IPPN

Last Updated: Wednesday, 24 March 2010 10:04

YES

It would be a great pity if failures on the part of church leaders were to have a serious negative impact on Catholic schools. One of the most notable contributions of the church is in the area of education. Why is it throughout the world that Catholic schools are so popular? It is surely because parents value the quality of the education provided and it is difficult to believe that so many parents could get such an important decision so wrong.

Parents are the primary educators of their children. This is recognised in the Irish Constitution and in many important international legal instruments. The churches are involved in education because there are parents who want to have their children educated in a Catholic / Protestant school.

Catholic schools in Ireland make an enormous contribution to our society and are models of inclusivity and care for all the students who attend them.Listening to some commentators one would think that there is some major flaw, almost a moral difficulty, in the management and patronage structures of these schools. Is it not the case that such criticisms tell us much more about the agendas of these commentators than they do about the reality of our schools? These schools are caring and inclusive communities. They have adapted to demographic change with significant net migration into Ireland and have led the way in integrating the ‘new Irish’ into local communities.

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