According to The Irish Catholic newspaper, which gained comments from a number of teachers working in schools today at a conference on denominational education organised by The Iona Institute, the pressure is widespread as many schools are now “Catholic in name only”.
Among the teachers – all unnamed for fear of being targeted – who spoke of feeling “isolated” and “oppressed” is one who claims that her colleagues are openly “anti-Catholic”. She spoke of experiences which have left her disheartened and reluctant to bring up faith issues at all during meetings. She described her colleagues’ “eye-rolling” when she broached issues of faith formation and of being “brushed off” by senior staff.
“I don’t know how much more secularised we can be,” she said. “We are pretty much just doing first Holy Communion and Confirmation and there is very little in between.
“We are barely just Catholic. Something has to change. It’s come to a tipping point.”
According to a teacher at another school: “You feel oppressed because of the attitude there is towards faith, and the Catholic faith in particular. That creates a fear of sharing your views. There is a fear of fully expressing and fully living the Faith.”
He added: “That’s the opposite of what a Catholic school should be. It should be a centre for sharing and living the beauty of the Faith but if you believe that you are actually afraid to do or to say it.
“Catholic schools are failing in their responsibility,” he said.
Dr John Murray of The Iona Institute described his sense of “shock” at the teachers’ experiences.
“Catholic schools should be allowed to be Catholic and the people who work there should be allowed to be Catholic,” he insisted. “It’s a matter of freedom, dignity, honesty and integrity.”
Recognising the increased secularisation in Ireland, Dr Murray called on teachers of faith to remain true to that which had perhaps led them to become teachers in Catholic schools in the first place.
“I would encourage those teachers to be courageous,” he said. “We are not supposed to hide our light, we are supposed to let our light shine.”
