19 May 2011

Dublin Archbishop says Irish church not indoctrinating enough children, secular society advancing



IrishCentral   -  May 18, 2011

Dublin Archbishop - Catholics are not passing religion on to the next generation


Failure to pass on religion will have serious consequences

By ANTOINETTE KELLY, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer



The abuse crisis in the Irish church is not the only grave challenge facing it, Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told the Catholic News Service this week. [see article below]

The failure to pass on the faith to the younger generation has far reaching consequences for the church too he claimed.

"We have to completely, radically change the way we pass on the faith," Martin told CNS. "Our parishes are not places where evangelization and catechesis are taking place."

Speaking in Washington before he presented a lecture to the Order of Malta Martin, the Primate of Ireland, lamented the declining practice of the faith in Dublin - where just 18 percent of Catholics now regularly attend Sunday Mass.

Controversially, Martin noted that if the Catholic Church runs 90 percent of the elementary schools in Ireland yet only 18 percent of Catholics attend Mass, it made him wonder about the commitment of Catholic teachers.

"If people are being prepared for the sacraments by people who don't frequent the sacraments, there's a real problem there," Martin said.

"Unless we address it, we're not going to have a next generation of young Catholics," he said.

"We're suffering from some of the products of being a mass Catholicism in the past. We're still living, in some ways, as if that were the case today," he said.

Martin said he believed the secularization of Irish society was quite advanced and he spoke of the need for training laypeople to relieve priests of some of their extra tasks so they can focus more on priestly duties.

Young people in particular, Martin said, have a great deal to contribute but they must be treated with respect

"Parishes where young people are present and committed are parishes where they've been given responsibility," he said. "And the parishes which treat young people where they say 'You come on our conditions,' that's just not working."

This article was found at:


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Catholic News Service   -  May 17, 2011

Dublin archbishop says Catholics not passing on faith to young people

By Barb Fraze |  Catholic News Service



WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Irish society is not just suffering from the sex abuse scandal but from a failure to pass on the faith to the younger generation, said the archbishop of Dublin.

"We have to completely, radically change the way we pass on the faith," Archbishop Diarmuid Martin told Catholic News Service May 16. "Our parishes are not places where evangelization and catechesis are taking place."

The archbishop traveled to Washington to present the Order of Malta Inaugural Lecture, "Faith and Service: the Unbreakable Bond." During his speech and in remarks to CNS beforehand, he spoke of the declining practice of the faith in Dublin -- 18 percent of Catholics regularly attend Sunday Mass -- and of the need to give young people responsibility in the parish to reinvigorate them.

Archbishop Martin has served in Dublin since 2003 and presided over the uncovering of hundreds of past cases of sex abuse and the mishandling of priest abusers, but he says the problem goes deeper than abuse.

The Catholic Church runs 90 percent of the elementary schools in Ireland. Yet if only 18 percent of Catholics attend Mass, he said, he has to wonder about the commitment of Catholic teachers.

"If people are being prepared for the sacraments by people who don't frequent the sacraments, there's a real problem there," Archbishop Martin told CNS.

He reiterated what he has said often in the past, that "young Irish people are among the most catechized and the least evangelized."

"Unless we address it, we're not going to have a next generation of young Catholics," he said.

"We're suffering from some of the products of being a mass Catholicism in the past. We're still living, in some ways, as if that were the case today," he said.

In his speech near the Georgetown University campus, Archbishop Martin said he believed the secularization of Irish society was quite advanced, and he spoke of what it means to live as a Christian citizen.

"If we start out in ... reflection on the place of faith in our culture with the conviction that God's grace is present and can be found even within a world marked by human sinfulness, then our vision of the place of the faith in society changes, and the entire framework for the presence of Christians in society takes on a new shape," he said.

"Christian commitment means getting your hands and your shoes dirty," he said. "The Christian in society is not just another social commentator, but a witness to another way of living."

He said Christian commitment "must not be limited to the occasional outburst of global solidarity" after natural disasters or "the more militant enthusiasm engendered around protest meetings."

"For the Christian, solidarity and sharing should be the stuff of every day, an imperative and not just an option, a daily imperative and not an occasional awakening of conscience," he said.

"Faith and service constitute an unbreakable bond," he said.

"Defense of the faith is about living the faith without being afraid," he said, adding that it means knowing that faith can improve all aspects of life.

In his CNS interview, Archbishop Martin spoke of the need for training volunteer laypeople to start relieving priests of some of their extra tasks so they can focus on priestly duties. Laypeople "bring a richness to ministry," he said, and where he has full-time laypeople working in parishes, they have increased the numbers of volunteer laypeople.

He said Irish young people are "extremely generous, dedicated."

"Parishes where young people are present and committed are parishes where they've been given responsibility," he said. "And the parishes which treat young people where they say 'You come on our conditions,' that's just not working."


This article was found at:




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3 comments:

  1. We want secular schools in Dublin, say parents

    by: National Secular Society Secular News Daily January 25, 2013

    Pressure is building on the Irish Education minister to establish a multi-denominational school in Dublin under the Educate Together banner. Educate Together, a multi-denominational body, promises that “No child is separated because of his or her religion or belief system” in any of their schools.

    The Dublin City Educate Together Second-level Action Group collected over 2,000 expressions of interest from parents who are looking for an addition to the current second-level school provision. It held a public meeting to discuss the plans this week.

    Olivia Morahan, one of the campaigners from five Educate Together primary schools, told the Irish Herald: “We want this school because of the whole ethos, it’s child-centred and it’s democratically run and multi-denominational. From my own experience, I’ve two children in the early years of an Educate Together primary school and it’s a very different schooling to what I experienced growing up. There are demands on both sides of the city, so in the long term the best solution would be one for the northside and one for the south.”

    Campaigners said they are trying to pressure Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to set a timeline for when they can expect to see an Educate Together secondary school in Dublin.

    The enthusiasm for an Educate Together secondary school is thought to be driven by the positive experiences reported by children coming through the primary level equivalents.

    Last month, the Government asked parents in six Dublin areas to decide what kind of primary school they want for their children. The survey seeks to find out the participants’ preferred choice of school patron. It will probably result in a dilution of the influence of the Catholic Church, which currently controls over 90% of the country’s 3,000 primary schools.

    A similar exercise last year led to the church being asked to hand over one school in each of the five areas surveyed to Educate Together.

    http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2013/01/we-want-secular-schools-in-dublin-say-parents/

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  2. Pluck of the Irish: Government plans move away from church control of schools

    by: Simon Brown, Secular News Daily March 4, 2013

    Some members of the Catholic hierarchy have ranted that religious freedom is under attack in the United States, but now one of Europe’s most devoutly Catholic countries is looking for inspiration from America’s tradition of church-state separation.

    The Washington Post reported yesterday that Ireland’s education minister, Ruairi Quinn wants to implement a gradual shift away from Catholic Church dominance over nearly all public schools. see: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/cardinals-resignation-fuels-crisis-of-churchs-moral-authority/2013/02/25/7ea1e346-7f8e-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story_1.html

    Quinn indicated that religion does best in places like the United States where the church doesn’t have government power.

    “The country in which religion has strived most strongly is where church and state are separated,” Quinn said. “The countries where religion is languishing either through neglect or indifference are those European countries which previously were dominated or controlled by the Catholic Church such as Portugal, Italy, Spain, not to mention Ireland.”

    This shift away from church control of Ireland’s public schools has been in the works for some time. http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Catholic-church-to-lose-stronghold-on-Irish-education-system-118832599.html

    Back in 2011, Quinn set up a group to figure out how most of the country’s schools could be moved away from church patronage and said that his goal was to switch half of Ireland’s schools from church control to an alternative guardianship, Irish Central said.

    The publication noted that in 2011, the Catholic hierarchy controlled about 90 percent of Ireland’s 3,200 primary schools.

    It’s likely that Quinn’s plan has been sped up by a series of church scandals (including most recently the resignation of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s top Catholic leader who is now accused of “intimate” acts with priests).

    But regardless of the motivation, Quinn is really onto something: public schools should be open and welcoming to all, something that’s impossible when a single religious group controls the system.

    Ironically, in many American states like Louisiana, Indiana, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Texas, legislators are moving away from a public school system controlled by the taxpayers toward a system in which voucher-subsidized private schools are controlled by religious authorities.

    There is no evidence that a religion-run system provides better education than the public schools, but some lawmakers don’t care – they want to support their favorite faiths using your money whether you like it or not.

    In the long run, merging religious education and public dollars will be bad for education and bad for religion. Just ask the Irish.

    Separation of church and state is a great idea because it protects both faith and democratic government from harm. The Irish have realized that the United States offers a model that looks out for the interests of all faiths and those who have no faith, meaning everyone can observe or not observe religion as they see fit.

    It’s a shame that some lawmakers in this country haven’t learned to value this concept the way the Irish have.

    ww.secularnewsdaily.com/2013/03/pluck-of-the-irish-government-plans-move-away-from-church-control-of-schools/

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  3. UN calls on Ireland to recognise needs of non Christian children in the education system

    National Secular Society February 4, 2016

    The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has criticised Ireland in its periodic review, urging the country to protect the rights of non-religious and non-Christian children and families.

    Strong criticism was made of the overwhelming religious control of Ireland's schools, and the Committee said that Ireland must improve access to non-religious schools. 97% of Irish primary schools are denominational schools.

    It said Ireland must "Expeditiously undertake concrete measures to significantly increase the availability of non-denominational or multidenominational schools and to amend the existing legislative framework to eliminate discrimination in school admissions, including the Equal Status Act".

    The report concluded that "Schools continuing to practise discriminatory admissions policies on the basis of the child's religion" and the Committee said it remained "concerned at the very small number of non-denominational schools."

    The Committee also recommended that Ireland "ensure accessible options for children to opt-out of religious classes and access appropriate alternatives to such classes, in accordance with the needs of children of minority faith or non-faith backgrounds."

    In its report, the Committee expressed its concern that "children are not [currently] ensured the right to effectively opt-out of religious classes and access appropriate alternatives to such classes."

    Atheist Ireland, which campaigns for an "ethical, secular state", said their calls for a secular education system had been vindicated by the report.

    The secularist group said that their representatives were "in Geneva in January when the UN Committee was questioning Ireland, and we highlighted the State's attempt to mislead the Committee about the Minister for Education's intentions to change the Equal Status Act."

    Claims that the Irish government were to amend the Equal Status Act were false, Atheist Ireland warned. "Actually, the Minister and the Government have made clear that they will not be amending the Equal Status Act to remove the right of publicly funded religious schools to discriminate against children in access. The Government says they cannot do this without a referendum, as they say they have a constitutional obligation to buttress religious discrimination."

    http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2016/02/un-calls-on-ireland-to-recognise-needs-of-non-christian-children-in-the-education-system

    ReplyDelete