Irish Catholic Teachers revolt against Bishops' "Catholic Ethos Day"

What is it about Irish Catholics that has them in such a tailspin of revolt and denial about their own Catholicism and Catholic tradition? Is it simply that familiarity breeds contempt? In an August 31st article, entitled Irish Catholic Teachers Union Organizes Revolt against Bishops “Catholic Ethos Day,” Peter J. Smith reports from Belfast that an Irish teachers union has urged its members to rebel against a request from Northern Ireland’s Catholic Bishops to hold an annual “Catholic ethos day” in Catholic schools.

What do the teachers find objectionable about a solitary day in the Catholic school's annual calendar being devoted to the Catholic ethos if their schools and their Irish Catholic tradition? Smith writes:

Irish National Teachers' Organization (INTO) has urged its members to defy the Bishops’ request, insisting that teachers cannot bother to consider the importance of a school’s Catholic ethos, and ought to use those training days to focus on matters like bullying and harassment.

"It is totally unacceptable to this organization and our members that the Catholic bishops should be requiring schools to give up one of their professional development days to consider the ethos of the schools. This in our view is neither necessary or desirable,” said Senior INTO official Tony Carlin.

On the one hand, this seems awfully lame. The reason the Catholic bishops implemented the measure is in the face of the free-fall secularization of Irish society and the need, especially in Northern Ireland, for Protestant-Catholic understanding and reconciliation. How many things could be as timely or important for Irish Catholic schools in Northern Ireland, given their bloody recent history?

On the other hand, a mere solitary day devoted to "Catholic Ethos"??? What could be more lame than that! The bishops are responding to clear problem, but their prescription hardly fits the diagnosis. What's needed is major remedial surgery, and they're prescribing aspirin and an afternoon nap. "Catholic ETHOS day"? Gimme a break! Where's the beef? It's nearly enough to make one sympathetic with the INTO's position, even if for different reasons. What happened to Newman's vision of Catholic education, which aimed at producing a "literate Catholic laity" who would have a substantial understanding of the Catholic Faith and it's dynamic role in history and culture?