Sir, – I can sympathise with the frustrations experienced by Sheila Maher (“Religious control of schools is neither tolerant nor inclusive”, Opinion, May 23rd ) at having to remove her child from Catholic religious education, which seems to take up so much of the curriculum as children approach Catholic communion time.
While my local primary school is supportive of me in taking my child out of the class during this time, it would help immensely if other parents would also take a stand, rather than display an all too apparent hypocrisy and go through the motions of Catholic communion just to feel inclusive and not wanting their child to miss out.
What I suggest to parents such as Ms Maher is to take their children away for a family weekend during this time and make them feel special. After a couple of days, when the carnival is all but over and forgotten about, the child can move on and once again feel inclusive, because after all, many of their peers won’t see the inside of a Catholic church again until they reach confirmation age. – Yours, etc,
PAUL O’DONOHOE,
Convent Lane,
Rush,
Co Dublin.