Moves to keep as many schools as possible under Catholic patronage are well intentioned but deeply flawed, one prominent Catholic priest has said.
Fr Mark Quinn, who is based in the Archdiocese of Tuam in Co Galway, says that keeping schools denominational will only result in maintaining the status quo of what he describes as “watered down, a la carte Catholicism” which he says has been commonplace in Ireland for the last 50 years.
Fr Mark Quinn, who last month urged people to be mindful in their reaction to suicide in a viral homily, said that the vast majority of parents in Ireland support Catholic patronage inschools simply because they want “quick and easy access to the sacraments.”
The priest, who hails from Co Mayo, says that this is despite the fact most parents are not engaged with the Catholic Church or the faith on any real level.
“Not only will this result in a continuation of the cultural Catholicism we have, but it is piling more work on priests who are already completely overwhelmed with ministry demands,” he tells Gript in reference to sacrament preparation in schools.
“This would leave us stuck in the place where we currently find ourselves, and it’s not helpful.”
“To evangelise properly, we must first remove the sacraments from schools and develop proper family-based programmes of Catechesis within our own parishes which are based on formation criteria rather than age.”
400 MULTI-DENOMINATIONAL SCHOOLS BY 2030?
Fr Quinn says that while there is certainly room and demand for a percentage of “authentic” Catholic schools, that amount should be representative of the number of practising Catholics in this country. He says this figure of those practising the faith is around 10 to 15 per cent, compared to those who “have simply ticked a box in the census” indicating that they are Catholic (69 per cent).
His comments come after the Department of Education, headed by Minister Helen McEntee, launched a national survey for parents, guardians and staff to express their preferences for different types of primary schools, such as Catholic, multi-denominational and Irish-medium.
The previous Programme for Government committed to achieve a target of at least 400 multi-denominational primary schools by 2030, a move which it said would improve parental choice. Such a strategy includes building both new schools and transferring the patronage of some existing religious-run schools to make them multi denominational.
However, that target was previously cast into doubt when senior official at the Department of Education, Hubert Loftus, told a Joint Oireachtas Committee for Education and Skills in 2023 that community engagement was “likely to result in a view that there is not enough demand on the ground” for more multi denominational schools.
Speaking to Gript, Fr Quinn said that when he speaks to other priests about the issue, the “majority” share the perspective that the Sacraments should be taken out of primary schools because it is taking up huge swathes of their time and producing very little fruit.
He points out that in his own parish just 2 priest coordinate an average of around 200 to 250 pupils who present for the sacraments each year .
‘PARENTS ARE DISENGAGED’
“You of course have the teachers helping out, but in some cases, we can see ourselves that some of the teachers in the schools are not practising Catholics,” says Fr Quinn. “If they are not in the faith themselves then it’s going to have a big impact on how that faith is transferred to the pupils. It obvious the difference in the children from class to class. You can tell the teachers who practice their faith and those who do not ”.
Recalling one example of this, he said: “I inquired with one of the kids and I asked him if they were learning anything at all in class. He said to me that they hadn’t done religion in class since October, and that was in February – four months later. So some teachers are putting in the effort and some are not. But the consistency depends on the teacher. To be fair to them, how do we expect them to transmit something they have no love for in in the first place? It’s not right to ask them either and some of them are probably afraid to admit it ”.
“I’m 44 years old now and we’ve used this model for the last 50 years. None of the people who I went to school with are practising Catholics today. When it comes to the teaching of the sacraments, it’s the same dead model,” he admits. “It doesn’t work. It’s a dead faith when taught this way.
“A lot of people use the argument of, “Lookit, Isn’t it better to have some little bit of teaching there for the kids, rather than nothing?” but that’s nonsense. Because what we are actually doing is teaching kids that Catholicism is some little, fluffy thing that you can dip in and out of whenever you want, and it’s a case of ‘whatever you think yourself’. We’re teaching a diluted faith by doing that; we’re not doing them justice.”
Fr Quinn says that when Masses are organised in the parish outside of school hours in preparation for First Holy Communion or Confirmation, it is often clear that some parents who come with their children aren’t that keen on being there.
“Other priests and parish workers will tell you the same. Some can be just so disengaged. I understand they are busy and all that but it goes to show that their priorities are somewhere else. And that’s fine. We shouldn’t have to force anybody into Church. But the reason some of them are bringing the kids is because they don’t want the child left out.
“Many have told me that themselves. It’s seen as a day out, or as a cultural tradition, or a rite of passage. The confirmation is seen as a coming of age thing, and the communion is a cultural milestone too. But that’s all it is to some parents, primarily because the School model has made it this way”.
He points to the Growing in Faith Together (GIFT) chaplaincy teams that are found in some primary schools in Plymouth in England. Through that programme, run by the parish, preparation for the sacraments is handled on a family and community basis.
“I recently spoke to a lady in the diocese of Plymouth, and they were experiencing the same issues as us. They decided to bring the teaching out of schools, and changed it so that kids had to come to certain Masses in the parish. They had also found parents to be disengaged. Through that programme, the families who actually wanted to be there attended.”
“They are invited to engage with the parish once a week through a family day. The families come and they do Catechesis with them, and then they have community time which involves things like games for the kids and a bit of fun on a Saturday. There’s actually no specific day out or time frame for the sacraments of Baptism and for First Holy Communion. I presume there would be for the Confirmation as the Bishop would have to come to distribute the sacrament.
He continues: “The sacraments are made as part of regular Masses, and there is no set age as such. For example, a teenager might make their confirmation at 16 years old, and another child might be making their communion at 10 years old. But the family has to show that they are totally engaged with the process and committed to their faith.
“That parish is now finding that this is growing and growing. Things are flourishing for them because it’s authentic. It’s what we call forming intentional disciples. So, the more disciples that you form who are in the faith and know it, they will evangelise better than a teacher in school who is indifferent and is busy with other things.”
“One of the things that we are very weak at as a Church is community, and I think that’s part of our problem. Making things more community and family-focused would be a step in the right direction.”
“There are good models out there if we are brave enough to adopt them,” Fr Mark adds. “I think we need to have courage here, and put our hands up to admit the approach of the last 50 years has not worked. We’ve seen this in the results of the last two major referendum. We’ve seen it in the fall away in Church attendance. All we are really doing with the current approach is adding to the numbers of cultural Catholics,” he tells Gript.
‘WE DON’T HAVE ENOUGH PRIESTS FOR THE CULTURAL CATHOLICS’
The Galway based priest also challenges the narrative that there is a shortage of priests – arguing that there are enough priests for the number of people who are practising Catholics.
“The numbers of priests will always represent the numbers of practising Catholics, which is around 10 to 15 per cent of baptised Catholics in Ireland – the number of ordained priests is actually enough to look after the practising Catholics we have,” he says. “ What we don’t have is enough priests to look after the cultural Catholics and that is where we are getting bogged down. Everyone wants the sacraments but no one wants the sacrifice.”
“There are good vocations to the priesthood in countries like India and Africa because the families are well catechised, and vocations are coming from those families. If we do not catechise properly, however, we’re going to continue to struggle to find vocations.”