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o ‘The Role of the Churches in Education’ by Bishop Donal McKeown

This is very propitious time for a serious conference on the topic – or perhaps, on the topics –

which come under the role of the Churches in education, both North and South. So I greatly

welcome the fact that we have been brought together under the broad and welcoming umbrella of

the Irish Inter-Church meeting to look not merely at where we are today, but at where we see our

role into the future. After all, as someone said, the problem for churches in the future will not be

religious difference but religious indifference. And that has major implications specifically for

church communities and how they see their roles in education. We can never assume that a

response to one situation in the past is necessarily the right one for the future. That means being

able to key our eyes on the core objectives and not be excessively attached to particular models

from the past.

The programme for today helpfully treats two topics, which are distinct though they cannot be

easily separated. There is the broad role of the Churches in the provision of formal education,

and then there is the much more specific one of the role played by religious education in

Christian formation, both in school and outside it. The former has to do with whether there is

such a thing as a Christian or Catholic school in terms of it ethos, philosophy and ideals. The

latter has to do with the specific topic of religious education, whether that be in an explicitly

faith-based school or in what is an increasingly secular state-run school.

A: Catholic Education – a global perspective

Catholic schools are not a peculiarly NI phenomenon, not is there much sign

around the world that it is viewed as a dying relic of the past. There are about

200,000 Catholic schools worldwide with nearly 52 million students. They exist in
all sorts of relationships with civic society – and the forms of Catholic schooling in

Ireland are specific to these jurisdictions and history. But they exist because of a

particular vision of how church and state should interact. So what is that

perspective that motivates such energy?

All education is focussed, not merely on passing on useful information, nor just on

training people for employment but on the formation of the whole person. Parents

want to help their children grow, not just prepare them for work. The most

important task that any of us will do is to be a human person as a social being. The

Catholic Church has long established ….her own schools, because she considers

them as a privileged means of promoting the formation of the whole person, since

the school is acentre in which a specific concept of the world, of the human person,

and of history is developed and conveyed.”

Our faith-based education is thus not just a way to hand on Christian teaching

about God. It explicitly involves “….the formation of the whole person, so that all

may attain their eternal destiny and at the same time promote the common good of

society.”

Now I appreciate that there are other Christian perspectives on how the Church

should interact with the state. There are those who believe that faith communities

can better preserve their integrity by keeping faith formation internal to

themselves. There are those who believe that they should not even vote in
elections. However, the Catholic worldview tends to emphasise the development of

“…a true humanism, which acknowledges that we are made in the image of God,

and wants to help us live in a way consonant with that dignity.”

Elsewhere, a number of recent Popes have referred to the creation of the

‘civilisation of love’. Catholic education has always seen itself as being in the

service, not primarily of itself but of integral human development and the common

good. Thus Catholic education might be said to aim as communicating, not so

much dogma as what one principal described ‘a lens through which to view the

world’. That means engaging in the public forum with the other ideologies that

would seek to offer an interpretative key to life.

So Catholic schools, wherever they exist, would claim to be offering Catholic

education and not just an educational separateness for ethnic Catholics. They are

encouraged to do that by being “not only a place where one is given a choice of

intellectual values, but a place where one has presented an array of values which

are actively lived”

The focus is therefore on creating communities of people where the Gospel view of

the world can be communicated to the head and the heart. Pope John Paul II was

consistently very clear about this integrated vision for a Christianity that penetrates

to the heart of our society. That has been made abundantly clear in his 2003

document Ecclesia in Europa (EiE) He was committed to the Church being


actively involved in creating a Europe that is not just a market that knows about

prices, but a community that has values, one that is aware of its past and that has

retained a commitment to beauty and to truth. The role of education in the creation

of this new European humanism is vital. Christianity has to be incarnated in

various ways in different cultures, imbuing each with a Gospel perspective, taking

the best from each and enriching it with the vision of the Creator. Thus a 1988

document from the Vatican is clear that “One of the characteristics of a Catholic

school is that it interpret and give order to human culture in the light of faith.”

In an educational world, which increasingly focuses on discreet subjects and

accumulated qualifications, the school aims at this integrated perspective on

learning and tries to overcome some of the problems of a fragmented and

insufficient curriculum.

2. Northern Ireland

The future of faith-based schools in NI was raised by last weekend’s speech by

First Minister Peter Robinson. It certainly caused some lively reaction. From my

perspective, much of his commentary on the future of church schools was based,

not on a neutral assumption but on two specific premises. Firstly he comes with his

own theological understanding of church-state relationships. And secondly he

seems to be assuming that Catholic education was a NI invention, based mainly on

an outmoded desire to separate ethnic Catholics from the state system and educate
them in an environment where they can also teach Catholic RE. However, the

starting point for those of us who have been involved with Catholic education over

the decades is that faith-based schools are based on a distinct philosophy of

education – and one which is consistently both very successful and very popular

across the world. So the question is whether there is room for Catholic education in

the new NI, and not whether we move to remove educational apartheid for

Catholics.

Now I certainly appreciate that Catholic schools in NI were not just like Catholic

schools in many other jurisdictions. They were part of the very divided society in

which we live and lived. But in seeking to create a more cohesive society, there are

two things which might usefully be remembered.

1. The ideal for all citizens – and especially for Christians – has to be that we

create a society at peace with itself, where harmony reigns within. Indeed, in NI

people of faith have been in the forefront of the moves that led to a cessation of

shootings and bombings. Furthermore, many church people were holding the

middle ground while many in the current political leadership hurled abuse and

worse at each other. However, experience across 21st century Europe suggests that

all states have struggled to find ways of living with difference, especially as

societies cease to be mono-cultural. Both integration under the national banner and
multiculturalism seems to have run into serious difficulties. Thus, most countries

have now come to realise that the efforts to live with difference are not just a

passing phase, requiring temporary exceptional measures, but part of being a

modern pluralist society. I would suggest that, while we all recognise the violent

divisions from which NI has suffered – and work to overcome the huge gaps, both

sectarian and social, that have scarred many places – some people seem to be

working from a questionable understanding of society if they imagine that getting

all young people into state schools within a decade or two will make NI a haven of

tranquillity and harmony. All 21st century multi-cultural societies have to live with

differences and with the tendency of vested interest to accentuate those differences,

often for electoral purposes. The question is not ‘how do we homogenise’ bur

rather, ‘how do we prepare people to live with difference and celebrate rather than

fear it?’

2. While Catholic education will continue to claim to have a right to exist in the

public forum, we have to be acutely aware of the need to serve the common good

in our divided society. That means ensuring that we actually don’t play the part of

the divisive, separatist defenders of vested interests that some see us as being, but

actually work to heal our hurting society. We may very well note that we are

taxpayers like everybody else and thus claim to have rights which are guaranteed
under the various international and UN conventions. However, all rights have

associated responsibilities.

It was for that reason that Catholic Trustees published a number of documents over

the last decade. In 2001, the Northern Bishops brought our two publications which

were the fruit of input from many stakeholders, namely:

· Proclaiming the Mission. A new philosophy for Catholic education.

· Building Peace, Shaping the Future.

The former sought to identify the core philosophy, which give Catholic education

its sense of direction. Unless it offers a product that is distinctly different from

state education, then it is merely separatist and has no right to public subvention.

The latter document tried to clarify that Catholic schools welcomed people from all

faith backgrounds and none. Thus, Professor Sir George Bain recognised in his

2006 report that all school sectors – and not just those with the word ‘integrated’ in

their name – were committed to being places where people could mix across

cultural and denominational divides.

For that reason, we welcome the commitment of many political parties to promote

children from different backgrounds learning together. We just point out that – as

in other jurisdictions – Catholic schools are also capable of providing that


integration and should not be portrayed as barriers to building a more integrated

society.

Indeed, I would take the risk of going further. When you talk to people involved in

community work across the world, it is clear that the real and increasingly

dangerous divide is not within Christianity, not between Muslims and western

society – but between the haves and the have-nots. There is no great merit in

boasting about the integration of children from reasonably advantaged

backgrounds if the educational structures contribute to exacerbating social divides.

I appreciate that opinions in the North on the subject of academic selection at the

age of 11 may be more coloured by theological assumptions than we have

recognised or care to admit. But the Catholic trustees are quite clear that it is

impossible to divide children into two clearly distinguishable categories at 10 on

the basis of one or two tests. Thus we believe that one cannot base a 21st century

public education system on false premise that you can measure intelligence with

any degree of accuracy at the age of 10. In practice it tends merely to distinguish

between those who are better and less well prepared for the tests. And it also seems

to advantage the already advantaged and discourage the already struggling. It is no

surprise that in NI we have among the highest gaps in developed countries between

high and low achievers. There is a danger that those who insist on the desirability

of maintaining rigid selection at 11 in order to promote success for the minority of


high-fliers will actually unwittingly undergird a form of social apartheid that does

not augur well for the construction of a shared future across all the many divides in

NI.

So where are the churches in education in NI? There are challenges for all the main

churches which have played a role in schools.

A. Catholic schools face a number of major hurdles into the near and medium

future.

a. There are not a few who have seen Catholic schools in NI as wonderful

places for protecting Gaelic culture. Faith will play a range of roles for many, but

for some if it came to the choice between faith and culture, the latter might be seen

as more important. Some people have indicated that they would like to transform

some Catholic schools into community schools, not always free from political

influence. There is a huge job to be done if Catholic schools are to discover their

specific identity. However, the creation of a Christian society will not be served by

the promotion of merely social or cultural Christianity.

b. The promotion of a more reconciled society in NI is a priority. It is not

sufficient to say that we are open to people from all faith backgrounds and none –

and merely trot out the comparatively few examples where that happens on any

appreciable scale. However, we have also to encourage all schools in already


clearly segregated areas to believe that they can make a contribution to developing

citizens who can celebrate diversity and not feel threatened by it. The surprising

thing is that some of those schools in highly segregated and underprivileged areas

have done great work in raising expectations and self-confidence for many young

people, sometimes without much support from selective schools in what would be

classified as the same part of the community. But the creation of a more integrated

and harmonious society will take a huge amount of work. Churches and political

leadership have a major role to play in modelling new ways forward.

Catholic schools have to wrestle with the task of communicating a religious

worldview in a world with increasingly secular assumptions. To use terms that

Briege Gadd used recently, it is very hard to promote ‘a good life’ when everyone

seems to be chasing ‘the good life’. Ideals and vision are easy to talk about at the

top levels. It can be difficult to hand on that inspirational ideology so that it is

realised on the ground. Furthermore, the first generations of lay principals have

done wonderful work. But it must be remembered that many of that generation

were pickled in a Catholic habitus. Unless we can find some way of inculcating

that vision into the hearts of future generations of leaders, it will become

increasingly unrealistic to expect schools to communicate that to children. Nemo

dat quod non habet.


In the Republic, there is a wide agreement that parish communities should no

longer have to create and manage most schools and that the state should

increasingly provide and not just provide for educational facilities. Similarly in

NI, we are seeking to rationalise school provision, and we may well find that there

is not the same demand for Catholic schools as there is at present. Being the

owners of the schools that are attended by 44% of pupils is perhaps not tenable into

the future. Catholic schools will continue to exist only where there is parental

support. And I’d be among the first to point out that the most under-served

community in NI education is those who want an essentially secular model of

education as is available in most countries and growing in the Republic.

e. A further danger for Catholic schools arises from its very size and

comparative success. What was essentially seen as an outreach of faith

communities always risks becoming too professionalised, too large, too proud and

can risk losing its pastoral touch. I am not saying that this happened – but it

remains a risk that what was a system co-ordinated mainly on a voluntary or poorly

paid basis, could slowly become a profession rather than a vocation.

I know from my attendance at the monthly meetings of the Transferors

Representative Council that there are at least as many hurdles to cross.


a. The proposed Education and Skills Authority was opposed by many unionist

politicians on the basis that its enactment would have entailed the loss of specific

rights which had been guaranteed to the three largest Protestant denominations in

the running of what is essentially the state sector of education. These schools had

traditionally been seen as Protestant in character. It will not be easy to defend those

rights into the future if government insists on increasingly treating those schools as

secular establishments. It is not surprising that many of us in Catholic education

have been told how wise we were to have kept our own schools – though I do

suspect that there was at least an element of stubborness, or ‘thran-ness’ as we say

in the North, in the decision not to hand over our schools to state control!

b. The four main Christian churches were heavily involved in drawing up the

Core Curriculum for RE in all grant-aided schools in NI. It is becoming more

difficult for many schools to either deliver that core curriculum, or to supplement it

in a way that responds to the growing cultural and religious diversity of its pupils.

There are pressures to move away from religious education to religious studies.

That has huge implications for how faith communities will seek to catechise their

members on a parish and congregation level, recognising that schools can no

longer be sub-contracted to be the primary educators of children in the ways of

faith.
So what might the future hold for the Churches in education, especially in the

North?

1. Coming from our particular theological assumptions, Catholic authorities will

continue to insist on the right of the perhaps shrinking faith communities to have

access to faith-based education. Experience in many other countries shows that that

form of education remains very successful and popular. We will play our part in

counteracting the dangers of being divisive – but will resist simplistic claims that

faith-based education has no role to play nor right to claim its place in a 21st

century pluralist society.

2. Northern Ireland may offer the possibility of developing explicitly inter-church

schools, as are found in parts of Great Britain. While the Transferors are not school

owners – and thus not in a position to make the decisions that Catholic Trustees

can – there is a great willingness to seek specific NI solutions to NI problems. A

lot would depend on whether the civil authorities would wish to facilitate that sort

of development. But I believe that there is great openness on the part of all of our

larger churches not to retreat from education but to seek new ways in which a

rounded education can be accessible to all young people who desire it.

Conclusion
Despite tragic and shameful stories of children being abused sexually, physically

or psychologically in Church establishments across the world, Irish churches will

continue to seek what new roles they might play in mainstream educational

provision and in how they try to proclaim Christian faith – for as Pope John Paul II

said in Ireland 31 years ago, “every new generation is a new continent to be

conquered for Christ.” However, those roles will have to be sought with both

humility and openness to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches. It is a ministry

in the service of the Gospel and not of institutional power, in the service of the

world and not of ourselves.

Our different church traditions will continue to approach this challenge, aware that

we often come with often unacknowledged but very real diversity in theological

perspectives on the relationships between church and state. However, it would be a

real tragedy if the voice of faith allowed itself to be seen as an intruder in the

public forum. It will in some circumstances have to play the part of the prophet, the

voice crying in the wilderness. However, the scriptures show that this is not

necessarily a bad place to be. If education is what remains after you have forgotten

all that you were ever taught, then I remain excited by the prospect of finding new

ways together so that faith in Christ will continue to change hearts and to purify

reason. And it is an enthusiasm for which I do not apologise!


ENDS

This address was delivered by Bishop Donal McKeown at the Irish Inter-Church Meeting

entitled ‘The Churches and Ediucation – Context, Vision and Values’ in the Emmaus Centre,

Swords, Co Dublin on 21 October 2010. Bishop McKeown is Auxiliary Bishop of Down and

Connor and Chair of the Northern Ireland Commission for Catholic Education. NICCE

represents the Trustees of all primary and secondary Catholic schools in Northern Ireland.

Further information:

Martin Long, Director of Communications, Catholic Communciations Office,

Maynooth, 00 353 86 172 7678

The role of church in education


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Posted: Saturday, September 24, 2011 12:00 am

By The Rev. Glen Bayly,

Mifflinburg Alliance Church,

Mifflinburg | 0 comments
As the new school year begins, it is appropriate to note the crucial role churches play in the education of

society. Not only in the area of the spiritual life, how to worship and please God, but also in every area of

life the church has an important role in teaching the Biblical perspective.

In the area of the soul and spirit, churches teach that life is more than a material existence. We are made

uniquely in the image of God. We have purpose and meaning in life because there is a creator. We are not

just the result of a cosmic explosion, but the handiwork of a loving person with infinite power and

knowledge. The church speaks to the philosophy of life in stating this. We are not just existentialists,

inventing purpose for our lives in spite of the fact that there is no true meaning and purpose. Values are

not the result of public opinion or personal preference, but the reflection of the character and nature of our

creator. When professors at places like Penn State University are told not to quote the Bible in an

engineering ethics class, the church should explain why ethics without a spiritual basis are unsustainable.

The church offers eternal life through the only person to have risen from the dead, never to die again, the

Lord Jesus Christ. One of the founding fathers, John Adams, realized the cost of defining life as only our

physical existence when he wrote, “Let it be once revealed or demonstrated that there is not future state

and my advice to every man, woman and child, would be, as our existence would be in our own power,

to take opium. For, I am certain, there is nothing in this world worth living for but hope, and every hope

will fail us, if the last hope, that of a future state, is extinguished.”
Churches have much more to say in educating the public than teaching about the character and nature of

God and how to have eternal life. The Bible speaks to many other subjects including science, sociology,

psychology, history, economics and more.

Churches must challenge the teaching of evolution as fact in our science departments. The Bucknell

University catalogue states that evolution is the basis of its Biology Department. Churches need to

explain the scientific evidences for intelligent design and creation by God. Then they need to explain the

consequences of a materialistic view of life. Students should be challenged how the concept that “all men

are evolved equal” not only makes no sense, but is the antithesis of survival of the fittest and natural

selection. They should be taught that the subtitle of Darwin’s book, “The Origin of Species” is “or the

Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” Only creation by God supports the American

ideals of the equality and the worth of every individual.

Churches need to point out that in no other place does something as complex as a living cell organize

itself other than in the minds of the evolutionists. Any complex object reflects the intelligence of its

designer. The universe is filled with design.

Churches can supplement the education of its students by explaining how and why many of the scientific

disciplines were developed by people of faith. They should point out that all science textbooks have to be

updated regularly to remove previous errors. The churches can point out scientific information that goes

against the prevailing views that the universe has to be billions of years old. Why have scientists

discovered soft, elastic tissues in dinosaur fossils in recent years? How could a canyon system 1/40 the

size of the Grand Canyon be carved out in a matter of days when Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980?

Why can Carbon 14 be detected in diamonds when it has a half-life of 12,000 years and diamonds are

supposed to be millions of years old? How can a fossil tree protrude through many layers of rocks that

supposedly took thousands, or millions, of years to be deposited?

The teaching of history is incomplete without teaching that God is involved in the affairs of men. Though

some of our founding fathers were not evangelical Christians, the vast majority believed our nation would

not have come into existence without God’s help. From the Pilgrims who thanked God for preserving
them to every president who sincerely declared days of Thanksgiving to God, until recent times no one

had a problem stating the obvious in public.

The origin of marriage and the family is described in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Churches should realize the importance of teaching the Christian view of sexuality and marriage for the

benefit of society. When our sexuality is practiced in the context of marriage — one man and one woman

committed to each other for life — then the marriage partners and their potential children are benefited by

God’s plan. When sexual intimacy is practiced outside of this plan, there is the breakdown of families

because of adultery and there are numerous other tragic consequences of diseases and emotional and

spiritual damage as well. Two vaccines have become mandatory in many areas because of sexual

practices that do not follow the Bible’s teaching on sexuality. Vaccinations for Hepatitis B and the

Gardasil vaccine for the HPV virus are recent additions to American life due to sexual practices of those

who disregard Biblical values. No one can predict the future damage continuing acceptance of sexual

immorality will bring.

Biblical teaching on economics warns against debt, the modern American disaster. Jesus stated the

superiority of spiritual wealth over material wealth. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole

world and loses his soul?” There are many things money can’t buy. “For the wages of sin is death, but the

gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Steve Jobs’ money will not keep him from

death. He may get the best medical care with his wealth, but no medical care is able to eliminate death.

Other things that money can’t buy are listed in the Bible as the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They are “love,

joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” These are the free

blessings of God that he gives to those who will submit their lives to him.

In a fraction of the time of our other education, churches need to see their role in education as extremely

important and of immense value.

The Rev. Glen Bayly,

Mifflinburg Alliance Church,

Mifflinburg

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