Catholic education 'about compassion, service and respect' - Bishop Deenihan

There can be “some confusion” about what a Catholic school is and does, the Bishop of Meath, Most Rev Tom Deenihan stated at a Mass at Mullingar Cathedral on Monday, marking the start of Catholic Schools Week.

“A good education, a Catholic education is not a preparation for capitalism or a narrow narcissistic and selfish view of life, a view that is gaining traction throughout the world,” Bishop Deenihan told the congregation.

Instead, he stated, it was “rather one of compassion, of service, of respect and of using one’s talents and opportunities for the greater good”.

“Society needs that vision!” he added.

The launch Mass was attended by representatives of the Catholic post-primary schools in the parish - Saint Finian’s, Saint Mary’s, and Loreto College, and Bishop Deenihan told them that the Word of God must both inspire and influence our daily lives and inform or permeate Catholic schools.

“The personality and the witness of Christ must inform the teaching and management of Catholic schools and the school, by its actions, must invite its pupils to encounter Christ,” he said.

Bishop Deenihan stated that a Catholic school, and by extension, a Catholic education, is about people. He said that students may come from different backgrounds, have different personalities and have different experiences but are all made in God’s image.

“Today, the diversity in our Catholic schools in terms of ability, nationality, socio-economic background, ethnicity and faith is significant and that is as it should be,” he said.

“When these five criteria are taken into consideration,” he continued, “I would challenge anyone to tell me that Catholic schools are not as inclusive as any other type of school. They must be, to be true to their ethos!”

Bishop Deenihan went on to say that the Catholic school must embody respect for the individual student with their own distinctive talents and characteristics and respect for others, also made in the image and likeness of Christ.

He continued by reminding the congregation that faith cannot be compartmentalised to a church on Sunday morning but must have an influence on how we act and on what we say.

Teachers were integral to the mission of the Catholic school, he said, before going on to acknowledge the voluntary work of school board members.

Speaking of the importance of promoting faith as well as reason, Bishop Deenihan said that faith is too important for the church and for students to be “diluted by ideology and political correctness”.

“Our students need a vision and the reassurance of a God who loves them, they need a sense of a compassionate Church, they need a way of expressing their faith and they need hope for the future. They need a sense that we are born for more than what this life can offer. That is the importance of a faith-based education,” he said, adding that true plurality, be it in society or in education, will always support and encourage faith, as it will those who do not profess faith.

“At this time, many parents are hoping to enrol their children in Catholic primary and post-primary schools because they appreciate the vision and service that such schools give,” Bishop Deenihan said, going on to state that it is easy to forget that Catholic schools predate free education in Ireland.

“Many of our Catholic schools were founded by religious congregations and orders in fulfilment of the corporal works of mercy, to instruct and, in so doing, to feed, to clothe, to open doors and to train and enable a new generation for a new world and provide new opportunity.”

He said, to conclude, one could do worse than to quote Catherine McCauley, the foundress of the Mercy Sisters “The function of a school is to fit its students for life without unfitting them for eternal life.”