Laois Gaelscoil wants First Confessions through Irish

A  row has broken out between a group of Irish-speaking parishioners and local clergy over the language in which school sacraments and liturgies are conducted.

The teachers and parents of children attending the town’s gaelscoil want sacraments in which the school participates, conducted in Irish.  School principal Dominic Ó'Braonáin wrote to parents last week saying that it had been decided not to proceed with the First Confession arrangements proposed by the parish.

He told them that parents are, “unhappy with the arrangements that the parish proposes for the celebration of the sacraments involving the Gaelscoil."

“It is the express will of the parents and school management that the sacraments be celebrated in Irish," the principal continued.

Mr Ó'Braonáin said parents wanted the sacraments for their children to be conducted separately in Irish, if necessary by a visiting priest with the permission of the parish.  He urged parents to write to the local parish priest, Monsignor John Byrne, to "register their dissatisfaction."

The letter asked that parents to request the parish to provide the sacraments through Irish only and if the parish could not provide a service in Irish, the school “required permission to have the sacraments celebrated in Irish with a visiting priest."
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This week, Mr O Braonain said consultations with the parish were continuing and he hoped the issue could be resolved.  “It is not a case of the Gaelscoil withdrawing from the sacraments, but we are seeking alternative dates so that we can celebrate the sacraments through the Irish language, which is the medium our children are educated in and in which they have been prepared by their teacher most diligently,” he explained.

by Fintan Deere