Challenges Facing Catholic Education in Ireland

Challenges Facing Catholic Education in Ireland

Chapter 1

Catholicism is a key defining feature in the history of Ireland and is imprinted in Irish culture. Not only is Catholicism intricately linked with Irish national identity, but it is also intertwined with the personal identities of Irish people. Catholic schools are among the oldest institutions in the United Kingdom, having always served as a consistently strong option to the dominant public school model of education. Catholic schools have existed in some form or another since the colonial period and have formed the educational experience of millions of Europeans, Catholic and non-Catholic alike. However, many dramatic changes have occurred since the 1960s that have changed the role of religion in Irish society. Today the Republic of Ireland is one of the most globalized countries in the world yet indicators of religious commitment indicate that it is also one of the most religious in Western Europe. Although the Catholic school system has not always looked the way it does today, it has always been an institution that attempted to engage with the modern world while also sometimes reacting strongly against it. This article examines whether the image of Irish Catholics as fiercely religious still holds. Rapid changes within the state, the economy and the media that have transformed the structural landscape of Irish society will be documented. The history of Catholic schools is often riddled with tension and controversy in both religious and political arenas, but it is also filled with a singular reforming energy that has made a steady impact on issues of educational policy, curriculum and instruction, civil rights, and religious liberty. The article also examines changes in the ability of the Catholic Church to assert power both within the religious sphere and within non-religious spheres in Ireland, and in its ability to reach and influence the practices and attitudes of ordinary Irish Catholics. Some sociologists argue that rather than looking at institutional commitment as an indicator of the decline of religiosity we should examine the new ways in which people are being spiritual. More notably, Catholic schools have served students well, especially for those marginalized or not served well by the public school system. On the threshold of the third millennium, the Catholic school education and are faced with new challenges thrown by the socio-cultural, and political. This is especially the crisis of values, especially in wealthy societies; it assumes the forms, often propagated by the media, of fuzzy subjectivism, moral relativism and nihilism. Rapid structural changes, profound technical innovations and globalization of the economy affect human life anywhere on earth. Contrary therefore to the development prospects for all, we are witnessing the widening gap between rich and poor people, and massive waves of immigration from underdeveloped to developed countries. The phenomena of multiculturalism and a society that is becoming more multiracial, multiethnic and multi-religious bring enrichment, but also new problems. To this is added, in traditionally Christian countries, an increasing marginalization of the Christian faith as reference ...