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Religious sacraments 'not done on school time'
Posted by SchoolDays Newshound on 04/04/2011.
Tags: Education And PoliticsReligious sacraments should not take place during class time for primary and secondary school students, it has been said.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said school time would be better spent focusing on subjects involved in the education system.
Instead, he suggested that preparation for First Communion and Confirmation should be conducted outside of school hours.
"It takes up a lot of time, some people suggest it might be done by parents or parish," Mr Quinn told the Irish Independent.
He added that the curriculum is "overloaded" already without having to spend 30 minutes a day on religion, as they do in primary schools.
The Minister expressed his sentiments over spending time teaching children about ethics and a wider context of religion, but concluded that the decision would ultimately rest with parents over whether sacraments should be taught during school hours.
This comes after Mr Quinn announced the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector last week, which will look at the potential for the Roman Catholic Church to divest patronage of primary facilities.
Written by Donal Walsh
alison mcgregor byrne
(05-04-2011 14:01)
i will be absolutely disgusted if they take religion out of school.i signed up to send my daughters to a catholic school & that's where they go.if i did not want them to learn there religion i would have sent them to an educate together.this is who we are & im getting tired of trying to fit into other peoples way of life.and i would just like to add that if it is taking out of school there will be a lot of children who wont receive any teaching.alison
JNic Domhnaill
(07-04-2011 00:46)
I think the suggestion is not "to take religion out of schools" so much as to allow freedom of choice.Personally I think the "experts" in the sacraments (whether lay or religious)should be the ones to teach them. We all know teachers who have to teach religion who do not have any faith in say, the Catholic church themselves. Surely, you would want your children to receive instuction in the sacraments from someone who believes in it? IN rural Ireland, you often don't have a choice of where to send your children to school, so you will inevitably get students in the class whose parents don't care about or are even hostile to the idea of someone else's religion being forced upon them. I worked in a state secondary school in Italy, where religion was taught by the local priest, who was paid the same as other subject teachers were, and had to give marks, set exams etc. Students could either opt in or out of same, so , being a State school, it gave parents the choice. Once parents here have the same choice,i.e. once there are both state and (private?) religious schools available in all areas, it would make perfect sense for Denominational schools to teach the sacraments/Koran/mantra or whatever during school time, should they so wish . Until then, why not bring children to a Sunday school or afterschool run by one's religious organization of choice? We had a system in the Gaelscoil my kids went to whereby all pupils had to attend religious instruction which taught them about all the major religions of the world, and "core values", twice or three times a week. On the other days, Catholic instruction was available for those who chose it(the vast majority, as it happened)and non-denominational activities were available at the same time for those who chose to opt out . The Church of Ireland provided instruction for pupils who wished to avail of it, after school hours on the school premises, and any other religion who wished to were free to organize similarly. What a fantastic example of plurality and tolerance and multiculturalism and social cohesion!
Joost Bos
(11-04-2011 12:18)
Once Religion classes implement the teaching of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Wiccan, Satanism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Mormon, Jehovah's Witness, Catholicism, Protestantism, Orthodox, Modern Spirituality, Humanism, Pantheism, Different Pagan Religions, Zoroastroism, and all the other practiced religions in the world, I will support teaching religion class in primary and secondary schools.
Deborah McMahon
(17-04-2011 22:33)
to be honest I purposely sent my children to a catholic school because i want them to do religion as part of the school day mainly because it is usually a very interesting class which teaches them to think and discuss many worldwide issues... as a teenager I found it to be both stimulating and a rather necessary part of the school day. most catholic schools do touch on all the religions and you discuss the differences in each. In fact my sons are able to explain the different religions to me including paganism. Its a proven fact that the religious schools tend to have better discipline and respect for their teachers. England, America and Australia's experience has proven that when religion is taken out of the classroom it leads to a lack of discipline so much so they are hiring ex- army to teach in their schools and there is a waiting list to get into the private religious schools