Disengagement and discomfort: what national surveys on education really illuminate
Dear Editor, Much has been made of the headline claim that a majority wish to retain the current school ethos. Yet a closer reading of the national survey tells a rather different—and more uncomfortable—story. Within denominational schools themselves, around 40% of parents expressed a preference for a multi-denominational option. That is not a marginal figure to be politely noted and set aside; it represents a substantial body of families actively seeking change.
Even more revealing, however, is what has gone largely unexamined: nearly 60% of eligible households did not participate in the survey. It is a convenient assumption by some to suggest that this silent majority is content with the status quo. But such a claim rests more on hope than evidence. Experience suggests otherwise. In the most recent Irish General Election (2024), approximately 40% of eligible voters did not turn out. No serious observer would conclude that this large segment of the electorate was simply satisfied with the political system as it stands. On the contrary, widespread non-participation is more often a sign of disengagement, detachment, or even quiet disillusionment.
Then there is the matter that seems to attract little attention: the findings of the 2025 survey by the INTO. In that survey, 57% of teachers in “Catholic” schools stated that faith formation should not take place within the primary school setting, and a mere 4% believed that schools should be involved in sacramental preparation. If this is not a signal of a profound disconnect between the current model and those tasked with delivering it, it is difficult to know what would qualify.
Parents have spoken and teachers have been consulted. Yet one cannot help but ask: has anyone seriously listened to the clergy expected to sustain this system, or is there a reluctance to confront what they might actually say?
Yours etc,
Fr Mark Quinn
Tuam, Co. Galway
What will Catholic education look like at a nondenominational school?
Dear Editor, I see from your paper that all the stakeholders in Catholic education are happy to go along with the divesting of our Catholic schools to other education bodies if a majority of parents of the children of a given school so desire.
But what about the minority of Catholic parents who do not want this but will be compelled to go along with it? Who speaks for them? They know that multi-denominational schools will treat the Catholic religion as just one amongst many others, Christ being put on a par with Mahommed, Buddha, Confucius or some guru, with a teaching on doctrine and morals that is relativistic, the end result being confusion and eventual loss of faith.
Nondenominational schools then will exclude Catholic instruction referring to it, if at all, solely as a throwback to the Middle Ages and an impediment to individual freedom. The vacuum is filled with the ideologies of the day: LGBT, radical feminism and an ecologism that gives priority to the curlew or hedgehog over the baby in the womb. Preparation for the sacraments in either kind of school is seen as a waste of time whereas in Catholic schools it follows naturally on instruction so that pupils will meet their Lord in the Mass and sacraments and meet their Father in heaven at the end of their days.
In divested schools it is the Catholic children who will be told to get out of the classroom if they want to get some smattering of religion in a prefab at the back. Discrimination then goes onto the other foot.
In all of this divesting I see simply another sign of the sell out so characteristic of the church today and a betrayal also of Daniel O’Connell and his great struggle for Catholic emancipation.
Yours etc,
Fr Richard O Connor
Kerry and Rome
Talking to ease life’s burdens and pressures
Dear Editor, The subject of suicide is never too far from our minds. We’re either hearing about it, grieving for loved ones or friends that fell to it, or directly contemplating an act described as a “permanent solution to a temporary problem”.
In the run-up to the big national suicide awareness walk in May it comes into sharper focus as one of the greatest tragedies: a loss of life that devastates so many other lives.
Though we shouldn’t judge or condemn anyone’s decision to “end it all”, I think it’s good to reflect on all the reasons to keep going. One reason is that no matter how dark or beyond hope a life situation appears, we can ease the burden massively by just talking to someone about it.
This is something we all find at various times in our lives but it’s an essential truth that’s all the more relevant when the deepest despair takes hold, or threatens to. A problem shared is a problem halved, or maybe solved altogether. No matter what it is….severe depression, bullying, coercive control, financial pressure, loneliness, or anything else.
It’s worth thinking too of the grief that will have to be borne by those left behind…by people who might end up blaming themselves.
The world, for all its wonders and attractions, its highpoints of love, fulfillment, and happiness, can flip sometimes to a place that we see “through a glass darkly” to quite the proverb, but with a little help we can banish the clouds and let the sun shine again.
Anyway, there’s nothing to lose by just dialing a number and talking to someone. Every day brings a challenge, great or small. But no matter how grievous or overwhelming it looks, I reckon it’s better to give life…our own lives and those who’d miss and mourn us…a second chance.
Yours etc,
John Fitzgerald
Callan, Co. Kilkenny
Media uproar a potential wake up call for Pope Leo
Dear Editor, It’s good to see that the apparent disagreement between the Vatican and Donald Trump is being patched up. In Pope Leo’s most recent speech he declared that President Trump was not the target of his recent comments.
What was astonishing though was the degree to which most of the media, not usually all that supportive of the Catholic Church’s teachings, circled the wagons around the Pope, for what they perceived to be a battle between both men. One wonders would they have done the same were the Pope to reiterate traditional Catholic teaching, opposing both abortion and same sex marriage? No prizes for the correct answer.
Maybe this latest incident will act as a wake up call to the Pope. His predecessor was perceived as being a little too free and easy with his off the cuff comments, when maybe a “filter” was called for. Here’s hoping Pope Leo reverts to the advice of the sagacious Ronan Keating, when he intoned, “you say it best, when you say nothing at all”. Or, at least, as little as possible.
Yours etc,
Eric Conway
Navan, Co. Meath
Serving God and money: a path to emptiness and unhappiness
Dear Editor, Jesus said: “No one can serve two masters; for either you will hate the one and love the other; or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money” (Mt 6: 24-27).
These are fundamental questions in which Jesus defines the nature of life for us all. We need to reflect on his words. We need to understand what he is saying. He is essentially saying that God exists. There is no reason for us to invent God.
There is no reason for us to feel inadequate before God. There is no reason for us to feel empowered to do other than what God defines for us. Yet our society today is rich in the ways of Satan, who rejects Jesus, and poor in the ways of God in so many ways.
By suggesting that we are serving two masters, Jesus was essentially saying that we are serving God and Satan, although he couched it in vaguer terms. Serving Satan means that you’re unhappy and you’re likely to be making an impact in this world in an unhappy way, with unhappy results. You might take up jobs that involve being unhappy like surveillance or monitoring the good people, and generally making the world a less happy place.
Some of our society’s hardest men and most vicious women would do well to reflect on the world they want. Do they think they will silence the good people, or is that not their purpose at present.
They need to reflect on the emptiness of unhappiness and reach out to those who do not know about such things.
You must make happiness your master, or your world will perish. It is time to serve God. God will always win.
Yours etc,
John O’Connell
Derry, Co. Derry
Parishes must make up for what Catholic education is lacking
Dear Editor, Thank you for your article on RTÉ misinformation. RTÉ is biased in its agenda because of funding from the EU which is anti-Christian. However, this issue illustrates a broader issue, Irish Catholic schools are to a large extent funded by the secular government overseen again by the EU and therefore our autonomy is compromised.
In Africa, Catholic schools, even teachers’ salaries, are funded by the parents which gives them a much greater autonomy in what they teach.
At least one solution is for more Church-based Catholic education for the youth. This is something that the government cannot control.
Catholic youth need to be taught the basics of their faith in a similar way that Protestants do in Sunday school. The Children’s Liturgy is the starting point for this and needs to be present in every parish.
Preparation for Holy Communion and Confirmation needs to be solid and thorough and can be best achieved with the help of well trained catechists who are not under secular control.
This illustrates the growing need for a well trained laity.
Yours etc,
Andrew Kieran
Lifford, Co. Donegal