Special Report - In Irish schools, Catholic Church still master

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian, Padraic Halpin a

July 8, 2010 5:49 PM EDT

Roisin Hyde was five when she was hastily baptised a few days before she started primary school. Hyde's parents were agnostic but because non-Catholics in Ireland had few other places to learn how to read and write, the family latched onto the only option they knew.

Thirty-five years on and Hyde, an architect in Dublin, is struggling over where to educate her own two-year-old son.

It's a dilemma faced by parents the world over. But in Ireland, where the Catholic Church runs more than nine in ten primary schools and half of all high schools, it's a question that too often has just one answer.

"I would say that a lot of my friends, the only time they have been inside a church is to get their kids christened so they could go to the local school," Hyde, 40, says. "I just feel so hypocritical doing it, going along for one day and then not attending."

The reverence with which the Irish hold the Catholic Church had begun to fade even before the abuse scandals of recent years. As the economy boomed in the 1990s and 2000s, churches emptied. The abuse revelations have further undermined the Church's authority and fractured trust, alienating committed believers as senior clergy have remained in their posts. Parents, politicians, and even church leaders have begun to call for a rollback of clerical power. Why should our children have to follow a creed just to get an education, many ask.

Must Read

Sponsorship Link

Follow us

Despite these changing attitudes, the Catholic Church retains far more power in Ireland than in almost any other country in Europe. And nowhere is the Irish Church so deeply woven into the fabric of daily life than in education. The number of nuns and priests teaching may be down compared to a few decades ago, but the Church controls so many schools and writes so many of the rules its influence remains pervasive. In Ireland, "if it's a state school, it's Catholic. If it's private, it's usually Catholic," Hyde says.

BELL AND BLASPHEMY

It's never been easy to escape the Church in Ireland. Hyde remembers how dominant religion was when she was growing up in south Dublin. Teachers would ask about Sunday mass, parents of friends would try to convert her. "I just remember feeling really uncomfortable as I hadn't been to mass. It was like they were keeping an eye on you in school."

Unlike other Catholic nations such as Italy or Poland, Ireland has no formal agreement to regulate the relationship between church and state. Clerical influence has simply been taken for granted for decades.

Part of that is habit. State-funded broadcaster RTE still rings the 'Angelus' bell at noon and six p.m. every day on television, and shows images of families or workers pausing for a moment of quiet contemplation before the main news bulletin -- which lately has often opened with details of the latest church scandal.

On Good Friday, the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the sale of alcohol is prohibited nationwide. This year, for the first time, a judge granted an exemption to pubs in the western city of Limerick, to allow drinking during a match between two provincial rugby teams.

While many commentators saw that as the beginning of a trend, change can come slowly in Ireland. Condoms were officially banned until the late 1970s, and only became freely available in vending machines in 1993. Divorce was not legalised until 1995 and abortion remains banned despite several referendums. A blasphemy law -- the sort of thing other Western countries long ago dropped -- lives on.

AN EDUCATION

In many ways, the Church's power is rooted in its history. Like much else in Ireland under British rule, the Catholic Church was oppressed by the Protestant establishment. Despite this -- or rather, because of it -- Catholicism became the frontline institution standing up for Ireland's culture, religion and nationalism. By the time the Republic won independence from Britain in the early 20th century, no organisation in the country was more powerful.

1 | 2 | 3 Next page | View all