Plans by Ireland’s Catholic bishops may see parents accompanying their children to “Sunday school” at weekends.

The classes are set to be proposed for Catholic parents whose children don’t attend church schools but who still want them to get religious instruction, according to an Irish Independent report. T here is no link between the new policy document and the plans to divest Catholic schools to other patron bodies.

The move coincides with suggestions by the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, that children should receive religious instruction outside school hours.

The Minister suggested that preparation for the sacraments took up school time which could be used to improve literacy and maths skills, and he pointed to international figures showing that Irish pupils had become weaker in these areas in the last few years.

However former Taoiseach John Bruton, in a speech last week, rejected the suggestion that religious education was somehow to blame for the decline, pointing out that the same time had been devoted to religion classes when Ireland’s literacy and maths ratings had been higher.

The bishops’ new move will also involve encouraging parents to get involved in the preparation of the classes and even join their children for the weekly sessions.

The bishops have drawn up a blueprint for parish-based religious education, although planning is at the early stages.

A new policy document — ‘Religious Education of Catholic Children Not Attending Catholic Schools’ — takes account of the changing educational landscape.

“Not all the children of Catholic families attend Catholic schools,” states the document by the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference.

It adds that there is a need for more parish-based programmes to minister to these children and their families. The bishops’ document suggests classes should be held weekly during term time.

Saturday would be another obvious day for the sessions, which would be run by trained, paid catechism teachers.

It is the first time the bishops have published a formal policy on the provision of religious education outside school.

Catholic religious education and preparation for sacraments, such as First Communion and Confirmation, has been traditionally entrusted to schools.

The Catholic Church is the patron of the vast majority of primary schools, but a forum has been set up by the Education Minister to examine ways of transfering of some of these to alternative patronage.

By choice, many parents raised as Catholic send their children to a growing number of multi-denominational Educate Together schools, where there is no religious instruction.

However, some of these parents also send their children to religious education and preparation classes for the sacraments, which are classes organised within the parish, paying perhaps €100 a year.

Such classes have been initially set up on a provisional basis, and the new document is the first step towards an official framework.

The bishops’ document states that the purpose of the programmes is to support and guide parents in their task as prime religious educators.

It adds that local circumstances will dictate matters such as frequency, length of sessions and who is involved in the delivery of the programme

“However, to offer children the best support, ideally parents are involved in the preparation of classes and accompany children at the sessions,” it says.