Catholic Education – the International Context

Abstract

Catholic Education – the International Context Paul Meany The Irish education system, like others around the world, has evolved from a combination of religious, political, philosophical and economic factors. However, we are inclined to think that our history has created an almost unique system of mostly non-governmental schools, underpinned by the 1937 Constitution and dominated for a long time by the Catholic Church, which must now change in the light of the rapidly changing Ireland of the twenty-first century. The purpose of this article is to show that, while there are singular features of the Irish system, it is actually underpinned by the same principles and philosophies that operate in most of the countries of the world. In particular, I want to show that parents and other groups throughout the world have the right (underpinned by internationally agreed covenants) to set up nongovernmental schools with a particular philosophy, and I will look at the situation of Catholic education in Europe to demonstrate this point in some detail. Secondly, I want to show that those covenants also oblige each state to provide monies to pay for compulsory education, whether that education takes place in a state school or in a recognised non-governmental school. In this regard, I will again use Europe to demonstrate the widespread use of state funds for non-governmental Catholic schools. Finally, at a time when the place of faith-based schools is under discussion, not just in Ireland but in many countries around the world, I want to suggest some reasons why there has never been a more important time for Catholic voluntary schools to present their message to students of all faiths and none. Setting the scene AfterthefalloftheRomanEmpireandthenearextinctionofearlyChristianity, sixth century Irish missionaries spearheaded the re-Christianisation of the continent, a second coming which has left its legacy on the map of Europe Paul Meany Studies • volume 108 • number 429 32 to this day. With the exception of the 500 years of the Moors’ presence in Spain and the 550 years of the Ottomans in the south-east, Europe was and has remained an essentially Christian continent up to the start of the current century. (Indeed, the re-emergence of Islam, as a result of immigration from Turkey, North Africa and the Middle East, is now a central issue on the European political agenda today). Two great schisms (1054 AD and 1517 AD) have divided Christian Europe into three parts: the East (with Orthodox majorities in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece), the North (with ‘Protestant’ majorities in Iceland, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Northern Germany, Denmark and Northern Netherlands) and the South/Central area (with Catholic majorities in Portugal, Spain, France, Southern Netherlands, Belgium, Southern Germany, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta, Italy and, of course, Ireland). The Christian religion has been, thus, a major pillar underpinning European education systems as they developed from Church schools and universities in the nineteenth century. A second pillar has been the influence of the medieval Renaissance in art and culture, together with the eighteenth century Age of Enlightenment, with its fervent development of philosophy, politics, science and economics. The final pillar was constructed in the nineteenth century with the emergence of the ‘nation state’. As national identity came more to the fore, states began to create education systems to serve both the needs of the people and the needs of the state. Since most early schools had been associated with religious organisations, the states incorporated religion and other aspects of the national culture into the new state systems that they were keen to create. Furthermore, with the exceptions of Cuba, North Korea and Gambia (which only have state schools), to this day every education system that evolved around the world has allowed for a diverse mixture of state and nongovernmental schools. Rights and covenants: what civil society aspires to Having set the scene, let us now return to the question raised at the outset: the right of parents and other groups to set up non-governmental schools with a particular philosophy. As civil society was re-established after the Second World War, states began to agree...