Archbishop cautions against removing religion from schools

Moves to leave religious education out of the curriculum of Ireland’s primary schools or to separate it from the curriculum seem like “a backward step”, the Castletown-Geoghegan born Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Dermot Farrell, has said, referring to a suggestion in the Draft Primary Curriculum Framework.

“We need young Catholics to be offered a holistic education, wherever they go to school, that takes account of the spiritual and religious. In fact, I would suggest that we need all our young people to be religiously literate and to learn at least to respect the beliefs and understandings of others, Archbishop Farrell stated on Thursday, as he addressed the annual conference of the Catholic Primary School Management Association. Without this, Archbishop Farrell said, we leave ourselves open to the possibility of a future where coming generations find themselves ignorant of their own tradition and that of others.

“The place of Religious Education in Catholic schools is central, and the curriculum should facilitate it generously and with ease, not simply as a possible add-on,” he said.

“In all schools Religious Education, in one form or another, has a contribution to make to the holistic development of young people.

“In the plural reality of society today we need to build up respect for others rather than diminish it by mistakenly downplaying significant questions.”

The archbishop said the Catholic school “adds value”: “It sets the young person out on life valuing the spiritual, the religious, the moral, as well as the intellectual, creative, physical and social aspects of life.”

He added that the Catholic school opens its doors not only to young Catholics, but to those of other denominations, other religions and other world views, in a hospitable, respectful, inclusive manner – inviting them to participate in appropriate ways in what it offers them.

Archbishop Farrell went on to give his thoughts on ‘Flourish’, the resource for Relationships and Sexuality Education for Catholic Primary schools, available now on the CPSMA website, stressing it was “[a] resource and not a programme”.

He said the Catholic faith asks that Catholic put before young people and their families an understanding of sacramental marriage between a man and a woman.

He also went on to state that the Flourish resource clearly stated that any young person grappling with questions around their own gender identity or sexual orientation is be treated with the utmost care and respect.