Hi all,
Dundalk Institute of Technology has appointed (and pays with State funds) the Roman Catholic Church to act as the single chaplaincy service provider to all its students. The policy change at DIT is as follows: The chaplaincy policy that has been replaced at DIT used to facilitate all faith groups to publish their details on the web site of State-funded university chaplaincies. The DIT policy now requires seekers looking to discover information about all other faiths to arrange a personal meeting with a Roman Catholic priest. We object to this restrictive policy and attached is a statement from the Celtic Druid Temple explaining our reasoning.
Grá
Con
celticdruidtemple.com
The new web page for the DIT chaplaincy according their new policy is at https://www.dkit.ie/chaplaincy/about
Dundalk Institute of Technology has appointed (and pays with State funds) the Roman Catholic Church to act as the single chaplaincy service provider to all its students. The policy change at DIT is as follows: The chaplaincy policy that has been replaced at DIT used to facilitate all faith groups to publish their details on the web site of State-funded university chaplaincies. The DIT policy now requires seekers looking to discover information about all other faiths to arrange a personal meeting with a Roman Catholic priest. We object to this restrictive policy and attached is a statement from the Celtic Druid Temple explaining our reasoning.
Grá
Con
celticdruidtemple.com
The new web page for the DIT chaplaincy according their new policy is at https://www.dkit.ie/chaplaincy/about
Statement from the Celtic Druid Temple 8/5/2017
On facilitating the right of freedom to access information about all faith groups in publicly-funded educational facilities.
The Celtic Druid Temple is an expression of the indigenous wisdom tradition of Pagan Ireland connecting us to Nature as the supreme being and to the spirit of our ancestors. We strongly object to policy’s which would limit or force people to interact with a Roman Catholic bishop priest, as the only possible way to be introduced to our indigenous spiritual practice. Even proposing such restrictive policy’s declare the intention to deliberately deny constitutional rights as guaranteed to all citizens through Article 44: 2.2°, 2.3° and 2.4° of Bunreacht na hEireann*.
Eamon DeVelera created and defended this constitutional freedom from archbishop McQuaid’s takeover bid of Ireland. McQuaid tried to make Ireland into a Catholic State with all non-catholics classed as lower status citizens with less human rights. It is apparent that McQuaid’s policy to enforce an Irish Catholic State is still being pushed today in educational and even hospital facilities. Roman Catholic priests are obliged by their Canon Law to evangelise and proselytise their religion and history tells us in great detail of their policy of destroying, pillaging, desecrating and vandalizing many ancient Pagan temples, tombs and monuments in their frenzy of denying freedom of religion to everyone except followers of their Catholic Church.
It is not possible for a Catholic bishop priest to be objective or neutral with regards to presenting the Celtic Pagan Faith. Paying a bishop priest to give guidance on religious or spiritual freedom would be an unreasonable idea and a blatantly unfair way for public bodies to represent the beliefs of minority faiths in Ireland. Any payment of public monies by the State to bishop priests to act as chaplains in 3rd level schools would contravene Article 44 of the Constitution. This constitutional guarantee against endowment of religions should ensure the State does not financially support any religion, and the Minister and the State in supporting the policy of paying bishop priests as chaplains in 3rd level institutions would be openly acting against the intentions of Bunreacht na hEireann, the supreme law of Ireland.
We believe that all public bodies should provide a neutral mechanism for students to discover information about all faith groups. We would prefer to explain our own faith position, instead of mandating that students must discover this through a votary from another religious denomination who is from a tradition that has actively and violently discriminated against our spiritual practice for over 1500 years.
As a minority religion we can only support objective and neutral means such as a chaplaincy web page listing all faiths empowering choice to all seekers.
Authorized Press Release
Ard Druí John McCormack, [email protected]
Chairperson Celtic Druid Temple, celticdruidtemple.com
Notes
Legal and formal recognition in Ireland as a religious charity -
http://www.celticdruidtemple.com/news/june-20th-2015
Celtic Druid Temple on the Register of Solemnisers -
http://www.celticdruidtemple.com/news/category/services
*Bunreacht na hEireann
http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/Pdf%20files/Constitution%20of%20IrelandNov2004.pdf
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