Children of lapsed or non-practising Catholics may not be guaranteed of getting a place in two Co Meath national schools, the local priest has said.
In his August newsletter, Stamullen priest Father Michael Daly warned parents that his parish would no longer provide school places for the children of "non-practising and non-contributing residents of the area".
"The day is gone when the Catholic parish automatically provided a school for all the children who lived in the parish," he said.
Currently 120 pupils attend the primary school in the village of Stamullen and 170 students attend the school in Julianstown. There are no other primary schools in the area.
Father Daly said while "the Catholic school will continue to be a great help in handing on the faith for practising Catholics, it will not cater for children from 85 per cent of the homes, where faith is a thing of the past, a happy memory, non existent."
"From now on, the non-practicing, non-believing and non-contributing families will need to get in touch with the Department of Education and ask that a school with an ethos and culture similar to theirs, be provided for their children."
He said this would spare the school and parish from the "embarrassment" of seeing so many families turn "First Communion and Confirmation into huge secular celebrations."
Father Daly today told ireland.comit was essential for Catholics to go to mass on Sunday.
He said he was not threatening to exclude the children of parents who don’t go to mass but merely to give priority to the children of practising Catholics.
He said at present there was not a problem with numbers in the two schools but he envisaged there would be in the future especially with the growing number of people moving into the area.
Father Daly wants new guidelines for enrolment favouring children of practising Catholics to be implemented in the existing schools.
The Bishop for Meath, Dr Michael Smith, said he would not like to comment on Father Daly’s remarks as he had not read the newsletter.
He did say however that there was a deep concern in the Church that the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion were being turned into "social occasions".
