Monday 26 June 2017

CATHOLIC SCHOOLS AND APPOINTMENTS

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM IS RIFE WITH NEPOTISM AND FAVOURITISM !







When I was a curate in Kilkeel in County Down I was on the school board of governors and the secretary of FIVE primary schools.

When I became secretary my parish priest - Canon Walter Larkin RIP told me that there was a "black list" of teachers that were NOT to be given appointments.




Eventually we were looking for a principal of one of our best primary schools.

The vice principal - a friend of Canon Larkin's - a member of a family that given lots of money to the parish - was one of the candidates.

She was the Canon's favourite candidate. He was the chairman of the board of governors. He had in fact "promised" her the job.

We interviewed a number of candidates and had an expert from a teacher training college advise us during the interviews.

A clear BEST CANDIDATE emerged for the job. And it was not the vice principal.

The Canon did his best to give the VP the job but three governor members and I insisted that the best candidate be given the job - and he was.

The Canon left the meeting and went straight to the VP's house to apologise.

The VP later sued the governors but we were able to establish that she had lied about her age on the application form and she lost her case.

For a while she tried to make the life of the new principal very difficult - until one day I went out to the school and had it out with her.

This was one person experience I had of nepotism and favouritism in the Catholic school system

Very often the best candidate does not get the job.

The job will often go to a lesser candidate because he/she is a relative of a bishop or priest or because he/she has some influence somewhere within the church.

This situation is ABSOLUTELY UNJUST.


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I can understand the Church wanting a say in the school ethos. I can understand the Church wanting a say in the appointment of a person who teaches religion.

But I cannot understand the Church getting away with nepotism and favouritism.


The laws on discrimination should apply as much to the Church as it applies to any employer.

If churches want to discriminate against people then their schools, like in the USA SHOULD NOT BE STATE FUNDED!


Over the years many people have been discriminated against by the Catholic Church and the State has allowed them to get away with it. I am thinking of:

Non Catholics.

Divorced people.

Gay people.

People who didn't regularly attend Mass. 

There is no place for such discrimination in a MODERN EUROPEAN DEMOCRACY and in the 21 ST CENTURY.


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THE INJUSTICES PERPETUATED BY THE CATHOLIC HIERARCHY AND CLERGY IS 

TURNING IRELAND INTO AN ANTI CATHOLIC AND ANTI CLERICAL SOCIETY

THEY ONLY HAVE THEMSELVES TO BLAME"

54 comments:

  1. Pat, you really haven't a clue have you?
    Do you honestly expect that a church school could appoint
    Non Catholics.
    Divorced people
    Gay people
    People who didn't regularly attend Mass.??

    Would you expect Theresa May to appoint Corbyn as Chancellor?
    The church has a right to appoint those in accord with its principles and teachings to posts of responsibility.
    What planet do you live on??

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    Replies
    1. But it has appointed paedophile priests to schools?

      Is that not worse than being non Catholic, divorced, gay or non Mass attending?

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    2. TO 0.12
      Of course you would expect the Church to appoint people who respect, practise and teach their Faith. I have no problem with that.
      However, what we are trying to explain here is that many appointments and promotions are made unfairly by PPs who push their "favourite" forward irregardless of merit and ability etc. The teacher who was unfairly passed over very often would be very conscientious in the practice of his/her Faith.

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  2. You are so right about this and some of the teachers most affected will not want to say a word in case they draw attention to their identities. It has been rife for years especially in parts of Belfast. Some of the biggest offenders are PPs who are now dead but they left a lot of scars and ruined careers in their wake.

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  3. Larkin? An utterly useless, neurotic piece of human excrement. A sad...and bad...old fucker!

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    Replies
    1. MC is fast asleep after his usual drink fuelled late night binge. May explain his foul mouthed language and swearing not to mention his outbursts of rage. Why you allow such language on this blog is beyond me, how can you take any point of view seriously when it amounts to foul language, abuse, ranting and raving. Defeats the object does it not?

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    2. In this particular case his experience of Walter Larkin might be a factor ???

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    3. Well will you pop round and sober him up? I'd like to hear what he has to say about Larkin, and besides, he's got cars to be ticketing.

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    4. Why do you allow that level of vulgarity Pat? A few days ago you allowed someone to be called a bastard on this blog.

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    5. Walter was a bit like yourself then, eh Mags? Too alike - that's why you didn't get along.

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  4. Separation of Church and State missed schools and hospitals. The current system needs abolition asap.

    CR

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  5. Pat your post today confirms what I had suspected for a long time.

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  6. Strikes me that it's a bit like Michael Martin of FF complaining that his party have been overlooked for ministerial office!

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    1. Michael Martin has no right in law / morality to ministeries.

      Teachers etc have a moral and legal right not to be discriminated against.

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  7. Thank you, Pat.

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  8. A PP in Co. Derry was Chair of Governors at a school for almost 40 years. Even having left the Parish and then returning to the Parish again he kept firm hold of the reins. During that time many people he favoured were appointed teachers and those whose faces didn't were turned down. The people favoured belonged to families who owned big businesses and who supplied the PP with not only money but Dinners and the best of food. I'm afraid a lot of this stuff still goes on. Priests should not be Chair of Governors and should not influence the appointment of teachers.

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    Replies
    1. That doesn't surprise me re/situation in Co. Derry as well.

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  9. I'm thinking of all the teachers I know...and especially principles.
    And yes most belong to money families and priest family
    Hadn't thought of it before reading your blog, Pat.

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  10. I can also think of a few very unfair incidents in Belfast where, in each case, a mealy mouthed Principal was so keen to not be seen to disagree with the PP Chair of Governors that he sat by and approved of an internal school promotion of a teacher who was much less experienced and deserving than the PP's "favourite" who was given the Post. He still didn't speak up and see that the promotion was just even though he knew the school would have to live with the consequences and that particular part of the curriculum would be less effectively dealt with. But it was more important to the Principal to not be seen to go against the grain of the panel. It's not just in the priesthood that you get "company men"!

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  11. And failing the above
    Their family has to be an arse licking Rc church going....never controversial.

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  12. What a sad disparaging lot you are.

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  13. Having been a member of a Board of Governors for many years I hs found it extremely difficult to rely on the interview process.
    Slick talkers with a lot of personal charm can quite easily be selected - and when appointed are unable to deliver.



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  14. Thing is
    What experience and qualifications do you need to have to be on a board of governors......NIL
    A good interviewing panel should have the specialists that know how to interview and be accountable in their respective professions.

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    Replies
    1. You're correct!

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    2. "Experience and qualifications..." of school governors?!! What!
      Like Joe Bloggs down the street who washes the priest's car of a Saturday.. Handier to have some yes men around the table.. But I have respect for the integrity of the governor who showed honesty on this blog by acknowledging the problems and pinpointing one of them. We are grateful for ones like him/her.

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  15. So, Bishop Pat, will you be reporting that Lord Carey, retired Archbishop of Canterbury has resigned from last formal position because of his failures on child safety and abuse? Or is it only Catholic prelates you are after?

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    1. Lord Carey, and any other person who fails to report child abuse deserve to be reported - and in my view be sent to prison.

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    2. I think everyone looked the other way in cases of child abuse, including Rotherham, football, boarding schools etc. It was just too horrible to consider and quite often the child is too traumatised to speak out. Any kind of sexual abuse of adults or children should be brought to light and dealt with.

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  16. To poster 13.38
    You are so right!
    The slick talkers are not so great when you see their performance at the coal face.. The inexcusable thing is when the Principal sits at the corner of the panel and allows the injustice to happen even though he knows full well that the internal promotion should be going to a longterm hardworking member of Staff who maybe had a quieter,less people-pleasing manner. But he doesn't disagree with the PP who has decided on the slick talker who has been in touch and charmed him already.

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  17. So what are YOUR qualifications.....to the persons on the board of governors........???????????????
    Thought so .......NIL

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    1. I am not the poster you are targeting but please don't be unfair here - - In this particular case, we don't know(yet?) whether or not he/she has special qualifications. I will tell you what he/she does have though.
      He has experience and honesty and is perceptive and observant. That's a lot more than some of them have.

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  18. It's increasingly difficult to persuade people to become School Governors. If we start asking for School Governors who possess long lists of qualifications then you will get nobody whatsoever to volunteer. After all people give of their time voluntarily despite work and family commitments. What about qualified people with no children who are Governors? Are they anymore clued up than a Mother and Father who have raised children, put them through Schools and deals with the problems and realities of life?

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    1. That is fair enough to assume that a person who has children of his /her own knows something of the realities of rearing children and family life. But the skill set needed for employment law and being a perceptive and totally impartial member of an interviewing panel and being fully prepared for the pitfalls of peer pressures and peer prejudices is something else. Just because it's unpaid doesn't mean it should be done in an amateurish manner. I am afraid it often is as these previous posts show - otherwise there wouldn't be an issue. But once again, I acknowledge that credit should go to those governors who are informed, fair and worthy of the position. (I would like to think that though I have experienced injustice, I must not reciprocate that to any who don't deserve it)

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    2. Well if you want Governors by your exacting standard then consider less applicants for Governors positions, no Governers means no functioning schools. How very clever of you.

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    3. ".. fewer applicants."

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    4. @18.24
      I do get your point about the need for governors to know all the issues involved and to be sympathetic about learning about them. It's definitely a matter that needs addressing in order to prevent abuses and miscarriages of justice.
      (You can get a flavour of the offhand dismissive attitude e.g.from the poster at 20.56 above)

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  19. I would like to know how PP's award building work to their cronies? I know they have to go through Diocesan channels for this and get authority for spending a certain amount of cash. However, many seem to get around these rules and offer work to preferred people of their choice. It's not only PP's. A Diocesan surveyor for Down and Connor has awarded Church refurbisment contracts in the diocese to a builder who did extensive work on his holiday home in France on the cheap. You scratch my back and I'll get you Diocesan contracts. I have this on Good authority. It's not only going on in schools and education but elsewhere as well. It's corruption and it stinks like a sewer.

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  20. MourneManMichael26 June 2017 at 18:11

    W.S. Gilbert had it all summed up by ridiculing the rise of unqualified persons to positions of authority in his HMS Pinafore lyrics to Sullivans music.
    Sir Joseph Porter rose to become First Lord of the Admiralty despite never having been to sea.
    His ability to 'not rock the boat' was complemented by his ability to "......polish up the handle of the big front door."
    It were ever so!
    MMM

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    1. Ha ha! I like your analogies, MMM!
      And didn't Gilbert also advise that if you want to end up the RULER of "the King's Navee" your best bet was to "stick close to your desk and NEVER GO TO SEA!"

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  21. Pat its time for a round up for the class of 2016/17 in maynooth , we want to know where are they now and what are they doing.

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    1. that should be interesting

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    2. I hear Puck works as the ticket boy on the log float at Alton Towers, now its just a rumour.

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    3. i know 3 at least have been ordained.

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  22. To whom it may concern, I am - now - a retired barrister. The relevance of the interview procedure escapes me. It would be of no significance in a court of law.

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    1. @21.51
      Don't worry about it re/employment law..The Labour Relations Agency would keep you right on any bits you have missed out on and we can advise on Statutory Rules etc but anyway you're retired....

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  23. Yeah--whatever - - life has moved on innit?

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  24. 17 44...surely no Pp has the authority to award any contract.
    This should be done through a parish committee.
    I'm astounded by the post that talks about d and c....I think u should email Pat that story

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  25. Dear retired barrister
    Did u never know that
    The law is an ass

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  26. (Sadie on the sofa) The relevance escapes you?.. Ach, don't worry about it, love,. sure the relevance of your message escapes us too.. You're well out of it I'd say..

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  27. Whey-hey! No flies on you, mate!

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    1. @21,40

      LOL Yip--I agree.
      Our Sadie can sniff out a fake...

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