The Tablet (2): For whom the school bell tolls

For whom the school bell tolls is the title of an article by Nicolas Kennedy in the 8th August 2009 issue of The Tablet. It describes the situation of a Catholic primary school where the majority of pupils are now Muslim rather than Catholic. This presented a problem in that the trust deed of the school required that it be run for the education of Catholic children. Typically, it would also be an expectation that religious education in the school be provided in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church. This clearly became inappropriate with some 90% of the pupils being Muslim rather than Catholic. The eventual outcome was that the school was placed in the hands of an Interim Executive Board as a way of separating it from its trust deed without putting in jeopardy the education of the pupils:

Action was eventually taken to unwind the school’s relationship with the Church; the process was very structured, with the help of the local authority, but required the diocese to point out to the foundation governors that they were not fulfilling their tasks under the trust deed. The school, still academically successful, was then put in the hands of an Interim Executive Board (a device usually used for managing failing schools) as a means of divorcing it from its trust deed without embarking upon lengthy and controversial processes. Except for the issue of its Catholicity this was a successful school.

This paragraph in Nicolas Kennedy's article makes interesting reading:

Running a Catholic school with lots of non-Catholics in it seemed to mean in practice being an inferior organisation to other Catholic schools, for example in recruiting staff. No one would say that it was the express intention that this should be the case, but the trust deed virtually says to foundation governors that the education of Catholics is more important than the education of non-Catholics. I was not the only governor to have had difficulties reconciling this with the second commandment.

The way in which the trust deed said to foundation governors that the education of Catholics is more important than that of non-Catholics arose from the very individual situation of this school; as a point of general principle, the Church is quite entitled to make provision for the education of Catholic children without this meaning that the Church thinks other children have an inferior right to education. In doing so, the Church makes the particular form of provision for which it has a particular mission and aptitude.

However, the article brings to mind two more questions that it does not fully address.

1. The article discusses the situation of a school where the population of Catholic pupils becomes very small. But, and this might well apply more to secondary schools than to primary, what about the situation where the proportion of Catholic staff becomes very small, and where the Catholic staff might well also be non-practicing or weakly formed in their faith? If Catholic education is seen as promoting a "synthesis of faith and culture, a synthesis of faith and life" then this is only going to be effectively communicated to pupils if the body of staff demonstrates such a two-fold synthesis. Surely there comes a point where the lack of Catholic staff means that a school ceases to be Catholic?

2. Nicolas Kennedy ends his article by writing:

This article is therefore a plea to the decision makers in Catholic education to allow some schools to adopt the missionary school approach to education, focusing on influencing the community rather than educating Catholics. This would mean that Catholics could avoid being required, or perceived, to regard educating non-Catholics as an inferior task.

But, particularly in the light of my first point above, we do need to look more carefully at what such a "missionary school approach" might look like. That this sort of model for Catholic involvement in schooling is legitimate is witnessed by the history of Catholic schools in mission territories where they would typically be the only educational provision and therefore open to all pupils. The nature of the two universities sponsored by the Catholic Church in the Middle East is also another example of this sort of engagement: The University of Bethlehem and the as yet to be fully established New Latin University of Madaba

Part of Pope Benedict's address at the ceremony to bless the foundation stone at Madaba during his recent visit to the Middle East follows. I think it gives an idea of what a Catholic school on a "mission school" model might try to achieve. The problem, and not a trivial problem, is that the success of such a model depends on a shared rejection of indifference to truth and relativism in morals. It would be very easy in the developed countries of Western Europe, and I suspect that this is an issue facing Anglican schools run on the principle of serving the community, to instead just go along with the indifference and relativism of surrounding society.

“I commend the promoters of this new institution for their courageous confidence in good education as a stepping-stone for personal development and for peace and progress in the region. In this context the University of Madaba will surely keep in mind three important objectives. By developing the talents and noble attitudes of successive generations of students, it will prepare them to serve the wider community and raise its living standards. By transmitting knowledge and instilling in students a love of truth, it will greatly enhance their adherence to sound values and their personal freedom. Finally, this same intellectual formation will sharpen their critical skills, dispel ignorance and prejudice, and assist in breaking the spell cast by ideologies old and new. The result of this process will be a university that is not only a platform for consolidating adherence to truth and to the values of a given culture, but a place of understanding and dialogue. While assimilating their own heritage, young Jordanians and other students from the region will be led to a deeper knowledge of human cultural achievements, will be enriched by other viewpoints, and formed in comprehension, tolerance and peace.”