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Tue 06 Jun 2009Catholic Church must develop new role to survive
If the church is to have a future it has to replace the ethic of control with a radical ethic of service, writes FINTAN O'TOOLE.
IRISH DEBATE is very good at presenting people with false alternatives. As we stumble tentatively towards some kind of new settlement for the provision of social services, we seem to face another one. If, we are told, we don’t want church control of schools and hospitals, we must have State control. If the church hands over ownership of primary schools, everything will be run by bureaucrats from the Department of Education in Dublin. One hierarchy will be replaced by another.
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