Catholic Schools:
Schools for Catholics?

David Tuohy, SJ

Issue 386, vol.97, Summer 2008

The roles and responsibilities of the patron are described in the Education Act and focus on three areas – property, finances and “characteristic spirit”. The government recognises schools, established by patrons, when they provide an education in accordance with the national curriculum. It supports them by paying a quota of teacher salaries and by giving capitation and other grants for the maintenance of the school. It also regulates aspects of the running of the schools, to ensure a level of uniformity between them.

The changing nature of Irish society has raised major questions about the “private” nature of education provision. At one level, the Irish government seeks to oblige or entice private schools to operate on a fully “inclusive” basis, serving all members of the community, even when the educational aims of a religious patron may be at odds with the educational aims of those who take these places. At another level, the Church patrons try to balance responsibility to their founding intentions, a desire to be of service to the community in general and the need for a pragmatic response to political and funding realities. In this article, I will examine four areas in which these questions are being debated.

Separation of Church and State

The issue of separation of Church and State is debated on two levels. The first is about the power of the Catholic Church as the main educational patron and the second questions the role of religion in public life.

A growing tenor of public debate seems to assume politics as the all-embracing “catholic” element in society, whereas religion is portrayed as narrow and sectarian. The image of the early Christians in the Acts of the Apostles, where property was shared and wealth fairly distributed among the community, is an image appropriated by the political agenda and social policy. This development has marginalised the work of private institutions in the public arena, especially Church groups working in education.[1] Faith schools are portrayed as divisive and it is asserted that integrated schooling will put an end to instances of ethnic and racial violence and promote a more tolerant and inclusive society. This debate also has an internal tension between the Church’s espoused value of working for the common good, and the seeming contradiction of promoting a separate education provision for its members. Increasingly, the debate focuses on institutional power issues, rather than looking at the actual values promoted by the patrons. In Ireland, the institutional focus is mainly on the Catholic Church, rather than other religious groups, and does not extend to other “for profit” involvement in running schools, which are assumed to be value-neutral. Neither does it look at other value systems, such as all-Irish schools, with the same lens.

A particular argument against Church involvement in education is that the religious worldview it promotes is anti-intellectual and anti-scientific.[2] A dramatic example of this debate is in tensions over the teaching of creationism and evolution in some parts of the United States and among some fundamentalist Christian groups in the UK. It is argued that such education should not be supported from the public purse. The contention is that government should only support an atheistic humanism in education, and leave any other education to the private sphere.

In the debate, there is a perceived discontinuity between a secular and a religious vision. The secular is seen as the underlying good, and, where it is conceded at all, the religious is an optional extra. This approach admits a theology within the education system rather than a theology of education. The religious element of education is seen as a discrete and self-contained element, rather than a vibrant world view that informs all other areas of life and benefits the whole of society. The tendency is to think in “either-or” rather than “both-and” terms. Certainly, the aims of politics and of religion are distinctive, but hold much common ground. The call to replace one world view (theocentric) with another (atheistic humanism) is to promote a politics that curtails values such as liberty and diversity within the common good. The challenge for politics is to hold the values for everyone, and to help those who seek to exercise their choice, provided they do not harm others. For the Church, the challenge is to promote its vision of the human person and of society. It must show the continuity between its vision and the common good of a State system, while at the same time maintaining a counter-cultural witness against values that can be unashamedly and narrowly materialistic.

The debate on separation of Church and State in Ireland is often confused by the dominant position of the Catholic Church in the provision of schools. In this context, the core issue is not about the right to have faith-based, denominational schools. It is about how best to make the provision. It focuses on the difficulty of providing for the choice of many different stakeholders in a multi-denominational community. The solution frequently promotes a system where religion is taught in a generic community context. The aim is to support, somehow, all groups to some minimum level. This approach treats religion as simply one other subject, with a discrete body of teachings. It fails to respect the integrity of any group’s belief. Beliefs are considered only in terms of bureaucratic necessity, as defined by the provider, not in terms of a value dimension, as determined internally by the group itself. In effect, this approach ends up denying both freedom and choice to those who want to pursue their choice of religion. Historical circumstances have given a particular shape to the current Irish system that makes for a complex response to the issue of choice. It is important that the solutions proposed recognise this complexity rather than avoid it in over-simplistic gestures.

Parental Choice

The development of the patronage system since the mid-nineteenth century has meant that the Catholic Church now has a dominant, almost monopoly, position as provider at primary level. In the changing context of modern Ireland, an increasing number of families claim non-Church or non-religious affiliation. There are also significant numbers of Catholic parents who want their children educated in schools that do not have a Church affiliation. The demographic distribution of these groups often means that they are dependent on Catholic schools for their children’s education.

In response, the Catholic Church has stated that it is quite happy that other providers of schooling be recognised, although such bodies find it difficult to establish new schools. In the short term, the Department of Education and Science can turn to the Vocational Education Committees or to other private patrons, such as Educate Together. In the long term, there is the question of negotiating the “buy out” of their “public-private” partner so that some of the present primary schools can move to a community rather than a private governance model. One proposal is to look to the future and to say that all new schools will be community, multi-denominational schools. This proposal would begin to change the face of provision, especially in new centres of population, effectively promoting a “one-type-fits-all” approach to school provision. To promote this change further, there is often a tacit assumption that the Church should hand over some of its current schools to the State. This reflects the confused state of private ownership and public support, and assumes the State to be the ultimate owner of education, with the Church as its servant. The question for the Church is how it will look on its own past investment and the financial grants it has received from government. The Church can be like the servants in the Bible, who received a number of talents from their master, and had to repay them, including the interest, on the master’s return (Mt 25:14-30). Alternatively, it may view itself like the steward, who was called to give an account of his stewardship. Fearing the loss of his position, he traded his master’s goods so that he would have somewhere to go when his master no longer wanted him (Lk 16: 1-7). The Church may decide to maximise its investment so that it can work in new areas, including setting up new Catholic schools.

At post-primary level, the problem of choice is not so acute, as there are different types of schools to choose from. However, in some areas, the process of amalgamation into co-educational Community Schools has meant, in fact, a lessening of choice for parents. In fact, there seems to be a drift away from private provision at post-primary level. Over the past twenty years, no new Catholic schools have been opened and many have been amalgamated into Community Schools. Although many religious congregations are involved as Trustees of new Community Schools in these areas, they are not in the historical role of a private provider. Ironically, the provision for religious education and chaplaincy in many of the Community Schools and Vocational Schools is better than that provided in some schools run by religious trustees.

At post-primary level, where schools often compete for students, the market-forces influencing parental choice have had a marked effect on the Catholic sector. Particularly in the Dublin area, where there is a wide choice of schools, there has been a drift towards private, fee-paying schools, the majority of which are Church schools. This creates a tension with the Catholic education sector.

In 2006-7, there were 55 fee-paying schools in the 390 strong voluntary sector. 32 of the 366 Catholic schools were fee-paying, 23 of them in the Dublin area.[3] Three of these are for boarders only and four offer boarding facilities to boys. 23 of the 24 non-Catholic schools were fee-paying, but they also avail of a special block grant that is distributed to Protestant students on a means-tested basis. Twelve of these schools are in the Dublin area and sixteen of the twenty-four schools offer boarding facilities.

Overall, the voluntary sector caters for over half the students at post-primary level. All fee-paying schools reported by the Department of Education and Science are in this sector. Nationally, 9% of boys and 6% of girls attend fee-paying schools. However, in the Dublin area, 21% of boys and 17% of girls are in fee-paying schools. These figures under-represent the total, as there are also a number of private “grind schools” providing full-time tuition in the final two years of post-primary education, and their numbers are not reported by the Department of Education and Science. In the voluntary sector, 18% of boys and 11% of girls go to fee-paying schools. In the Dublin area, this is 37% and 29% respectively. However, this figure may be an over-estimate because of the way the block grant scheme works in Protestant schools. Nationally, 13% of boys and 6% of girls attending Catholic voluntary schools pay fees. In the Dublin area, 30% of boys and 20% of girls in these schools pay fees. This does not include Catholic students attending non-Catholic fee-paying schools.

There are many reasons why parents might forego a “public” education that costs little in favour of fee-paying schools. The improved economy allows for more private spending on education and smaller family size results in more money available to spend per child. There is a greater social awareness of educational credentials as a success factor in the knowledge economy. This is linked with an assumption that price equals quality in school. Also, cultural forces in an increasing multi-cultural society have seen demands by different groups for niche provision to further their own interests. Parents will also have personal desires that schools promote traditional values relating to discipline, religious or moral values. However, this trend creates a question for many Church schools. The vision for Catholic education is often presented in personal and psychological terms – a holistic approach that benefits the individual student. The fee-paying schools often have resources to promote excellence in this aspect of schooling. The demographics, however, present a challenge on the sociological level. The voluntary sector has struggled to overcome the historical scenario when it “creamed off” the better students to an academic education, and the others went to the vocational system.

In the current climate, there is a growing division between the perception of desirable schools and other schools “which are full of disruptive children”[4]. In the Dublin area, this tension is focused on fee-paying and “free” schools. In other parts of the country, the debate often focuses on the strategies some schools use to “skew” their intake and avoid “difficult” students. The marketing of many Catholic schools, especially fee-paying schools in the Irish context, sits uncomfortably with the Church’s stated pursuit of the common good. To some extent, the success of these schools has exposed flaws in their identity and purpose – what are they and who are they for? Within the Catholic sector, there is much more common ground between the schools on the “what” question. The “who they are for” question causes more tension. In some instances, it seems that public policy in education is more in tune with Catholic social teaching than is the practice of many of the schools.

Developing Ethos

Any solution to the issue of choice is a long-term project. In the meantime, schools and parents are faced with a dilemma. The choices facing both groups were illustrated in the well-publicised scenarios in North County Dublin last year. where there was a heated debate over Catholic ethos and the admission of non-Catholic children. In reality, this was not a debate about the internal ethos of the schools. It centred on issues of governance and criteria for selection in the event of over-subscription. The basic question went back to the private-public nature of ownership. The dilemma was: does a Catholic school mean “a school for Catholics”, where preference is given to institutional members of the Church; or does it promote “a Catholic education for all”, where it accepts those who support its values? In this context, it is worthwhile asking how admission policies might affect the ethos of a school. Are the schools de facto multi-denominational because of their intake, or can they still claim to be Catholic schools?

A “closed” model of Catholic school, where preference is given to Catholics, can give rise to unexpected outcomes. When the Catholic school is seen to be very successful, the motivation for seeking places may be more related to the quality of general education than to the desire for a particularly Catholic ethos. In England, this has shown itself in a growth of late baptisms and families moving house to be within catchment areas of good schools. We have also seen instances here in Ireland where, when the Catholic school is faithful to an inclusive enrolment, parents with high social capital leave the catchment area for schools with a less varied intake.

The (Vatican) Congregation on Education is quite clear that the Catholic school is “open” in its membership.

(The Catholic school) fulfils a service of public usefulness and, although clearly and decidedly configured in the perspective of the Catholic faith, is not reserved to Catholics only, but is open to all those who appreciate and share its qualified educational project. (The Catholic School on the Threshold of the ThirdMillennium #16)

The culture of an open and inclusive Catholic school includes processes whereby participants – students, parents and teachers – grow in human capacity (pre-evangelisation); hear the Word of God and are invited to interpret their lives in the context of the gospels and revelation (evangelisation) and deepen their commitment through study, reflection and devotion (support). In the context of growing secularisation, the balance of activity in the Catholic school has shifted from being predominantly a support culture, to being a culture of evangelisation. This evangelisation is based on witness to the love of God. Benedict XVI, reflecting on the mission of the Church to help others, stated:

Those who practise charity in the Church's name will never seek to impose the Church's faith upon others. They realize that a pure and generous love is the best witness to the God in whom we believe and by whom we are driven to love. A Christian knows when it is time to speak of God and when it is better to say nothing and to let love alone speak. (Deus CaritasEst #31c)

In schools in general, there is a culture of care for individual students. Catholic schools score high marks in this area. When working well, the Catholic school gives an experience of community that integrates the human and spiritual growth. However, Treston[5] warns of different dysfunctions that can arise. He describes one model of Catholic school where participants are reticent about making their values explicit so as not to give offence to others. In this type of school, students come to know the signs and witnesses, but fail to see the God to whom the sign is pointing. Another model is the school that maintains a Catholic “franchise” by having a number of Catholic rituals such as school masses, prayers at graduation services, etc. In this context, the Catholic dimension is seen as the icing on the cake, rather than the leaven of the school. The daily life of the school is not touched by an explicit Catholic dimension.

Undoubtedly, developing a Catholic ethos is extremely difficult in to-day’s culture. From the school perspective, perhaps the greatest threat to this ethos is not the presence of non-Catholics or non-Christians. In many ways, Catholics may be able to learn from the commitment of others to their faith as they forge an identity as minority groups in society. The greatest threat may well be the qualified commitment or apathy of many Catholics. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that increasingly, religious affiliation is seen in terms of key events – Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation, weddings and funerals. God and Church become the context for such rites of passage. However, they are not to the forefront in other aspects of daily life. In this context, it is extremely difficult to sustain a perspective on the Church aspect of the Catholic school. Faith formation becomes a form of personal, private growth rather than an initiation into a believing community. On a wider level, presenting faith as life-long learning and developing pastoral strategies to support this journey is becoming a major challenge for the Church.

The context of the wider Church is very important for the future of Catholic schools. It is unlikely that school leaders, teachers and parents with a strong personal faith will be sustained unless they have opportunities for growth and engagement within an adult faith community. The “catholicity” of the schools will reflect the culture and experience of the Church at large. A key challenge for Catholic ethos is to build capacity for the future. The Catholic school will seek teachers and leaders who have a high level of theological literacy. Up until recently, theological formation has been reserved to priests and religious congregations. As a result, there has been dependency on “clerical” support, and the availability of this in the future will be very different. Lay people will be required to articulate the Church’s belief in contemporary language and to relate it meaningfully to the circumstances of those who may not share that belief. This requires some framework of theological knowledge as well as the skills to reflect on life experiences within that framework. This was unavailable to lay people in the past. Now that it is more available, many will need to be shown that it is an acceptable path to take, personally and professionally.

To date, the support given by Church patrons to lay people in schools has been sparse. There is no comparison between the services offered by the VEC to its schools and the Church resources available to support their schools. In primary schools, each Board works mainly at a parish level and there is still a high level of clerical involvement. There is some support at diocesan level, through a Diocesan Secretary, to help with capital, legal and financial issues, as well as having Diocesan Advisors to promote the Religious Education programme. In most dioceses, however, these roles are part-time jobs. In general, the dioceses have been slow to organise along the same lines as the religious congregations at post-primary level, setting up new Trusts and employing lay people with specific expertise to help the schools. In these new Trusts, there has been a very welcome focus on formation and ethos issues as well as on legal and financial responsibilities. However, Ireland lags far behind other countries like Australia in the diocesan support available to Catholic schools. There is some indication that dioceses are now beginning to pool resources to set up more professional support for schools. No matter what the future, the professionalisation of support services to Catholic schools must remain a priority for the Church if ethos is to be developed.

Conclusion

There is a tendency in Catholic education to describe and analyse inputs – to recount all that has been and is being done within it. What is often lacking is an evaluative mindset, where the focus is on the impact of Catholic education on students, families and society. If the Catholic school aspires to be a community where individuals in some way meet God in a more personal way and are invited to commit to a search for meaning within that context; where students are formed as good citizens with a commitment to working for a fairer and more just society; then there needs to be an evaluation that goes beyond nostalgic anecdotes about schools. This means grappling with the religious sensibility of young people and their engagement with the world of spirituality – their relationship with God, with the gospel message as a way of life and the Church as a community of believers. Knowledge about the search for meaning in the lives of young people, their parents and teachers throws light on the current reality of the school. This will have two effects. Internally, it will challenge participants to develop new ways of relating to one another that are both an evangelisation of the school community, and also a celebration of the gift of the Holy Spirit alive and active in the world. Externally, it will help the schools make more explicit the positive and holistic anthropology that inspires Catholic education. It will show how Catholic schools make a positive contribution to the common good, by looking at the quality of its graduates and their commitment to society. In this, it should be clear that religion is a “value-added” dimension to both the individual and to society and that Catholic schools (and other faith schools) deserve the full support of government in their operation.

David Tuohy S.J. works as an independent consultant in education.

Notes:

[1]     For an example of the debate in the UK, see http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/ faithschools.html

[2]     Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation (2006, Knopf), Roger Trigg, Religion in Public Life: Must Faith Be Privatized? (2007, Oxford University Press)

[3]     Three of the other nine schools are in Cork city. Three are boarding schools – Clongowes, Glenstal and Roscrea. Dominican Newbridge, Gormanston, and St. Gerards, Wicklow, are the other three.

[4]     In the Dublin area, this debate is sharply focused on fee-paying and “free” schools. In other areas, the debate often focuses on differences in the intake of schools within the free scheme, and the strategies some schools use to avoid “difficult” students.

[5]     Treston, K (1997) “Ethos and Identity: Foundational Concerns for Catholic Schools”, in Keane, R and Riley, D. (eds) Quality Catholic Schools: Challenges for Leadership as Catholic Education Approaches the Third Millennium, Archdiocese of Brisbane.