The future of every Catholic school in the country needs to be seriously evaluated at a time when other faiths, including Islam, are developing a strong presence here, a school managers' conference heard last night.
In his presidential address to the annual conference of Association of Management of Catholic Secondary Schools-Joint Managerial Body in Killarney, Paul Meany acknowledged there are too many Catholic secondary schools in some areas of the country.
But at a time when many Catholic schools are amalgamating into more secular community schools and colleges, there are also too few or no Catholic schools in other areas.
As a result, he warned there is a need for schools to be "really Catholic" in their ethos and spirit if they are not to become indistinguishable from these other schools - and offer parents a real alternative in the future.
The decline in the interest and attendance of "vast swathes of Irish people" in the activities of the institutional church had been the result of "too great a concentration on the structural and man-made elements of the church," Mr Meany suggested. Many of these focused on power and control and on saying what cannot and should not be done, he added.
But young people in schools are "a captive audience . . . full of youthful idealism and crying out for guidance, and willing to be challenged by the message of Jesus," he said.
"If the bishops want to re-engage people in the life of the church, then I believe that they must return directly to the values of the gospel . . . In particular they must find a way of re-engaging directly with our young people."
The number of Catholic schools has decreased from 472 in 1990 to just 380, due to closures and amalgamations mainly into community schools and colleges, Mr Meany noted.
"Unless we sit down and talk freely and openly with each other and with the trustees (of these schools) we will never be able to plan for the future . . . we are doomed to a future where the success or failure of our Catholic schools will be shaped by outside forces and the vagaries of chance.
"The faith schools have served Ireland well in the past, and now as other faiths, such as Islam, are developing a strong presence in Ireland, we believe that the future for faith schools of all denominations must be assured."
Some schools in certain areas have chosen to remain fee-paying, Mr Meany underlined, with 23 of the 34 Catholic fee- paying schools in the country located in south county Dublin.
But the vast majority of Catholic schools made an "act of faith" nearly 40 years ago by entering into partnership with the State through the free-education system, Mr Meany said.
"That act of faith is now being sorely tested, since the funding they receive now lags behind the funding available in the State system of community schools and community colleges," he said. "This simply cannot continue, our schools in the free-education scheme do not want any more than anyone else."