You would have seen over the past week the problem which the Church has had with the Ministry of Education over the Pt. Cumana R.C Primary School. In order to understand the problem it is necessary for us to enunciate certain principles which the church holds dear and cannot be compromised.
The first is this: Given the mandate by Christ himself to teach all nations, the Church has an inalienable right to be involved in the education, not only of those who profess the Catholic faith, but of all who seek the path of salvation and who request that the Church be involved in their Christian formation or that of their children. As such, Bishops have the obligation and right to ensure that Catholic education is available for members of the Church and for all who desire it.
Secondly: The chief mission and responsibility of Catholic parents and of those who take their place, as indeed of all Christian parents, is to ensure that their children become imitators of Jesus Christ and citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. Catholic parents, as indeed all parents, have therefore the prime responsibility of educating their children in the faith which they espouse. It is for them to decide the means to be used to achieve this formation. Among those means Catholic schools have a special place.
Because of its use over many years, legal minds say that the Concordat which has governed the relationship between Church and State where education is concerned now has force of law.
The Concordat in the first paragraph has this to say. “In relation to property, the ownership and right of direct control and management of all denominational primary and secondary schools will be assured to the denominations in whatever modifications of the existing systems that may subsequently be introduced in the new education ordinance, and all existing rights, as far as property is concerned will be respected.” Since then the government has decided that schools will be refurbished and/or rebuilt at total cost of the Government.
Because of the principles of distributive justice and because Catholics pay taxes which are used for education it is disingenuous for any Minister of Education to say that he will not use taxpayers’ money to build a Catholic school in the area because there are places in the Government school.
Furthermore, paragraph 4 of the Concordat states that the right of appointment, retention, promotion, transfer and dismissal of teachers will rest with the Teaching Service Commission. It is therefore illegal for the Minister to decide who will be the principal of any school, which would come into being from the disestablishment of the Pt. Cumana Catholic school and its merger with the Pt. Cumana Government Primary School without prior consultation and contrary to what previous discussions had established.
There was an attempt to deny to the Church the right to educate its members and other persons who chose the Catholic primary school as their school of choice. There was also an attempt to deny to parents the freedom to choose the school they desire for their children. In the light of the above, I took the decision to move the teachers and pupils of the Pt. Cumana RC Primary School to another location.
As Archbishop of Port of Spain, I will defend the rights of the Catholic Church in all spheres of life and especially in Catholic education.
+Joseph Harris
Archbishop of Port of Spain
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