Call to end `myth' of Protestant schools in Republic

An end to "Protestant schools" in the Republic was called for in a well-received speech at the General Synod yesterday. "Integration, not separation" was the way forward, said Rev Stephen Neill of the Limerick and Killaloe diocese, in a debate on a Board of Education report.

"Let us be confident enough in ourselves that we can engage positively with the new openness which is creeping into education as into all areas of life on this island," he said.

There was, anyhow, "no such thing as a Protestant secondary school in the Republic, to his mind. It was "a myth" and that was "no bad thing as it renders futile many parents' misguided attempts to try and ensure that their children find their own kind in marriage".

"All our secondary schools rely on a large body, often a majority, of Roman Catholics to maintain the viability of the school," he said. He had asked the parents of such pupils why they sent their children to a Protestant school.

"Most often it is not because of the Christian value of the Church of Ireland ethos but rather their perception that in our schools they [pupils] will not get `religion shoved down their throats' - in other words, a secular education. So what are we about? In what way do these schools promote the interests of the Church of Ireland?" he asked.

He was "constantly astounded at the number of parishioners who tell me with long faces of their children's engagements simply because the intended is of another Christian tradition. They are equally astounded when I castigate them and declare that a shared Christian denomination alone is no basis for a lasting marriage."

Instead of promoting the Church of Ireland ethos, such schools did "the very opposite". Young people sent away to boarding school became increasingly removed from their home environment and were far less likely "to seek their future in a community where they are only holiday-time visitors. If we are about fostering community, this is not the way to go about it," he said.

It was also a very expensive myth. "I observe so many families in my parish making huge sacrifices so that their children can go away to Protestant schools. For what?" he asked.

The synod was also told yesterday that sexless relationships, either in the workplace or through e-mail, could actually be the most hurtful kind of infidelity.

The Rev Ted Woods, Dublin, said it was now understood that infidelity did not necessarily involve sex. He referred to research by Ms Claire Missen, of his parish's Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service. She had identified "the whole area of `sexless encounters' - deeply emotional attachments between men and women, whether in the workplace or over the Internet.

Rev Woods told the synod that in the Republic marriage had become more popular, with a growth of one-sixth in the rate of increase since 1998. But in the North marriage rates were declining steeply. This was evident within the church which in 1971 had 2,500 marriages in Northern Ireland. In 1996 that figure was 1,000 "and this reflects the trend in England," he said.

In the Republic marriage breakdown was on the increase also, he said. "Now the official figure is 120,000, whereas a few years ago it was 70,000." Divorces were also on the increase with 3,240 applications in the Republic in 1999. Meanwhile, in England, "one in three marriages ends in divorce".

Concern was also expressed about the price of housing for young couples and the property supplements of The Irish Times and Irish Independent were criticised.

Canon Desmond Sinnamon, Dublin, spoke of "the complicity of newspapers like The Irish Times and the Irish In- dependent who, in glossy supplements, stoke up the fires of spiralling prices without any sense of independent or critically informed comment on a situation which is grossly unjust to many young people, involving them in unnecessary expenditure, again and again."