The academic who wants to ban Catholic lessons from schools

On a press trip to Disneyland some years ago, I met a man who took his children to Mass every Sunday even though he had no faith. Why go? I asked. “Because it is good for my children,” he said. He liked Catholic values.

This man came to mind as I listened to Maedbh King on NewsTalk Daily, last week; the mother of two was given a platform piece in a Dublin newspaper – followed by a half-hour of airtime to complain about Catholic lessons being taught in schools built by Catholics and funded by the State. With a PhD in psychology, Maedbh King works in research and management at Trinity College; she was speaking as a member of “Education Equality” which demands “pluralist education” in Ireland.

Catholic schools are of course a legacy of religious leaders such as Edmund Rice, and Nano Nagle who set up schools to educate the poor. A majority of schools in Ireland remain under the patronage and management of the Catholic Church because the fledgling Irish State, in 1922, lacked the funding or capacity to build a massive public system, so it largely outsourced primary and secondary schooling to the Catholic Church and other religious orders. Many are overseen by modern trusts and funded by the State. Now on its feet, the State would like to give Catholic education the boot.

Problem

But there’s a problem. 60% of parents who participated in a Department of Education survey preferred to keep the Catholic ethos. Around 40% opted for multi-denominational schools. Of course, no one is forced to take religious lessons; there is a right to opt out.

But this is not good enough for Dr King; she complains there are no central policy guidelines for the ‘opt-out’. She said it is deeply painful for a child to have to leave a class where others are preparing for First Communion – not to mention the “mental gymnastics” for the parents.

On her webpage, Dr King states she wants an education system where taxpayer-funded public primary schools welcome and respect “all families equally regardless of religious background.”

“Progress,” she adds, “requires us to design spaces that are inclusive, equitable, and built for the future.”

On radio, she insisted that it’s a “constitutional right” for all children in Ireland to receive an education that’s “pluralistic, objective, and critical”.

My personal view really is that all of this preparation should be taking place outside of school hours, as it’s done in all European countries”

I found no such explicit phrase in the Irish constitution.

And frankly I find Dr King’s attitude neither democratic, nor “inclusive”. On this matter, she is as about inclusive as a cuckoo who takes over another nest.

Surely genuine inclusivity and true pluralism demand that Catholic schools, set up by Catholics – and still wanted by a majority of Catholics – demand a little more tolerance and respect.

Dr King wants sacramental preparation kept away from the classroom and left to families and parishes. “My personal view really is that all of this preparation should be taking place outside of school hours, as it’s done in all European countries,” she declared, adding: “It shouldn’t be during school hours on the taxpayer’s dime,” she insisted.

I thought of my trip to Disneyland, Florida. Year-round guests can still honour Walt’s legacy by visiting the “One Man’s Dream” exhibit. But what if this always happened ritually on his birthday once a year while 40% of paying guests chose to opt out – because they didn’t believe in his vision, and insisted it no longer reflected the culture? What if they just wanted to use the park – and felt uncomfortable having to ‘opt out’ their child out while their friends ran joyfully to this exhibit? What if they demanded this exhibit take place outside the park?

King was challenged by the interviewer Ciara Doherty that 60% of parents wanted to keep the Catholic ethos. King then complained about the data – the way the survey was framed, and the failure to release pre-school data. She insisted 40% was a “huge huge” number. So is 60%. (Dr King presumes to interpret their minds too – that they may have just gone along with the status quo as there was no box to tick that said, “I don’t care!”)

Dr King describes First Communion as a “cultural milestone” – something she herself “did”, along with Confirmation, when she was growing up in Ireland.

It is no mere ‘cultural milestone’; but a share in the divinity of Jesus Christ – the greatest gift anyone can receive. I don’t expect Dr King and others to accept that Catholics eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood. This sacrament caused a row from the day it was first introduced. “The Jews started arguing,” we read in the Gospel of John. And Jesus let them walk away. He didn’t compromise the reality of his flesh and blood in sacramental form.

Mysterious

But it is mysterious and powerful – regardless of what Dr King calls the “superficiality” of Catholics going to ceremonies, more focused on hair and money. Dr King expresses concern for “devout” Catholics having to put up with this. But this is our problem to solve – not hers.

The Holy Spirit convicts the baptised – whether they are aware of it or not – and the grace of God can work through this human ‘superficiality’ in the most amazing way. The French Foundress of the Congregation of Adoration Reparatrice – which had convents in Belfast and Wexford until recently – came from a family of non-believers. They were nominally Catholic and, to keep up appearances in 19th-century France, allowed the annual Corpus Christi procession to pass through their large garden. And because a young Théodelinde Bourcin-Dubouché looked so cute dressed as an angel, her mother let her spread rose petals in the path of the Blessed Sacrament.

The child’s heart was touched – and she not only dedicated her life to adoring the Blessed Sacrament, she led her family one by one to conversion.

For Dr King, First Communion sits alongside GAA celebrations or a Leaving Cert ceremony – and suggests a non-religious alternative. But what could we possibly complete? Dancing round daisies dressed up or recounting a project with family? There is no alternative to the power of this sacrament. “God did something,” a little boy recently told me after he attended Eucharistic adoration. He was preparing for First Communion, and I was taken aback. “What did God do?” I asked. “God did something because I feel really good inside.”

Dr King even expresses concern about the “discomfort of teachers” who do not believe, or practice having to teach the sacrament. Does it matter? Asked for evidence of this discomfort, she cited an INTO survey where “only 4%” feel prepared to teach this subject. There is a remedy for that – it’s called skills training! What if they are uncomfortable teaching a history lesson that they are paid to teach? Too bad!

Reversing

Dr King says “we know” there is a decline in Catholicism year on year – but what if this trend is actually reversing? What then?

Dr King and those who feel so strongly about their ethos might consider putting their own efforts into setting up their own schools. She and her non-religious partner send their children to Catholic schools for reasons of “geographic proximity”. In other words, it’s convenient. Like King Canute, she has a free choice. If it is so intolerable to have Catholic sacramental preparation in a school set up by Catholics, she might put her efforts into creating her own school. She’s free to try it. It’s what self-sacrificing Catholics did – and not only Catholics but all those in the north of Ireland who wanted an integrated approach to education did. And if she can’t or won’t set up her own secular school, as is her right, she can exercise her rights by opting her children out of religious education. That seems fairer than undermining Catholic education out of schools built by Catholics and wanted by Catholics – who, however painful for King, remain a majority.