Recently in The Irish Catholic, Fr Niall Leahy SJ mentioned the desire to focus on ministry to young people as one of the reasons that Gardiner Street would no longer function as a parish within the Archdiocese of Dublin.
The Jesuits are to be commended for taking this step as young adults are so neglected within the ministry of the Church. It strikes me, however, 12-18-year-olds are even more neglected.
The majority of this age group are in Catholic schools, so why do parish priests refer to Confirmation as a passing out parade? Some go so far as to believe that the next time they will see these young people will be at a funeral.
It used to be that they would come back seeking the sacrament of marriage but that is often no longer the case. That may not be a bad thing because no-one wants people taking part in sacramental marriage without real faith commitment.
It does raise questions about what is happening regarding formation in Catholic second level schools and the answer, quite often, is not a lot.
Reports
The recent GRACE reports, the result of extensive research into how the Catholic faith is regarded and lived in secondary and primary schools, confirm what has been known anecdotally for a long time. At secondary level, almost 3 in 10 teachers (28%) aged under 29 report not ‘witnessing’ to Catholic ethos at all, or doing so only to a limited extent.
There is a slow upward curve through the age groups with teachers over 50 being much more likely to consider their faith to be important and to witness to it. Oddly, this drops markedly among the over 60s. Are they the group with the most negative experiences of Church?
86% of principals aged 50 or over at second level describe themselves as committed and practising Catholics, but this figure falls to 56% for those under the same age.
One half of RE teachers (50%) are either neutral or disagree that developing a personal relationship with Christ is a central educational aim in their second level schools.
Given that RE teachers are also much more likely to have and practise a faith, the fact that they believe that faith in Christ is not a central aim of their schools is revealing.
“There are lots of reasons for the decline in focus on forming young Christians. Irish society has grown much more secular and at times, even hostile to faith”
The overall picture seems to be that while individuals may make heroic efforts within schools, and the Trusts which now have responsibility for the schools see faith development as central, our Catholic schools no longer have a clear focus on forming young Christians.
Take religious education. Qualitative findings from the GRACE Reports reveal three main reasons why some teachers are not fully meeting RE requirements: lack of personal faith/commitment to RE; time pressures/curriculum overload; and lack of external support and oversight of RE.
There are lots of reasons for the decline in focus on forming young Christians. Irish society has grown much more secular and at times, even hostile to faith.
Schools are also busy and stressful places. The demands on schools grow by the day. They are expected to solve every challenge that society faces.
There has also been a general lack of formation for laypeople. If you asked most adults, I suspect that they would say that being a good Catholic involves going to mass regularly and being nice to people.
The idea that faith is transformative on an individual and community level would be met with blank incomprehension.
Schools also reflect what parents want and the majority of parents are not interested in seeing their children formed as young Catholics.
Future
There needs to be an urgent discussion about the future of Catholic schools. Oddly, given their lack of commitment to Christianity, there is no particular desire for divestment among parents. This may be because Catholic schools are generally academically and pastorally of a high standard, but what is being taught about the Catholic faith is so watered down as to be completely ineffective and therefore, unthreatening.
We need to acknowledge that we are now a minority in Irish culture, and start supporting efforts to grow faith wherever we can, including groups like Focus and Net Ministry, which have achieved wonders on university campuses and in parishes. The Jesuit emphasis on youth ministry as outlined by Fr Niall Leahy is a welcome development.
But support has to be ongoing and institutionalised. Unfortunately, the presence of such ministries is often down to the support of key individuals and when that is withdrawn, the model falls apart.
Schools are only part of the picture. But If the hierarchy and religious orders are serious about having Catholic schools which are challenging and transformative, there will have to be far fewer and resources will have to be pumped into them.
Teaching of Catholic faith so watered in schools that it is completely ineffective
Recently in The Irish Catholic, Fr Niall Leahy SJ mentioned the desire to focus on ministry to young people as one of the reasons that Gardiner Street would no longer function as a parish within the Archdiocese of Dublin.
The Jesuits are to be commended for taking this step as young adults are so neglected within the ministry of the Church. It strikes me, however, 12-18-year-olds are even more neglected.
The majority of this age group are in Catholic schools, so why do parish priests refer to Confirmation as a passing out parade? Some go so far as to believe that the next time they will see these young people will be at a funeral.
It used to be that they would come back seeking the sacrament of marriage but that is often no longer the case. That may not be a bad thing because no-one wants people taking part in sacramental marriage without real faith commitment.
It does raise questions about what is happening regarding formation in Catholic second level schools and the answer, quite often, is not a lot.
Reports
The recent GRACE reports, the result of extensive research into how the Catholic faith is regarded and lived in secondary and primary schools, confirm what has been known anecdotally for a long time. At secondary level, almost 3 in 10 teachers (28%) aged under 29 report not ‘witnessing’ to Catholic ethos at all, or doing so only to a limited extent.
There is a slow upward curve through the age groups with teachers over 50 being much more likely to consider their faith to be important and to witness to it. Oddly, this drops markedly among the over 60s. Are they the group with the most negative experiences of Church?
86% of principals aged 50 or over at second level describe themselves as committed and practising Catholics, but this figure falls to 56% for those under the same age.
One half of RE teachers (50%) are either neutral or disagree that developing a personal relationship with Christ is a central educational aim in their second level schools.
Given that RE teachers are also much more likely to have and practise a faith, the fact that they believe that faith in Christ is not a central aim of their schools is revealing.
“There are lots of reasons for the decline in focus on forming young Christians. Irish society has grown much more secular and at times, even hostile to faith”
The overall picture seems to be that while individuals may make heroic efforts within schools, and the Trusts which now have responsibility for the schools see faith development as central, our Catholic schools no longer have a clear focus on forming young Christians.
Take religious education. Qualitative findings from the GRACE Reports reveal three main reasons why some teachers are not fully meeting RE requirements: lack of personal faith/commitment to RE; time pressures/curriculum overload; and lack of external support and oversight of RE.
There are lots of reasons for the decline in focus on forming young Christians. Irish society has grown much more secular and at times, even hostile to faith.
Schools are also busy and stressful places. The demands on schools grow by the day. They are expected to solve every challenge that society faces.
There has also been a general lack of formation for laypeople. If you asked most adults, I suspect that they would say that being a good Catholic involves going to mass regularly and being nice to people.
The idea that faith is transformative on an individual and community level would be met with blank incomprehension.
Schools also reflect what parents want and the majority of parents are not interested in seeing their children formed as young Catholics.
Future
There needs to be an urgent discussion about the future of Catholic schools. Oddly, given their lack of commitment to Christianity, there is no particular desire for divestment among parents. This may be because Catholic schools are generally academically and pastorally of a high standard, but what is being taught about the Catholic faith is so watered down as to be completely ineffective and therefore, unthreatening.
We need to acknowledge that we are now a minority in Irish culture, and start supporting efforts to grow faith wherever we can, including groups like Focus and Net Ministry, which have achieved wonders on university campuses and in parishes. The Jesuit emphasis on youth ministry as outlined by Fr Niall Leahy is a welcome development.
But support has to be ongoing and institutionalised. Unfortunately, the presence of such ministries is often down to the support of key individuals and when that is withdrawn, the model falls apart.
Schools are only part of the picture. But If the hierarchy and religious orders are serious about having Catholic schools which are challenging and transformative, there will have to be far fewer and resources will have to be pumped into them.
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