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A parent with a child attending a Catholic school has complained to the Fiji Times that the school is forcing students who ar not catholics to attend Mass.
In a letter, the school informed parents that if they did not want their children to Mass they should find another school.
One parent said.”I had personally kept my daughter from attending the mass as we are non-Catholics and it is our basic human right to decide whether or not we partake in religious activities that are not our own,”
She said she did not know that doing so would warrant public embarrassment for her daughter and other students whose parents did the same thing.
“Other than this behaviour exhibiting absolute unprofessionalism, it is also very discriminatory,” she added.
School headteacher Sister Akeneta said she made the decision because of the school’s policy.
“I wrote a letter the day before Ash Wednesday explaining to parents that their children should come to church, even if they weren’t receiving the ashes.
“We won’t force you to be Catholic but I told the girls that if they were not going to come to mass, then they should find another school. I said that.
Director Catholic Education Remesio Rogovakalali says that the school did nothing wrong.
“What would you think, if someone refuses to follow an institutional rule? Do you think it will be alright for the head of the institution to keep them? If they don’t want to follow, there are 600 something other schools.”
He says parents have signed an agreement with the school, and that the head teacher was reminding the children about the agreement.
In January Archbishop Elect Father Peter Loy Chong said education played a vital role in all churches and that the Roman Catholic Church was keen to ensure that their schools upheld the level of education that they were known for in the past.
He said there is a need to change staffing for Catholic schools in order to revitalise the early missionaries’ commitment to education and to uphold the values and principles of Catholic education.
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