Will ALL schools end sacraments?
After community education ban, Catholics may follow
PARENTS in Catholic schools may see an end to the extra time given to preparation for sacraments such as Holy Communion and Confirmation, after a decision to end it in community schools, an education expert has said.
Education Minister Richard Bruton has announced that community national schools will now end the practice. Parents will have to make alternative arrangements, although lessons on social values will continue in the schools run by Education and Training Boards Ireland (ETBI).
Reacting to the news, Dr Kevin Williams at the Centre for Quality, Evaluation and Inspection at Dublin City University, said: ‘It might well alert parents whose children are in a Catholic school to the prominence given to the sacraments. It might make them more uncomfortable with the time given to it if they are not Catholic or are unbelievers. They would be more aware now after this.’
The community national schools were set up to provide an alternative to Catholic schools in the Dublin area as migration increased. Their ethos includes a statement that the schools are ‘committed to the spirit of inclusion and equality, where each member of the school community is valued and treated with respect.’ There are 12 schools with 4,000 pupils. Six are in Dublin, with the others in Cork, Kerry, Wicklow and Kildare.
The most recently opened school in Kerry was previously a Catholic-run school. Expansion is planned in other regions.
Students of all religions take part in values classes – ‘Goodness me, Goodness you’ – focusing on interfaith respect. A class might include projects on food used in religious celebrations and children talking about their own faith. Until now Catholic children were taken out of classes for 30 minutes a week to prepare for First Confession, First Holy Communion or Confirmation. Michael Moriarty, general secretary of the ETBI, said: ‘Our schools are equality-based, and if you are equality-based then you have to treat everyone the same.
‘We’ve found you can’t do belief-specific-teaching in our school
They are ‘committed to the spirit of inclusion’ ‘It was hard to sustain religious teaching’
settings.’ He said about 50% of the pupils are Catholic and the others from other Christian faiths, Islam, Judaism and non-believers.
He said the new policy will be phased in. Parents will now have to arrange Catholic teaching, but school buildings will be available for classes if they are required.