Ireland: Bishop Deenihan - Catholic schools must be about people

Bishop Tom Deenihan of Meath. Image: CCO Archive

Source: Irish Catholic Media Office

This week the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA) held its AGM in Athlone. The CPSMA provides advice and support for Chairpersons and Principals of Boards of Management in over 2,800 schools in the Republic. It collaborates with other management bodies and negotiates on behalf of these schools with the Department of Education and with other education partners. Bishop Tom Deenihan of Meath celebrated Mass during this week's gathering and delivered the following homily:

"There is a wisdom in accepting the readings of the day instead of selecting 'special readings' for special occasions. Today is a case in point. There may have been a temptation to select readings and steer the homily today but that might be to impose one's own will excessively on the liturgy and to limit the word of God.

Despite that, today's readings do have some relevance and have something to say to us as a Management Body for Catholic Primary Schools, albeit in a time of challenge and debate. I am talking about the opening comment of Christ in the Gospel. He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in his own country.

Could we substitute 'Catholic Primary School' for prophet and wish that we were in the United States, England, in fact, anywhere else? After all, it does seem that the Catholic School is the reason for every current ill in the world of education.

Indeed, about nine years ago, an academic in the History Department in UCC, Gabriel Doherty, who sadly died a few months ago, told me that it was a feature of the papers that he was correcting in Social History that every one of the social ills that Ireland experienced was due, in the minds of his students, to the influence of the Catholic Church. Pure revisionism and an unreflective absorption of a narrative. Yes. There were atrocities. We share that shame. But Catholic orders and congregations were providing education long before free education in Ireland and religious congregations were providing care for those who were sick too. It is also important to note that those who offered those views were third level students and many were graduates of Catholic schools.

But back to the Catholic school being the prophet not recognised. How does one define a Catholic school. I believe that referring to Patronage, while technically correct, does not always give the full picture.

I re-read an article that was written by an educationalist, Frank Steele, in 1995 called the Gospel School in the context of a talk I was giving recently.

That article, which has stayed with me over the years spoke of what a Catholic school should be:

A Catholic school … is about people.

Bearing all that in mind, a Catholic school must be about people as they are in the here and now! It must be about all people, to borrow the analogy in the parable of the Prodigal Son, it's about the son who stayed and the son who strayed.

A Catholic school treats all its' students equally, … and, if it were to be biased at all, would be biased in favour of the weak. … a Catholic school accepts people as they are. A Catholic school is a school that can say of itself that quotation from John 10:10 'I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

Perhaps Steele's image of a Catholic school presents a constant challenge to ourselves as members of Boards of Managements and, perhaps a manner of the Catholic school being recognized as that prophet once more? People more than policies, individuals more than collectives.

Ethos is, as you know, something that can be elusive, hard to pin down and intangible. But 'to live as Christ did' captures it well. It is about liturgy, sacraments, iconography, feasts and seasons but it is also about taking on board the preferences and biases of Christ. What did or what would Christ do?

In that sense, ethos is about the marginalized and the weaker. Our schools, by and large, realise that and our schools are amongst the most inclusive. ESRI reports continually attest to this. But for Board of Management members there are many implications in that sentence too.

There are, for example, in that sentence and in that modus operandi particular implications for admission policies and, in these days, special education needs and Special Education Classes too.

There are implications also for a discipline policy. Christ's telling of the parable of the prodigal son and Christ's kindness and compassion for the son that strayed must colour any disciplinary discussion at staff and board level. That is, after all, what Christ did.

I remember a situation in a school that I was once involved in where a teacher demanded that the principal would suspend a pupil for not having a uniform yet again and for again having no homework done. The principal responded by suggesting to the teacher that had she known the students living arrangements and home situation, she might be more inclined to praise him for coming to school. 'That we may live as Christ did' or 'That we may speak as Christ would'. Sometimes staff rooms and board meetings miss that aspect. It is part of ethos too!

Mother McAuley, the foundress of the Mercy sisters who have contributed so much to education here, said that the function of a Catholic school was 'to make the students fit for life without unfitting them for eternal life.'

There is a message here too. How much of what we do in school is temporal? I know there are demands and important demands in terms of parent expectation, curriculum and post-primary progression, but there is another dimension, a spiritual and more, a religious dimension, that our schools must serve. And that religious side is important too. We do not serve just the wishes of the Department and the hopes of our education partners. Though, of course, we do when we can. We must do more. To paraphrase Saint Tomas More, we are the Departments and our education partners good servants, but God's first.

I have just completed 60 of my 68 Confirmation ceremonies. I will be finished next Saturday. They started in the last week of January.

Much of it was great. I write to students in October asking them to consider a Confirmation name, a Sponsor, the Confirmation pledge and I encouraged them to pray and attend Mass. I followed that up with a video recording which schools sent to parents.

I have had great conversations with the pupils as I confirm them. Some children took the names of grandparents that they clearly loved, living and dead. Others took Cecilia, Sebastian and Anthony, patrons of musicians, athletes and things lost.

With preparation, Confirmation can make a difference and children are open. The difficulty is that children cannot drive themselves to Mass.

Clearly, there was a variety of responses and I do believe that the pupils who engaged with or who were taught the programme, benefitted more. Most students were open to that religious interpretation and the notion of a loving God. A lot depends on the teaching.

But here's the thing. I wonder how many Board members would know what happens in their own school?

The Board is responsible for religious education too. How much time is given to real religious education, food that endures to eternal life in your school? It may be a difficult question and perhaps an unwelcome one but it is an important one and it is our business and our responsibility. What percentage of in-service time, of the annual budget is given to ethos and /or religious education by the Board? To paraphrase the gospel question, has faith now become the prophet not recognized in his own country, literally, the Board agenda?

The comment of Christ about a prophet not being recognized in his own land might ask you to assess what image of your school is being conveyed to parents and the community through the Boards involvement with discipline, recruitment, admissions and religious education too. Do Christian values shine through?

How would people recognize that your school is Catholic without a saint's name in the title.

Is your Catholic school the prophet not recognized in its own country or parish. If so, for God's sake, will someone on the Board ask why?

It does not really bother me if Catholic schools are criticised. It would bother me if Catholic schools were criticised for not living, not operating by the standards, principles and preferences of Christ. In that context, let me paraphrase our opening prayer of Mass today:

O God, who renew the world through mysteries beyond all telling,
Grant, we pray,
That our schools and boards be guided by your eternal design and not deprived of your help in this present age, Amen."


Bishop Tom Deenihan is chairperson of the Bishops' Council for Education and is a director of the CPSMA.

The main object for which the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association is the advancement and support of education in Catholic Primary Schools in the Republic of Ireland in accordance with Catholic Ethos by the provision of advice, guidance, information, support and other services to Ordinary Members, Patrons and Trustees with the objective of assisting them in the fulfilment of their responsibilities to the pupils, parents, teachers and staff of Catholic Primary Schools and to the Department, for the purposes of the Education Act 1998, the Constitution of Boards and Rules of Procedure, the Rules of National Schools, circulars issued by the Department from time to time and other applicable law and regulations, in all circumstances consistent with Catholic Ethos. The CPSMA is organised on a diocesan basis, and an elected Diocesan Council meets a number of times a year and organises various meetings for boards of management in each diocese.