Church or State at the top of the class?

As the numbers of religious decline, the new millennium may herald significant changes in the relationship between Catholicism and education in Ireland. At present, some 95 per cent of the State's 3,000-plus national schools are Catholic-owned, with a Catholic ethos which includes sacramental instruction. At second level, 360 of the State's 780 schools are Catholic voluntary secondary schools.

Although Catholic owned, these schools are State-funded, in that the State pays teachers' salaries and a capitation grant to recognised schools. At primary level, the State capitation is augmented by a local contribution, usually paid from parish funds. The State also contributes significantly towards capital projects.

In Catholic primary schools, the religious education curriculum remains the preserve of the churches; at second level, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment is printing the first ever State-devised religious education curriculum, to be examined at Junior Cert. A Leaving Cert programme is in the offing.

The Department of Education is moving towards paying State salaries to Catholic and Protestant chaplains in voluntary secondary schools. Last year, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court judgment in a case taken by the Campaign to Separate Church and State that it was not against the Constitution to pay chaplains in community and comprehensive schools.

In Church and State in Modern Ireland (1923-1979), John Whyte notes that Catholic literature picks out four places where the school system is satisfactory from the Catholic point of view: Scotland, the Netherlands, Quebec and Ireland. If the position in the other countries was called as "par", then Ireland, from the Church's point of view, was "par plus" with Irish education being not merely denominationally controlled, but clerically controlled.

In the late 1990s, declining religious vocations, a more secular society, growing pluralism, combined with demographic and structural changes in the education system, mean that Catholic control can no longer be achieved clerically.

Early next month, a two-day conference, attended by the trustees of the religious congregations, will debate the merits of new models of Catholic school trusteeship - models that promise extensive lay involvement. Further consultation with the partners in education is then planned.

Three years ago, the Conference of Religious of Ireland published a trustees' handbook recognising the need for change in the ownership of the orders' secondary schools. Key factors driving this process are the declining membership and ageing profile of members of the orders as well as significant future rationalisation of second-level schools and the growing pluralism of Irish society with concomitant demand for multi- or nondenominational schools.

In 1997-98 there were about 660 members of orders involved in second level education, compared to 2,300 in 1969-70. Fewer than 5 per cent of those now involved in education are 35 or under.

Sister Teresa McCormack, of CORI's education office, says "the bottom line as to why congregations are looking at the trusteeship issue is their commitment to try to ensure that Catholic schools stay faithful to the purposes for which they were founded, remaining Catholic and retaining their voluntary status".

She says the move towards increased lay involvement is also related to the way in which religious want to "reposition themselves to be most influential". This can be best done at system rather than local school level, she suggests. The policy influencing role of religious would develop. At the same time, there would be a re-investment and refocusing of religious in areas of disadvantage. "It is not just a numbers game although the numbers sharpen the focus. It is a repositioning as well as facing up to the issues," she adds.

FOUR CORI study groups have, over the past three years, been looking at future school ownership models, based on the belief that, within five to ten years, all Catholic voluntary secondary schools will be owned by trusts on which lay people are heavily represented. In the early years, it is envisaged that these people would be nominated by the orders.

Trusts may not be confined to one school. For instance, the Mercy Sisters in the west are looking at the option of one trust to cover all their schools in that region.

The internal discussion will lead to a report to the assembly next month. But there is no guarantee that all of the orders will sign up.

The Director of the Faith Alive Ireland Project, Cormac O'Duffy has suggested, recently, in The Irish Times letters page, that more radical measures are needed. "The time has come for schools to be formally allowed and indeed encouraged to drop out of the church system, and for the churches to encourage this move . . . if we were to lose three-quarters of the Catholic schools and have one quarter truly living out a Catholic mission, perhaps this would better meet our educational needs and stop the level of sacramental formalism which is often associated with church practice . . . . from the point of view of the gospel, the church is one of the greatest beneficiaries of the separation of church and State. Let the debate continue."