The Catholic Church!
The Talking Head - 09 August 2002
It seems that the Catholic Church will never be able to throw off the shackles of the bigotry and narrow mindedness that seems so ingrained in its mindset.
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   It seems that the Catholic Church will never be able to throw off the shackles of the bigotry and narrow mindedness that seems so ingrained in its mindset. The latest incident going to show that the Church still has a long way to go before it enters enlightened times comes courtesy of a priest in Co. Meath, who is proposing that school places should be limited to the children of practicing Catholics. This is an outrageous proposal and has the potential to be very damaging considering that the overwhelming majority of Irish schools are church run. Co. Meath was also the scene of a similar controversy a few weeks ago when a Principle of a Gaeltact school was dismissed from his job because he insisted that communion preparations not be taught during normal class hours out of consideration for the Protestant and non-religious minority in the school. He also believed, quite rightly in my opinion, that in today’s diverse society the teachings of one religion should not be on the curriculum period. The two examples I outlined above prove that even in the 21st century the concept of separation of church and state, which is crucial to the functioning of any proper democracy, is yet to take hold here. Religion is a private matter and has no place in schools and although in many but certainly not all cases the Church has done a very efficient job in managing and teaching in our schools, it’s quite simply not their place to fill that role. It’s galling as a non-catholic taxpayer that I am forced to contribute to the upkeep and maintenance of what are at the end of the day ‘catholic schools’ and not the public schools that they should be. This applies at both primary and secondary level. It’s also the case that religious run school management bodies are resisting the implementation of the ‘Stay Safe’ program in many parts of the country. This program is essential if we are to reduce our growing rate of teenage pregnancies and also to give teenagers information to which they are entitled to as of right. The Department of Education has a lot to answer for in this regard and the Minister has failed in his duties by not withholding funding from these non-complying schools. Broadening out the debate, it’s clear that young people in particular will continue to shun the church and look instead to alternative means of spiritual expression if it continues to drag it’s heels where child sex abuse is concerned, retain such backward positions on issues such as contraception and divorce and continue to treat gay people with contempt. On this last point, it was particularly sickening when the U.S. Church tried to pin the blame for the ongoing paedophile scandal over there on gay clerics. There was absolutely no evidence produced to back this claim up and it was just another attempt by the princes of the church to vilify us as a community even if it meant using something as tragic as child sex abuse as a stick to beat us with. The bottom line is that the Catholic Church is in a state of turmoil and it’s about time that it woke up and smelt the roses and underwent some major internal reform. >> Voice your opinion about this issue here.
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