Madam, - The argument for ending Catholic Church management of schools is not a demand to remove individual priests, brothers and nuns from their roles as teachers, as many seem to suggest. It is a demand to end the management of schools by the institutional hierarchy of the Church, a group that has, indisputably, covered up innumerable horrific abuses of children. How anyone can argue against such a move in the light of the Ferns Report is bewildering and contemptible.
The removal of the institutional church's managerial role in education would not affect the many decent religious who teach in our schools. It would simply allow the establishment of an authority accountable to the people and parents of Ireland, a suggestion that, to me, does not seem at all controversial.
The "flawed logic" referred to by Patrick J O'Brien (November 15th) comes not from Liz O'Donnell's Dáil speech, as he suggests, but from those who fail to separate the good deeds of individual priests from the sickening betrayal of Irish children by the Catholic hierarchy. - Yours, etc,
IAN KELLEHER, Camberwell, London SE5.
Madam, - Well done to the Taoiseach for his spirited defence of the Catholic Church. It is fashionable nowadays to attack the church while conveniently overlooking the enormous good that priests, nuns and members of religious orders have done down through the years in our schools and hospitals.
Certainly there is a fundamental malaise at the heart of the priesthood, which in my view stems from the vow of celibacy. The sexual drive is the second strongest urge in human beings, after the urge to self-preservation, so to deprive a man of an outlet for his sexuality is bound to have repercussions. It is like putting a lid on a volcano and expecting no consequences.
Many years ago in boarding school I witnessed a ferocious beating given by a priest to a boy of 14 or 15, in front of about 200 other boys in the study hall. It was all the more shocking because the priest was normally a mild-mannered man. I have no doubt that his rage that night was caused by pent-up sexual frustration.
Having said that, the constant attacks on the Catholic Church, and snide comments by people in the media and others in public life, are nauseating in the extreme. It was heartening to see a prominent politician reminding the Church's detractors of the other side of the equation. - Yours, etc,
JOE PATTON, Chapelizod Court, Dublin 20.
Madam, - Colm O'Gorman, director of the One in Four group, has highlighted an urgent issue for the State in his denunciation of Bertie Ahern. How can the complex issues of school management and ethos be tackled by the political establishment when the Taoiseach cannot bring himself to condemn the Catholic Church in the face of child rape and hierarchical cover-up throughout the history of this State.
Mr O'Gorman's bravery in trying to bring his abuser to justice cannot be commended enough. The subsequent establishment of the One in Four group has ensured that other victims get the help and support they need to come forward. What a pity the Catholic hierarchy never showed the same courage or compassion for its own victims.
The members of the hierarchy have always had a much bigger agenda in their minds. They want to ensure they have a say in the curriculum of State schools. They have never put the care or education of children above the need to instil Catholic dogma in its pupils.
It is time for the Irish State to tackle these issues. The founders of this State had neither the will nor the money to take the Catholic Church out of its children's education. Those excuses no longer apply. The church does not have a divine right to run education in Ireland. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNY, South Dock Road, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Your Editorial of November 12th quotes with apparent approval Liz O'Donnell's statement that the Church "has failed the public". Well it did not "fail" in providing an education to my severely autistic son, now aged 21, when the State failed miserably.
Between 1987 and 1996 he had been wholly misplaced in a non- religious, State-run special school for emotionally disturbed children in west Dublin. After it was burnt down in 1996 the children were sent home with nowhere to go. Who came to the rescue? The church, of course, through the generosity of the Daughters of the Cross, Stillorgan, who additionally opened their doors to the novel concept of the very first autism-specific school in Ireland where he did very well.
Fast-forward to 2003, post the High Court Sinnott judgment which established 18 as the "cut-off" point for the State's obligation to provide education to autistic children. Accordingly, as the State had directed that funding cease for my son's continuing placement in Stillorgan he was given a "free transfer" home with no day-care placement offered by the State. Who stepped into the breach? Yes, the church in the shape of the St John of God Brothers, Celbridge, where he continues to be most happy.
At present there are two other autistic children, aged 14, whose cases are before the High Court seeking second-level schooling having finished their "special classes" in primary school. The State had not made provision for their post-primary educational requirements. Who has answered the call? No, not the State-run secondary schools, but the church again. This time it's the Salesians in Celbridge.
Who is going to educate these special needs children "down the road" when there are no more religious left in the schools? Liz O'Donnell may not have offended Bertie but she did offend the many religious educating children with special needs and their families. - Yours, etc,
JOHN HANLON, Ryevale Lawns, Leixlip, Co Kildare.