The end of two centuries of Christian Brothers involvement in the Irish education system has been marked by the formal handing over of control of its 96 schools in the Republic to a charitable trust run by lay people.
The newly formed Edmund Rice Schools Trust, chaired by Mr Justice Peter Kelly of the High Court, was granted trusteeship and operational responsibility for 35,000 students and over 2,700 teachers at a ceremony in Dublin Castle today.
Its stewardship becomes effective from the start of the new school year in September.
Mr Justice Kelly paid tribute to the extraordinary contribution made by the Christian Brothers to Catholic education, the life of the State and public life. In spite of this contribution, he claimed, the brothers were the victims of “amnesia” in society about their achievements.
All had changed, unimaginably so, for the brothers as the once constant stream of recruits dwindled to a trickle and then disappeared in recent years, yet they hadn’t succumbed to depression and had instead created a new governing structure.
The trust, a company whose members included former DCU president Dr Danny O’Hare and former president of the EU parliament Pat Cox, will have responsibility for the appointment of school boards.
The company has six directors, headed by Pat Diggins, who recently served as interim director of Marino School of Education.
Dr Leo O’Reilly, Bishop of Kilmore and chairman of the education commission of the Bishops Conference, said yesterday’s ceremony marked a landmark in the story of Catholic education in Ireland.
The Christian Brothers’ “distinguished and distinctive” contribution to education was being carried forward by a lay trust.
Dr O’Reilly saluted the “outstanding achievements” of the brothers, founded in the early 19th century to respond to the educational needs of Catholic parents.
“Generations of Irish people have received a first class education and a host of opportunities in life that would otherwise never have been open to them, due to your dedication,” he said.
In the early 20th century, the brothers had played a major role in preparing the young people who would later run the Irish Free State; in the latter part of the century, they had provided students with the education that enabled them to benefit from membership of the EU.
More recently, they had responded to the “sign of the times” by setting up the lay trust. While this was obviously linked to the decline in vocations, this wasn’t the only reason for such a “bold step,” he said.
The Second Vatican Council, for example, had affirmed the importance of lay people in the church.
Brother Kevin Mullan, chairman of the outgoing Christian Brothers trust, said the Department of Education should provide support for the trustees of Catholic voluntary schools so they could continue to offer parents a choice of school types into the future.
Brother Edmund Garvey said the time had come for the brothers to hand over responsibility for their heritage and their gift of educational provision, which had brought so much positive value to Ireland. This marked the end of years of planning and the invention of new structures.
