Published: 30 January 2006

School principals say parents must take more responsibility

John Walshe

Education Editor

SCHOOL principals want preparation for first Holy Communion and Confirmation taken out of the classroom - and handed over to parents.

They say it is time for the churches to pull back from front line involvement in the provision of education in a modern, secular, multi-cultural society. "The day is gone when organised religion in denominational form is required to govern and manage schools," said Sean Cottrell, national director of the Irish Primary Principals Network (IPPN).

He argued that responsibility for religious education and preparation for Sacraments should be taken away from the school and given back to the family where it "rightfully belongs". The proposal, set to be the major talking point at the IPPN annual conference this weekend, would, if implemented, mark a fundamental change in Irish education and signal the end of a practice that has gone on for generations.

The three-day conference beginning on Thursday will be attended by 750 principals, more than a quarter of those in the country.

Mr Cottrell said many classrooms of today have anything from five to 15 different religions represented and it is not practical to have preparations for the sacraments during school hours.

He went further and predicted that the clergy would withdraw from school boards of management in order to focus more attention on working with parents towards their children's religious education and formation.

The clergy who are available at parish level are tied up in management functions dealing with buildings, finance and employment related issues, he said, writing in today's Irish Independent. "This is not exactly the type of work that motivated their vocation in the first place."

More controversially he suggests that the Churches who own school buildings should consider the value of trading or sharing ownership and control of schools in return for a proper State funded scheme to provide chaplaincy for all primary schools. But the General Secretary of the Catholic Primary School Managers Association Rev Dan O'Connor said he was taken aback at the IPPN proposals which, he said, had not been discussed with the association.

He said that part of the Mission of Catholic schools was faith formation and the preparation for the sacraments was a key part of that formation.

Fr O'Connor agreed that the burden of preparing pupils for the sacraments should be shared between the home, schools, and the Church. A number of dioceses were using the 'Do this in memory of Me' programme which followed this approach.

The CPSMA spokesman also rejected any suggestion that Catholic schools were not inclusive saying that pupils of different faiths were welcome and catered for in the schools.

"The situation in Ireland is changing and in Catholic schools there are children from different countries and varying faith groups now attending our schools."

However, he said the Catholic Church was also open to discussing other forms of co-trusteeship and co-patronage into the future.

In Roscrea, Co Tipperary, for example there was a primary school under the joint patronage of the Catholic Bishop of Killaloe and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe.

Fr O'Connor said that at second-level the Catholic Church had entered into arrangements with the Vocational Education Committees in the trusteeship of community colleges and there was no reason why something similar might not be considered at primary level.

"It takes a parish to rear a child and parents are the first and principal educators of their children in all aspects of living. The parish and the school assist the parents in this role," he added.