Courtney McGrail
Dear Editor, I am concerned to learn from the paper (IC 10&17/03/2016) that Tusla, the Government’s new Child & Family Agency, is putting pressure on the Boyle Family Life Centre (FLC) to abandon its Catholic ethos.
The Boyle FLC may not be the only one amongst some 600 such centres largely financed from Catholic parishes and from tax-funded, sources. It is already a concern that the agency has withdrawn its grant to Accord for pre-marriage courses. This occurred immediately before the vote on same-sex marriage.
If the threats to these organisations arise from a rejection by the State of the idea that a Catholic ethos is compatible with the common good, then the State, in effect, would be discriminating unjustly against Catholic associations and initiatives in favour of secular ones.
Secularism is based on its own set of beliefs, and must not be assumed to be neutral.
It is of interest also to note that parents are mentioned in the agency’s report of 2014 only once, and then in the context of parents who fail in their responsibilities. While the children of such parents must be helped, the vast majority of parents are not in this category and put the interests of their children first.
It now seems that Tusla exists to serve a broken society, and indeed to make it more broken, instead of endeavouring to fix the problems at source.
Yours etc.,
Donal O’Driscoll,
Blackrock,
Co. Dublin.