Chai Brady
There are few more hotly-debated issues in Church circles than what to do about getting children ready for First Holy Communion, writes Chai Brady
That Ireland is becoming less religious – at least in terms of the regular practice of the Faith – is self-evident. What is less clear is how to handle sacramental preparation, particularly since things like First Holy Communion and Confirmation remain hugely popular rites of passage for many people who are not religious.
The Council of Priests in the sprawling Dublin Diocese is now proposing a radical break with the past that would see preparation from the sacraments be taken out of schools and put in the hands of parish communities. It will be welcomed by many, dismissed by others.
The Council of Priests recommendation to Archbishop Diarmuid Martin was made as they felt the current system “isn’t working”, according to Fr John Gilligan – chair of the body.
He said that in some instances, the initial moves could come into effect as soon as September next year.
At one level, the move is pre-emptive as fewer schools being built are under Catholic patronage and the push for divestment is, at least in part, gaining momentum.
The emphasis, Fr Gilligan insists, will be put on parishes to deliver sacramental preparation. The recommendation has already been forwarded to the archbishop and consultation will now take place with parishes to get feedback.
Fr Gilligan told The Irish Catholic that “while religious education will continue in the schools teaching the children, parishes have a responsibility to support their parents.
“The recommendation suggests new relationships between parishes and schools and between parishes and parents,” he said.
Many priests say they feel disheartened by the lack of serious preparation evident in many people who present their children for the sacraments. Fr Gilligan says that “for many people who haven’t been in the Church, they want their child to receive the First Penance and the First Communion, but when you check to see if they’ve been baptised, they haven’t”.
“There’s that kind of pressure put on children, and their parents, as it becomes a school event and everyone in the school wants to do the same thing,” he said. It’s a scenario played out in parishes across the country.
Under the recommendations the number of lay volunteers and catechists in parishes would be increased, as Fr Gilligan says they must be developed into “centres of learning and faith development”.
He added that this would take “some of the burden from the schools in the preparation for the sacraments, and will hopefully lead to a more balanced educational approach to religious education in every class from junior infants to sixth class”.
‘Courageous’
The move was welcomed by faith development specialist and columnist for The Irish Catholic, Bairbre Cahill described the decision as “courageous”, especially as it would receive a backlash as “some people have an allergic reaction to change”.
“But I think it’s where we need to move. I definitely think it’s where the Holy Spirit is pushing us, we need to look at the integrity of Sacramental preparation. This is a really important move and hopefully it will encourage other dioceses to have that conversation, to move forward.
“I think at the moment we’re in a situation where there is a conflict within some parishes where there are children coming from schools that aren’t Catholic schools and there’s a bit of an attitude that it’s not their issue and the bottom line is if we have respect for the Sacraments then it is our issue. And we need to look at the quality and robustness of that preparation.”
They promise to bring the children up in the Faith, and the schools have almost taken that role away from them”
She added that it’s not just about involving people three months in advance of Holy Communion or Confirmation, it’s about building a relationship right from Baptism.
The new initiative propsed by the council aims to get parents more involved with their child’s faith development and be proactive in preparing them and bringing them to get the Sacraments.
Secretary of the council Fr Donal Roche of Wicklow parish admitted “we have a system at the moment that isn’t really working”.
“We’re preparing children for sacraments, for a day, for an event, and parents aren’t really part of that process, we’ve left them aside whereas schools have been doing a wonderful job, but they’re preparing the children almost in isolation.”
“Like at Baptism they promise to bring the children up in the Faith, and the schools have almost taken that role away from them,” he said.
Currently there are many Catholic children attending non-Catholic Schools, Fr Roche said, and go to parishes for the Sacraments. “But that will become more and more of an issue where you have religion under pressure. It’s not about giving into pressure, this is something we’ve been thinking about for a long time. But it’s possible that it will come to that where the sacraments will not be happening in the schools anyway, we’re trying to pre-empt that.”
He added: “It’s not that we’re cutting schools out of it, I mean absolutely the Catholic schools will lead the Catholic programme, the ‘Grow in Love’ programme, and we hope to support that, but this is just to shift the emphasis from the school event to a parish event.”
Asked whether this may reduce the numbers of children coming forward to receive the sacraments both priests admitted this would probably be the case.
Not all senior figures in the archdiocese will be enthusiastic about the proposal. During a session of The Irish Catholic national education conference in October Msgr Dan O’Connor, Vicar for Education in the Archdiocese of Dublin, said that principals tell him moving the sacraments out of schools would “take away a part of the school that’s important”.
Schools have been doing a wonderful job, but they’re preparing the children almost in isolation”
“What happened, they say to me, to the triangle of handing on the Faith? The home the school and the parish,” said Msgr O’Connor. “Is the school now going to be like the home, a place where there will be no involvement with Sacramental preparation?”
Speaking about divestment of patronage of Catholic schools to other educational bodies, he said he asked eight schools in Malahide in Dublin whether any of them would divest.
He said: “Not one of the schools was prepared to stand up and say ‘we will go’, and there’s 1,900 people in Malahide in the census who said they had no faith – they became very Catholic, and I was accused of being Oliver Cromwell.”
Whatever decision is ultimately reached, it will remain contentious. Many Irish parents are not so religious that they want to take the faith formation of their children seriously, but nor are they non-religious enough to set it aside completely.