Cavan Monaghan ETB schools, despite having no religious patron and no official partnership with the Catholic Church, do not teach religion in a neutral and objective manner. These schools are presented as the alternative to Catholic schools in Ireland.

And yet they tell parents that they do teach religion in a neutral and objective way, thus making it impossible for nonreligious parents to know when and why they need to opt their children out of these classes.

This article illustrates the extent of this problem, and includes links to other documents about religion in Cavan Monaghan ETB schools. Atheist Ireland obtained this information under the Freedom of Education Act.

ETBs across the sector charged such high fees for FOI requests that Atheist Ireland had to initiate a crowd-funding campaign to access the information.

Letter to non-religious parent from CEO of ETB

For context, after one non-religious parent asked about the religion classes in CMETB schools, the CEO of CMETB provided some answers in January 2017.

The response went on to describe separate arrangements that apply to designated schools, which come under the Model Agreement between the ETB and a local Bishop, but it began with a clear indication that religion classes in CMETB schools follow a “neutral and objective” syllabus for all year groups.

An extract from this part of the answer is illustrated below, as provided by the CEO of CMETB to a non-religious parent, who had expressed concern about faith formation within religion classes that were supposed to be for all religions and none.

Directive to Principals from CEO of ETB

However, the FOI documents that we have obtained show that, in January 2014, the Chief Executive chaired a meeting for the principals of all schools under CMETB patronage. At this meeting, he issued directions to all of the principals with respect to religion classes in their schools.

He also gave each principal instructions from the local Catholic Diocesan Advisors, to describe how religion classes should be managed in CMETB schools. This agreement between the Chief Executive of CMETB and the Catholic Church, is illustrated in the extract from the meeting minutes below:

These instructions from the Catholic Diocesan Advisors with respect to religion classes in CMETB schools were detailed and comprehensive, extending to several pages. They included admonishments to ETB schools, such as the instructions illustrated below, indicating that all students must have two hours of religion classes per week, from which alternative classes are not permitted.

The materials from the Catholic Diocesan Advisors also recommended that “… students not be withdrawn from RE class for instruction in other subjects” and that “… provision be made for retreats, masses and other liturgical services”. The requirement that religion classes should include faith formation is also illustrated in the extract below from the Catholic Diocesan Advisor instructions, which were given to all CMETB school principals.

The practice in Cavan Monaghan ETB schools

Following the distribution of these instructions by the Chief Executive to all principals, many of the components were reflected within CMETB schools, including non-designated colleges.

Among other things, this involved attendance at In-Service Days, whereby cover must be arranged for religion teachers, so that they can leave school to attend Catholic Church events. At such events, Catholic priests describe how Catholicism should be taught and Veritas teaching materials are advertised and promoted.

As an example of how these instructions were implemented, even within non-designated CMETB colleges, consider Virginia College. This is a non-designated college under the sole patronage of CMETB, with no Church representative on the Board of Management.

In October 2015, a Catholic Diocesan Advisor arranged a visit from Bishop Leo O’Reilly to the school. The schedule included meetings with staff in the morning and then a discussion with a class taking the State RE examinations. The curriculum for this course is defined by the NCCA and is intended to be suitable for all faiths and none. The arrangements for the visit of the Bishop are illustrated below, in communications from the school to their Catholic Diocesan Advisor.

Religion classes are not neutral and objective

It is clear from the documents that we obtained that religion classes in CMETB schools are not “neutral and objective”.

Even in non-designated colleges, CMETB schools can seem every bit as Catholic as schools under the direct patronage of the Catholic Church.

The description of religion classes given to a non-religious parent, does not appear to be consistent with the instructions from Catholic Diocesan Advisors, which the CEO of CMETB had already distributed to school principals.

Parents cannot exercise their constitutional right to opt out of religious material that is not consistent with their convictions, if they cannot get accurate and complete information about the nature of the religion class and how it is delivered.

The alternative to Catholic schools in Ireland seems to often be just other Catholic schools, except that they have an ETB logo above the door. The suggestion that religion in ETB schools is delivered in a “neutral and objective” seems to often be just a pretence.

This can sometimes cause even greater difficulties for non-religious parents than Catholic schools. At least Catholic schools are honest about what they teach, but indoctrination and evangelising can be almost impossible for non-religious parents to avoid, if they do not know when and where that it is happening.

Links to other documents

Atheist Ireland obtained many more documents under this FOI request than those that this article refers to. Here are links to some of the documents that we obtained from Cavan Monaghan ETB.

The numbers refer to the sequence in which Cavan Monaghan ETB numbered the pages that they sent to us. Some documents have more than one page: where this is the case, the file number is that of the first page of the document.

FOI CMETB 10 – Letter from Bishops to ETBI

FOI CMETB 17 – Diocesan Advisors Part 1 of 2

FOI CMETB 146 – Diocesan Advisors Part 2 of 2

FOI CMETB 22 – Letter from UL to CMETB

FOI CMETB 64 – Minutes of CMETB 2013

FOI CMETB 68 – Email on Nutrition for the Soul

FOI CMETB 82 – Email from RTAI 2015

FOI CMETB 180 – Meeting for RE Teachers 2015

FOI CMETB 210 – Minutes of CMETB 2017

FOI CMETB 213 – Minutes of CMETB 2017

FOI CMETB 219 – Minutes of CMETB 2014

FOI CMETB 254 – CMETB Report 2014

FOI CMETB 257 – CMETB Report 2017

FOI CMETB – Letter to College from Bishop 2016