A chara, – I fear for the future of Church of Ireland educational institutions not because of the threat that they might lose the ability to provide “free education” but because so many Church of Ireland members refer to these establishments as “Protestant schools”. It must be something to do with the way they have been taught their history and their religion.
The Church of Ireland and its institutions cannot be described as “Protestant”, because the church is not part of the Lutheran tradition.
In Ireland, this misappellation is commonplace, even among the church’s most senior prelates and school patrons. Ireland is the only country in the world, to my knowledge, where the Anglican or Episcopalian churches are described as “Protestant”.
But by all the saints, those who belong to the Anglican Communion can more reasonably be described as Catholics and, in the interests of greater church unity, should so be described.
No doubt, the Church of Ireland’s long-standing misnomer is a result of the political conflicts of the past, but it is unfortunate that the lapse continues and that it is being perpetuated by the Church of Ireland’s most senior prelates and patrons of education.
It’s all very well for Archbishop John Neill to defend free education in Protestant schools, but more immediately, what about the threat of free education for Catholics in Church of Ireland schools? And what about redressing this out-dated misappellation of identity by making apparently necessary changes to the curriculums of these schools? – Is mise,
CIAN MOLLOY,
Bayview Road,
Wicklow.
