentically only in a relational and community context’” (p. 6). One of the great strengths of our primary education system is its rootedness in parishes. Parishes have to contribute heavily to meet the costs of providing sites and local contributions to the building of their schools. Parents’ committees often raise considerable funds to provide equipment and facilities to enhance the educational experience of their children. As a result the parish community has a deep sense of ownership of the local school and in many ways the school becomes a focal point of the community, especially for the young families in it. Clearly, this is much more the case in rural communities or in small towns than it is in large urban centres. In either case this community dimension does not just happen. It needs to be fostered and built up. It will be easier to do that where the majority of pupils are from the already existing community of the parish. It will take a much greater effort where the school is serving students from several parishes. The contribution of this community spirit to the wellbeing of the school and to the education of the students has been documented in studies of Catholic schools in other countries and it is safe to assume that it is also the case here.

About ten years ago Matthew Feheny wrote an essay on the future of the Catholic school from an Irish perspective. He looked at research on the success of Catholic schools in America, England and Australia. Referring to the American experience specifically he pointed out that their success was due not so much to better teaching of secular subjects but “rather that Catholic schools are characterised by an atmosphere of pastoral care and a deliberate attempt to create community.” In all three countries he found that Catholic schools “were found to be especially successful in creating school communities out of educational institutions. This success is even more striking with children in deprived communities.”(From Ideal to Action, pp. 211, 217)

So a Catholic school is not just an educational institution. It is a community where people respect each other and care for each other. The Pastoral Letter might be seen as setting an impossibly high standard for Catholic schools. It says (p.3): “Catholic schools aspire to create an open, happy, stimulating, and mutually stimulating community environment in which young people are able to develop the full range of their talents and abilities…” However, I can say that, from my experience of visiting schools in our own diocese, most of our schools come very close to this ideal. That is a tribute above all to the dedication and professionalism of our teachers.

Inclusivity
An important aspect of the community dimension of Catholic schools is inclusivity. This is a somewhat recent emphasis in the vision of the Catholic school, though in practice Catholic primary schools were invariably open to students from different social strata and backgrounds. While maintaining its own ethos, ‘the Catholic school welcomes diversity and strives for inclusivity’. (Cf. Catholic Primary Schools #4.3). The presence of so many children in our schools from different ethnic and religious, as well as social, backgrounds is a challenge to our traditional assumption that Catholic schools were simply for Catholic children. Rather than seeing students of other faiths as an obstacle to the mission of a Catholic school the Pastoral Letter sees them as an enrichment.

Catholic education values tolerance and inclusiveness… [It] is open to generous dialogue with Christians of other traditions and those of other faiths and none… The presence of children from other denominations is seen as an enrichment of the educational experience offered by the school…The schools see such diversity as offering opportunities for deeper understanding among people holding diverse convictions. (p.

I believe our schools have done society and the State a huge service in helping to integrate the huge influx of people from other countries into our community. I think it is generally recognised that Catholic Primary Schools have been to the fore in welcoming students from other countries and cultures and in integrating them successfully in the life of the school and the community. The contribution of schools in this regard was acknowledged by Dr. Tom Collins, Head of Education, NUI Maynooth, in his address to the Kilmainham Symposium in March 2007: “I think the world of education has coped incredibly well with this challenge. The primary sector has absorbed multiple nationalities into the sector practically unnoticed and now the second-level is doing it. But because it is has gone unnoticed it should not be unrecognized”. (“What Ireland Needs from its Education System”, NAPD Le Chéile, May 2007, 87)

Another aspect of this emphasis on inclusiveness is the commitment to students suffering disadvantage of one kind or another and particularly students with special needs. The letter states: “In the Catholic school there is a strong commitment to pupils for whom the traditional methods of education are a challenge. This means, for example, that those who are educationally disadvantaged and those with special needs are actively supported in achieving their full potential.” (p. 5)

Huge demands have been made on teachers and principals in facilitating this enormous task of integrating both students of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and those with special needs. With very scarce resources and sometimes very poor facilities they have done an outstanding job of making all feel welcome and providing them with first-class educational opportunities while continuing to achieve the highest standards in education for all their students. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our teachers who have been at the coalface of this very challenging and demanding task.

SOME PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Admissions Policies
The challenges posed by an inclusive policy for admissions to Catholic schools are formidable. Balancing the need to be welcoming to people of all faiths with the obligation to provide for the Catholics children of the parish or parishes served by the school can be difficult to achieve. However, the problem comes to the fore when the level of provision in the area in question is inadequate. This can be due to bad planning on the part of the State or a lack of other patron bodies to make provision in a particular area. The general principle is that Catholic schools will welcome students of other faiths or none, provided that they have places for them. It is important to recall in this context what was clearly indicated in Catholic Primary Schools: A Policy for Provision into the Future: “… the Church should not be left with the task of providing for the educational needs of the whole community.” (par 5.1)

Respect and Dialogue
In schools where there are students of other faiths principals and teachers have to achieve a delicate balance in their dealings with both students and parents:

The religious freedom and the personal conscience of individual students and their families must be respected, and this freedom is explicitly recognised by the Church. On the other hand, a Catholic school cannot relinquish its own freedom to proclaim the Gospel and to offer a formation based on the values to be found in a Christian education; this it its right and duty. (Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, par 6)

I believe our principals and teachers have tried very hard to achieve this balance. An innate sense of fairness to minorities makes them go out of their way to ensure that students of other faiths are accommodated as far as possible. If there is a danger it is perhaps in the other direction, that of tending to dilute the Christian ethos out of a fear of offending or making others feel excluded. Recent controversary regarding the placing of cribs in public places and objections upheld regarding the broadcasting of religious advertisements are examples of this kind of imbalance. I am sure there are many examples of very good practice in schools around the country. It would be a valuable service if these could be searched out and made available to all.

The difficulties mentioned should not prevent us seeing the positive contribution that inclusivity can make to the educational community. The opportunities for dialogue with Christians of other traditions and those of other faiths and none are there in many schools. But for these to become an enrichment of the educational experience for students – and teachers – the opportunities have to be grasped. The informal interactions in class and in the playground will, perhaps, be the most important opportunities for mutual learning by students from different backgrounds. But this can be supplemented and built upon in lessons by encouraging students from different backgrounds to reflect together on their beliefs, prayers, rituals and celebrations. Much work needs to be done to provide in-service for teachers to enable them to do this in a way that will make it a genuine enrichment of the educational experience of all the students.

CONCLUSION

I have highlighted some aspects of Vision 08 A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland and their implications for the day-to-day life of our schools. It is evident that Vision statements and accompanying documentation remain at the level of lofty ideal unless they find expression in everyday life. This represents a challenging task for the education community of Patrons, Management, Staff, Pupils and Parents. Much has been achieved in this regard. We build on a solid tradition which we have inherited and which is carried forward by the commitment of all associated with our schools today. For that we are grateful.

Each generation takes up the task of ensuring that schools provide the best formation and education for the young of its time. The Catholic community today wishes to assist Catholic schools in providing formation and education for this generation of pupils which will enable them to develop and grow and lead happy and fulfilled lives and thus serve the common good. Vision 08 sets a vision for the task. May it come to life in the daily life of our schools.

I will end by quoting searching questions addressed by Pope Benedict XVI to Catholic educators in the conference hall of the Catholic University of America in Washington, on Thursday, 17th April 2008. The answers to theses questions offer us a guide in our quest to bring Vision 08 to life in our schools.

Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God’s creation? Only in this way do we really bear witness to the meaning of who we are and what we uphold.

Subsequently he warns:

While we have sought diligently to engage the intellect of our young, perhaps we have neglected the will. Subsequently we observe, with distress, the notion of freedom being distorted. Freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in – a participation in Being itself. Hence authentic freedom can never be attained by turning away from God. Such a choice would ultimately disregard the very truth we need in order to understand ourselves.

Bishop Leo O’Reilly announces education initiative at Cardinal Newman Commemoration Mass

adminwp — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:46:52 +0000

PRESS RELEASE
11 November 2008

Homily by Bishop Leo O’Reilly for the Mass of Commemoration to mark the 150th anniversary of the completion of Newman’s seven year service to Irish university education.
University Church, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.

* Bishop Leo O’Reilly announces new all-Ireland initiative: Catholic Schools Week.

* Religious instruction is an integral part of the curriculum of the Catholic school and permeates the whole life of the school. The pupil is the same person, whether in the classroom or in the church. As Catholics, we are believers when we study. We are rational when we pray.

* In recent times there have been calls for the teaching of religion to be removed from primary schools … [such calls are] totally at variance with a Catholic philosophy of education [and are] the logical consequence of a secular worldview which would deny the claims of religion to objective truth.

Please see full text of Bishop O’Reilly’s homily below:

I welcome the opportunity to offer some reflections on the legacy of John Henry Newman as we mark the centenary of his departure from Ireland. He had come to Ireland at the invitation of Cardinal Cullen to found a Catholic University and he was rector of the Catholic University of Ireland from 1851 to 1858.

We have come to this beautiful church, Newman’s Church, to remember his service to Irish Education and to thank God for sending such a holy and gifted man to us. We remember his great contribution to educational thought contained in his Discourses On The Scope And Nature Of A University Education, which were delivered in 1852 to launch the university, and which we are familiar with under the title, The Idea of a University.

Cardinal Newman loved this church. He thought it “the most beautiful in the kingdom”. May I congratulate Father Pearse Walsh who has done so much to preserve and maintain it. From this pulpit Cardinal Newman preached his Dublin sermons and it is from here that he articulated some of the great Newman principles.

One such principle is the unity of faith and reason. He wanted the intellect to range with the utmost freedom and religion to enjoy an equal freedom. But he did not want an artificial division. Religion and intellect should be found in one and the same place and exemplified in the same persons. He wanted “the intellectual layman to be religious and the devout ecclesiastic to be intellectual”.

It was this principle of the unity of faith and reason that was the foundation of one of the major themes of the Discourses, namely that religious teaching should not be excluded from any university curriculum. In Cardinal Newman’s opinion a university curriculum should treat of all knowledge. We believe that the same principle applies all the more to education at primary level.

In recent times there have been calls for the teaching of religion to be removed from primary schools. This is totally at variance with a Catholic philosophy of education and indeed with Cardinal Newman’s understanding of education. It is the logical consequence of a secular worldview which would deny the claims of religion to objective truth. Hence it would reduce religion to a purely private pursuit and banish any expression of it from the public sphere. Cardinal Newman was utterly opposed to such artificial divisions between our intellectual and spiritual lives.

Religious instruction is an integral part of the curriculum of the Catholic school and permeates the whole life of the school. The pupil is the same person, whether in the classroom or in the church. As Catholics, we are believers when we study. We are rational when we pray.

However the Catholic Church supports change and choice so that no child has to attend a school where their family’s faith or conscience is compromised. We acknowledge parents’ rights to decide, in accordance with their own religious beliefs, the kind of religious education that their children are to receive. We will work with other patron bodies and the Government to respond to Ireland’s changing educational and religious needs. There is need for a variety of patron bodies and for greater choice. There is also a need for Catholic schools to be more conscious and confident of their identity and mission.

In a system which offers greater choice, patrons of Catholic schools will be obliged to provide greater support and opportunities for teachers, principals and boards of management to reflect more profoundly on the religious ethos of our schools. We must also assist Catholic parents, so that when it comes to choosing schools for their children, they will be able to make the choice for faith reasons as well for educational reasons.

Another of Cardinal Newman’s great themes – one which also found expression in the Discourses – was that cultivation of mind is the primary purpose of a university. The aim is to enable students to learn how to think rather than what to think. And almost any subject, literature, science, ethics or theology, can provide the content for such learning. The important thing for him was developing the ability to reason. I think he would be pleased to find that his wisdom in this regard, as well as in relation to the partnership between faith and reason, has not been forgotten.

The Bishops’ Conference pastoral letter on education: Vision 08: A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland, which was launched on the 12 May last in St Patrick’s Primary School, Drumcondra, echoes Cardinal Newman’s thought when it says:

Catholic education has always placed a high value on reason, both intellectual and practical . . . [I]t regards education and the cultivation of intellectual life as precious in themselves. It sees the use of rational thought and scientific analysis as essential to the advancement of technology and human progress. Therefore, scientific and technological studies are a very important part of education. However, it rejects those diminished and mechanistic notions of rationality which attempt to limit the concept of truth to what can be scientifically established and the concept of progress to what can be technologically achieved. On the contrary, it believes a reasonable balance must be maintained between the humanities and technology in education. Faith and reason must be seen as vibrant partners in the human quest for understanding and ultimate fulfilment which is pursued in Catholic schools.

Our pastoral letter goes on to state that, while Catholic schools should seek educational excellence, they should resist the pressures of merely pragmatic, utilitarian approaches to education.

It is too easy to get sucked into the race for points and a high place in the league tables. “We believe”, the pastoral letter continues, “that an over-emphasis on competition, a too narrow preoccupation with examinations and specialising at too early an age on highly specific courses are inimical to true education.”

As we celebrate the great educational legacy of Cardinal Newman, I take the opportunity here today to announce a new all-Ireland initiative designed to build on his legacy. The initiative is called “Catholic Schools Week”. This event will be held in the week beginning the 26 January 2009 and will take place annually thereafter. We have taken the theme for this, the first Catholic Schools Week, directly from our pastoral letter. The theme is: “Catholic Schools – A Vision for Life”.

During this week we have planned that schools and parishes will have the opportunity to study the pastoral letter and reflect on it. There will be seminars on Catholic education in Dublin and Belfast to explore this significant theme in greater depth. Information on Catholic Schools Week will be made available in the weeks leading up to the event.

Cardinal Newman’s influence was enormous during his lifetime both as an Anglican and as a Catholic. His influence has grown since his death. Through his writings he speaks to us today with an extraordinary relevance and force. He addresses our hearts. He highlights the problems of an unbelieving age. So many of his contemporaries have receded into the distant past.

Why is he still so relevant? Surely because of his holiness. Whether it is St Francis of Assisi or St Therese of Lisieux or Padre Pio – holiness does not fade. Let us hope that the Church will soon be able to give recognition to Cardinal Newman’s sanctity.

We thank God today for sending such a man among us. All his efforts did not prosper in the short term but they are bearing fruit in the long term. May they continue to bear much fruit in the Church and in Irish society today.

ENDS

Notes for Editors

* Bishop Leo O’Reilly is Bishop of Kilmore and Chair of the Education Commission of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

* The Bishops’ pastoral letter on education Vision 08: A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland is available in English, Irish and Polish on www.catholicbishops.ie

* This month marks the 150th anniversary of the completion by John Henry Cardinal Newman in November 1858 of his seven years as Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland.

* John Henry Newman was rector of the Catholic University of Ireland from November 1851 when the Bishops of Ireland invited him to become Rector until November 1858. John Henry Newman, the leader of the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church was received into the Catholic Church in 1845. He was appointed Rector of the Catholic University of Ireland in 1851 by the Irish bishops and served in that role until 1858. While in Dublin he gave his famous lectures on university education, the first edition of which was published in Dublin in 1852.

* The Catholic University was based in what is now Newman House on St Stephen’s Green. Also on the Green, Newman built University Church. The University’s Medical School was based in Cecilia Street in Temple Bar. Newman’s University was the forerunner of University College Dublin.

* Cardinal Newman was declared Venerable on 22 January 1991.

Demand Increases for Theology Courses

adminwp — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:04:28 +0000

Demand increases for Theology courses

After a decade of decline, student demand for third level theology courses has increased this year.
The minimum entry requirement for the Bachelor in Theology at St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, which is determined by the number of applicants, rose by almost 50 points this year to 305 points, compared to last year’s all-time low of 260 points.
Entry points for St Patricks’ Bachelor in Theology and Arts, which had been falling since 1998, also increased, to 315 points- this year.

A similar increase in theology students is evident at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick.According to the Head of Theology Department, Eamonn Conway, the number of students choosing theology as part of the college’s Liberal Arts degree has almost doubled in the past two years. Last year 130 students elected to study theology and a similiar number is expected for 2008.

Entry points for the course now stand at 380, making it one of the highest points requirements for an Arts course in the country.
Admissions Officer at Maynooth College, Sandra Norgrove, said the increase could be attributed to the fact that Arts courses in general were over-subscribed this year as students veered away from courses relating to the construction sector.

Reflective
Ms Norgrove said the increase was also reflective of figures from the Department of Education that showed more students were choosing Religious Studies at second level.
She said the previous decline was due in part to a demographic fall in the number of students sitting the Leaving Certificate exam, which is now reversing.
Prof Conway said the uptake of religion at second level would become more apparent at third level in the coming years.
“Only a handful of the students taking the Liberal Arts degree had studied religion for the Leaving Cert but certainly in the next few years we should see more of an increase from that.”
Prof Conway said prospective students were learning through word of mouth that theology was an inter-disciplinary subject grounded in reason.
About half of students taking the Liberal Arts degree will continue on to do a Higher Diploma to teach he said.

Siobhán Tanner The Irish Catholic September 11th 2008

Church demands key role in new secondary schools

adminwp — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:15:30 +0000

Church demands key role in new secondary schools

By John Walshe Education Editor

Tuesday September 09 2008

THE Catholic Church is demanding control of a share of the new second-level schools planned for rapidly expanding areas, confidential papers reveal.

The position paper shows that Church leaders are angry over being “sidelined” by the State from the planning of new second-level schools in recent years.

Dismissing suggestions that it is pulling out of education, the Church insists that parents must have the right to send their children to a Catholic secondary school, if they so wish.

And if that is not possible, then the State has to look at the possibility of using the transport network to “bus” children to faith schools, it suggests in the paper, which was sent to Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe.

Just two weeks ago, the Church demanded further involvement in primary schools. Now the four main Church education bodies have upped the ante, saying: “The Department of Education has mistaken the silence of religious trustees as a licence to exclude them from any consultation process”.

The position paper — seen by the Irish Independent — discloses that of the 31 new second-level schools established between 1992 and 2007, only one was a Catholic secondary school. It has since closed.

All the rest were community schools or VEC-run community colleges.

But the Church says that new all-lay trusts, which are taking over religious-run schools, are ready to play a vibrant role in the provision of new educational facilities for the estimated 100,000 new pupils expected in primary and post-primary schools by 2013.

Sources said the Church did not want to run all new second-level schools, but wanted to get its “fair share” in “greenfield” areas.

New bodies such as the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, the Loreto Educational Trust and CEIST are eager to proactively engage in the trusteeship of new Catholic secondary schools, it says.

Three new community colleges are opening this year and three others are also planned for the rapidly expanding Dublin/Meath area.

The number of voluntary secondary schools has dropped dramatically from 461 in 1993/94, to just 393 this year, mainly because of amalgamations.

However, the amalgamations resulted in only four voluntary secondary schools, the rest were all community schools or colleges.

“From the perspective of Catholic trustees, these outcomes give a very clear, but far from reassuring, insight in to trends in educational development,” says the paper, prepared by the Bishops’ Commission on Education, the Association of Trustees of Catholic Schools, the Conference of the Religious of Ireland and the Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools.

It says that, “even today, when choice of school is available to many, over 55pc of the cohort of pupils at second level attend schools under the patronage of Catholic trustees. Surely, this legacy cannot be overlooked, or written out of our educational system.”

The paper says there is a lack of an open, transparent process prior to the allocation of new schools. Economic and cost considerations appear to be the only factors influencing the provision of new schools in the eyes of the department, it says.

“Catholic schools are communities with a characteristic spirit that permeates all aspects of school life, and the notion that this could be confined to religious instruction classes is a grave misconception.

“For these reasons, it is imperative that the Catholic school must retain the right to articulate its own values, without apology or reserve, and to expect all who manage and work therein to respect and uphold the stated values of the school.”

The paper criticises media coverage which focuses on integration as the overriding value in education, and which waves the banner of non-denominational and multi-denominational systems as if they were pioneering inclusion.

- John Walshe Education Editor

Address by Bishop Leo O’Reilly, Chairman of the Bishops’ Commission on Education, at the Parnell Summer School

adminwp — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:17:38 +0000

Address by Bishop Leo O’Reilly, Chairman of the Bishops’ Commission on Education, at the Parnell Summer School

“The main issues facing education in the years ahead”
- Establish new body to consult with Patrons regarding the provision of schools at second level
- Agreement needed between Department of Education and Patrons on lease details for new schools
- Young people asked to consider religious life and priesthood as a vocation

I am delighted to attend and I thank Professor Mike Cronin, Academic Director, Centre for Irish Programmes at Boston College, for the invitation to speak at this the 2008 Parnell Summer School in the beautiful surroundings of Avondale House, Co Wicklow.

This year’s theme, Educating Ireland; its development; role of religious schooling; impact of the ‘New Irish’ and the politics of education could not be more topical, and on behalf of the Irish Bishops’ Conference, I welcome this opportunity to set out the Church’s current position within the wider education debate.

Before I directly address today’s theme, I wish to congratulate the Leaving Certificate students who are receiving their results as I speak. I hope that their hard work is rewarded and I wish them well in the months and years ahead.

The Minister for Education has today asked students to consider choosing courses in science, engineering and technology. Clearly our economy needs people with these skills. However, in this the “Year of Vocation” for the Catholic Church in Ireland, I would ask young men and women to consider the Religious Life and Priesthood as a Vocation option. I have no doubt that God is calling young women and men of this generation to give their lives to spreading the Gospel and our society needs this service too. My sincere hope and prayer is that they will hear this call.

Returning to today’s topic, the changes affecting Irish society set the agenda for the future of education on this island. To consider contemporary Irish society from the perspective of “Education and Religion” is to recognise the opportunities and to face one of the major challenges of contemporary Ireland. Education in 21st century Ireland should be trying to achieve a match between good education and the expectations of parents, children and today’s changed society.

The following are among the main issues facing the Catholic Church in terms of “Education and Religion”:

1. Provision for education in a Pluralist Society
2. The Rights of Parents
3. Ethos and Values in the day-to-day life of the School
4. Religion in the life of the State
5. Planning Education Provision

1. Provision for education in a Pluralist Society

Because of the history of educational provision in Ireland, schools have been in the ownership, for the most part, of the main churches. In the case of the Catholic Church this ownership has been held in trust by parishes, dioceses and religious congregations on behalf of the people whom the schools were established to serve. Until the late 1960s primary and second level education was provided almost entirely through Church owned schools. The preponderance of Catholic schools in the overall provision reflected the demographics of religious affiliation in the country and the wishes of parents for schools informed by a Catholic philosophy of education.

In the intervening forty years the introduction of new models of second level education e.g. comprehensive schools, community schools, community colleges and Gaelscoileanna, have meant that the percentage of children educated in Church run schools is now reduced to something over 50%. A similar diversification in education provision has begun more recently at primary level and will no doubt continue in order to meet the needs of parents who desire other schools for their children.

While Church schools operate according to a faith philosophy, they provide a public service and as such are entitled to State funding. Parents of other faiths and none are not precluded from choosing Catholic schools for their children if they so wish. In fact they are welcome to choose them. Other interested parties have the right to establish schools to meet the needs and wishes of a pluralist society.

Irish society is pluralist in make-up and accordingly the Irish education system must reflect this pluralism in its provision. It is for this reason that the Catholic Bishops of Ireland have consistently called for diversity in the education system, “one that includes several types of schools including denominational schools.” Such provision will honour the common good as “a pluralistic system fits a pluralistic population.” The Church has no desire to be the sole provider of education and, where the wishes of parents dictate, will play its part to assure the type of school that most appropriately meets the needs of parents and children

2. The Rights of Parents

Parents are the primary educators of children. The State supports parents in this role and rightly provides for education. While remaining faithful to the Principle of Subsidiarity, the State makes available schools according to parental wishes insofar as practicable. It is therefore the role of the State, through the Department of Education and Science, to provide the infrastructure for education and to regulate such provision within the State.

However, the State should always respect the rights of parents “to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children” (The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art 26.3). It should recognise, as the United National International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) does, “the liberty of parents… to choose for their children schools… which conform to such minimum educational standards as may be laid down or approved by the State and to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions” (Art. 13.3).

It might be argued that for the sake of social cohesion and the best use of resources the State should provide a common education for all and leave it to parents and churches to cater for religion and values. This kind of “one-size-fits-all” solution of educational provision may seem attractive and simple in form. However it is founded on a fallacy. There is no value-free education system. Every system is grounded in a set of values. A system which claims to be value-free is simply attempting to impose its values by stealth without acknowledging them.

Each pupil grows up in a family and in a society that lives by a set of values. It is by the appropriation of these values and choosing values for oneself that a young person arrives at mature adulthood. The school offers a locus where such a project is facilitated. To suggest that schools can be value free is disingenuous or naive. As Cardinal Brady pointed out when addressing the Primary Schools’ Principals Conference earlier this year, “Teaching value-free facts devoid of meaning and skill is an unsustainable and fundamentally flawed approach to education.”

3. Ethos and Values in the day-to- day life of the School

The history of Catholic schools in Ireland has been a history of inclusion and welcome. This continues to be the case. From the foundation of the State and indeed before, Catholic schools have provided education for all but especially for the poor and vulnerable. The ethos of our schools has been one where the dignity and rights of the individual are respected and promoted.

The schools are guided by the view that all of life’s experience is a window to the goodness and love of God. It is in developing right and respectful relationships with each other that young people grow as members of the local community and of society. Catholic schools encourage pupils to recognise and appropriate their own history and the tradition of the school. The schools view the pursuit of knowledge and the development of all the talents of the young as central to their formation and growth. This is the essence of promoting the common good.

In a pastoral letter on Catholic education, Vision 08, published in April of this year, the Irish Bishops’ Conference outlined the Church’s policy for Catholic schools in the coming years. There has been a broad welcome for the document by the State and the education partners. The Pastoral Letter is the result of a joint consultation with the partners in Catholic Education on the part of CORI and the Irish Bishops’ Conference. The document sets out a rich philosophy and theology of Catholic education in an accessible way. However it will remain mere words on paper, unless it is followed by a process that will make the theory a reality in the day to day lives of our schools. It is for this reason that a team is now working to engage all associated with Catholic schools in further reflection on the contents of Vision 08. The letter ends with a public invitation to dialogue about the best way of ensuring that our schools can develop in the years ahead. Today I wish to reiterate that invitation. It is crucial for the future of schools.

4. Religion in the life of the State

In the main, the objections to the State supporting denominational education are based on the erroneous concept of religion as a private matter and thus of concern to the person as an individual rather than as a member of society and the state. It is untenable to support this view of religion when one considers that the human person is social by nature and the search for truth, including religious truth, cannot be furthered purely as individuals.

Religious belief and religious belief systems are part of human life and in many instances define human society in its mode of living, its customs and its culture. Central to the human project is knowledge of one’s own religious beliefs and knowledge and respect for the beliefs of others. Without such knowledge and respect there is the constant danger of descent into fundamentalism at best and at worst serious conflict as caricatures of religious faith are pitted against each other.

It is therefore essential that an education in religious beliefs forms part of schooling. While there are many models as to how religious education is included in schooling it cannot be excluded from the education project.

5. Planning Education Provision

Whereas heretofore Irish educational planning has been characterised by an ad hoc and reactive approach, it will be necessary to plan carefully for the infrastructure and educational needs of the pupil cohort more proactively in the future. This is necessitated by a constantly changing and increasingly diverse school-going polutation. This issue was brought into sharp focus by the media at the beginning of the last school year when a lack of forward planning contributed to enrolment chaos for some schools. The joint publication this month by the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Environment, Heritage and local Government of A Code of Practice on the Provision of Schools is a welcome development in this area. We recognise the need for joined up infrastructural planning between the Department of Education, the Department of the Environment and the Planning Authorities.

However we have some concerns. The document states in section 6:
“Until relatively recently, schools were constructed on land provided by patron bodies … and the property was owned by the patron. Since 1999, the Department of Education and Science has moved to a model of site purchase and the lease of the building subsequently constructed to the patron.”

Our concerns are these: Firstly that the only mention of school patrons (who are after all the providers of education) in the entire document is in this brief paragraph which seems to relegate them to the past and seems to consign their role in school ownership to history. We trust this is not the case.

Our second concern is about the detail of the lease to patrons of these schools owned by the Department of Education and Science. The Department of Education in consultation with the patrons produced a draft lease agreement in 2004 and despite repeated approaches by Patrons and Management of schools since then a final lease has not been agreed and published. Its publication is all the more urgent in view of this new code of practice on planning.

The Patron bodies are the educational providers on the ground. They have served the State well in the past and we believe continue to serve it well. As key partners in education they need to be consulted on the provision of new schools. This is particularly true at second level where there is still no mechanism or protocol for consultation with patrons in relation to the provision of new schools as there is at primary level. One result of this has been that no new voluntary secondary schools had been established for almost a generation with the exception of two small Gael Colaisti under the patronage of An Foras Pátrúnachta. There seems to be a policy assumption in the Department of Education that every new school at second level should be multi-denominational.

The Catholic Church is committed to denominational education and intends to remain a provider for as long as parents choose Catholic schools.

Recent Catholic Church publications (“Catholic Primary Schools – A Policy for Provision into the Future” and “Vision 08 – A Vision for Catholic Education in Ireland”) set forth the theological and philosophical reasons together with policy considerations for the Church’s involvement in education into the future. These position papers are now available on www.catholiccommunications.ie .

Conclusion

The Irish Times of Friday July 25th 2008 reported that in response to the progress report on Ireland the UN Committee on Human Rights “expressed concern that most primary schools were denominational and urged that alternative non-denominational primary education be available.”

The Catholic Church has made its position clear on this matter in our policy statement on Catholic Primary schools published in October 2007. In par 5.1 of this document we stated:

“As the Catholic Church accepts that there should be choice and diversity within the national education system, it believes that parents who desire schools under different patronage should, where possible, be facilitated in accessing them. In new centres of population it is incumbent upon the State to plan for the provision of schools sites and to ensure in consultation with the various patron bodies, that there is a plurality of school provision reflecting the wishes of the parents in the area.”

To its credit the Department of Education has begun to address this issue through its introduction of the additional model of school patronage. We welcome this initiative.

While it is important to address the concern expressed by the UN Committee, it is equally important to respect the rights of parents as expressed in recent surveys carried out by both the market research company Red C (March 2008) on behalf of the Iona Institute, and the Bishop’s Council for Research and Development entitled Factors Determining School Choice (April 2008). Both of these surveys found that for most parents the place of faith in education retains its importance and that there is overwhelming support for the principle of parental choice.

Three key findings of the survey commissioned by the Bishop’s Council for Research and Development on Factors Determining School Choice are:

- 63% of respondents believe that the churches should continue to have a prominent role in the provision of primary schooling;

- 70% stated that the religious education provided by the school is important; and,

- 95% of respondents stated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their decision to send their child to the school they currently attend.

While surveys are important and have their role, our central concern is the Gospel values that underpin Catholic education. In the context of the debate on education that has raged in Ireland over the last number of years I feel that it is important to place on the record – unambiguously – what heretofore could be assumed but now needs to be expressly stated, namely, that the Catholic Church makes no apology for its ongoing presence in education delivery.

An informed debate on the shape of education provision is crucial to the future of our country. It has begun. The debate should be transparent and ought to reflect the complexity of the issues involved. As Chairman of the Bishops’ Commission on Education I warmly welcome it.

Ends

Religious Education is a necessary part of a pluralistic society

adminwp — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:03:20 +0000

Religious education is a necessary part of pluralistic society
By John Murray

The Irish Independent Thursday August 28 2008

To ACCUSE denominational schools of being unwelcoming, divisive, out-of-date, or lacking in educational competence is to insult the goodwill and hard work of the many people involved in these schools.

This goodwill and hard work should be celebrated and supported by society, including the government and the teachers’ unions.

There is a rightful place for denominational schools in Irish education, as part of a pluralistic system. The rationale for this can be understood and accepted in good faith by all members of Irish society, not just religious believers.

Denominational schools are not inherently divisive or unfair. They are not something to be done down, or done away with. They are not something to be merely tolerated as relics of a past or passing generation.

Parents are the primary educators of their children — the state is not. Parents can rightly expect support from society in meeting their responsibilities as primary educators. Parents have a duty to inform and to form their children. This involves passing on values, customs, beliefs, practices and traditions. Religion is an essential part of this for many parents.

The imposition of only one type of school on all would be seen as undermining the world-view and deepest values of many Irish parents. For example, it would be unfair of society to force substantial numbers of religious parents to pay to support — and to send their children to attend — a single-type non-religious school system.

A ‘one-type-fits-all’ school system, forced on a pluralistic population, would not reduce divisiveness; rather it would embody and promote divisiveness. A pluralistic system fits a pluralistic population.

For Irish society to move away now from publicly-supported denominational education would be for it fail to respect religious freedom.

If the state were to promote only one type of school, and that type of school was never denominational, then this could easily be taken as a blatant rejection and denial of the value of denominational schooling.

It is completely reasonable for the Irish state (on behalf of Irish society) to interest itself in, and help support in a fair and appropriate manner, the religious life of Irish society.

This includes helping people to search for answers to religious and philosophical questions and to live by the answers to these questions.

To exclude denominational schools from the public education system would surely send out a strong signal that religion is not reasonable, not social, not a significant and valuable part of Irish life and culture and history, but something to be restricted to the purely private and personal sphere.

Denominational education at its best is transparent and fair; it is intellectually rigorous and socially conscientious too. Denominational education is truly public education.

One reason for this is that society is rightly concerned with religion being healthy and peaceful. Denominational education is concerned with public morality, human rights and social peace.

It aims at helping religious belief and commitment to promote the common good of all. Denominational schools in Ireland are clearly supportive of promoting tolerance and peace.

Most importantly, they do this in line with, not in spite of, their religious faith tradition.

Values

Religious faith also supports moral education, which society values and needs. This is not to claim that only religious faith can support moral education. The claim here is much more modest: religious faith can support moral education.

Everyone can recognise that religious faith has contrib- uted to Irish society in this regard.

Denominational schools provide an education that respects the intellectual abilities and needs of their students.

They can rightfully expect society to acknowledge that they are truly educational institutions and should be socially supported.

Isn’t this how a pluralistic society should work?

A faith-based school lives out of the conviction that its religious beliefs are true.

Such a school can be a community in a deep sense, sharing and celebrating a specific world-view that inspires and guides its staff, pupils, parents and local community.

People who send their children to such schools should do so by choice, ideally out of shared faith, but at least with a willingness to support the school’s ethos.

Denominational schools are open to all people who are willing to accept the distinctive kind of education offered by that school.

It is only honest to acknowledge that denominational schools welcome pupils from many different religious and social-economic backgrounds.

It is rare that a pupil cannot be enrolled in a school, and such situations can be avoided with good political planning that supports schools expanding to cater for increasing numbers in their areas.

John Murray is a lecturer in moral theology at Mater Dei Institute of Education. This is an edited version of a piece by John Murray published by the Iona Institute, which can be found at its website, ionainstitute.ie

- John Murray