Page 15 - The Gonzaga Record 1986
P. 15
addition, Fr General Arrupe SJ in Rome was becoming very anxious
about the problems of South America and Mexico, and was given to writ-
ing letters to the whole Society on the matter. Here is one example: 'We
must honestly ask ourselves whether we are fostering, at least implicitly,
elitism based on the ability to pay. If the answer is affirmative, we cannot
avoid the next question: how can the situation be changed? If the situat-
ion cannot be changed, then the next question follows with ruthless logic:
cannot our energies be used more effectively elsewhere?'
This is only one example of the kind of pressure coming from Rome.
And it should also be said that many Irish Jesuits, especially amongst the
younger generation, were asking the same questions.
Needless to say, the problem was not quite so simple as all that. There
are many aspects of this problem which do not appear in the above
quotation from Father General, and one should not simply equate the
problems of South America with the problems of Ireland in the 1970s.
Simplistic equations can lead to irreversible and foolish decisions.
Nevertheless, a great deal of thought and investigation went into the
possibility of turning Gonzaga College into a comprehensive school. The
other options mentioned above were also examined in depth, but in the
end the special commission came up with its preferential choice of a
large, co-educational comprehensive school. Apart from the
consideration of a more socially mixed school, there was a question of
facilities for adult education at night. Right beside Gonzaga was the
Milltown Park Institute, and down the avenue was the College of Indust-
rial Relations. There was a great demand for adult education classes, and
it was felt that the plant of a large comprehensive school could be used
at night as part of a whole Ranelagh complex of adult education
institutes.
Like the man who brought his harp to the party and nobody asked him
to play, the Jesuits overlooked one important factor. While they were
agonising about what to do for more social justice, they didn't stop to
think was anybody interested. Towards the end of summer 1974 a draft
Form of proposal for the Minister of Education was eventually agreed
on. In time, with due formalities it was submitted to the Minister of
Education, Mr. Rich~ud Burke TD. The text of the proposal was as
follows:
Draft Proposal to the Minister of Education
Gonzaga College was found almost twenty-five years ago to meet an
educational need, articulated by the then Archbishop of Dublin, and
corroborated by the demands of parents ever since: for a fee-paying
secondary school of high academic standard, on the south side of
Dublin, with a liberal approach to curriculum. Since then the
educational scene, and educational needs in Dublin, have changed, in
13
about the problems of South America and Mexico, and was given to writ-
ing letters to the whole Society on the matter. Here is one example: 'We
must honestly ask ourselves whether we are fostering, at least implicitly,
elitism based on the ability to pay. If the answer is affirmative, we cannot
avoid the next question: how can the situation be changed? If the situat-
ion cannot be changed, then the next question follows with ruthless logic:
cannot our energies be used more effectively elsewhere?'
This is only one example of the kind of pressure coming from Rome.
And it should also be said that many Irish Jesuits, especially amongst the
younger generation, were asking the same questions.
Needless to say, the problem was not quite so simple as all that. There
are many aspects of this problem which do not appear in the above
quotation from Father General, and one should not simply equate the
problems of South America with the problems of Ireland in the 1970s.
Simplistic equations can lead to irreversible and foolish decisions.
Nevertheless, a great deal of thought and investigation went into the
possibility of turning Gonzaga College into a comprehensive school. The
other options mentioned above were also examined in depth, but in the
end the special commission came up with its preferential choice of a
large, co-educational comprehensive school. Apart from the
consideration of a more socially mixed school, there was a question of
facilities for adult education at night. Right beside Gonzaga was the
Milltown Park Institute, and down the avenue was the College of Indust-
rial Relations. There was a great demand for adult education classes, and
it was felt that the plant of a large comprehensive school could be used
at night as part of a whole Ranelagh complex of adult education
institutes.
Like the man who brought his harp to the party and nobody asked him
to play, the Jesuits overlooked one important factor. While they were
agonising about what to do for more social justice, they didn't stop to
think was anybody interested. Towards the end of summer 1974 a draft
Form of proposal for the Minister of Education was eventually agreed
on. In time, with due formalities it was submitted to the Minister of
Education, Mr. Rich~ud Burke TD. The text of the proposal was as
follows:
Draft Proposal to the Minister of Education
Gonzaga College was found almost twenty-five years ago to meet an
educational need, articulated by the then Archbishop of Dublin, and
corroborated by the demands of parents ever since: for a fee-paying
secondary school of high academic standard, on the south side of
Dublin, with a liberal approach to curriculum. Since then the
educational scene, and educational needs in Dublin, have changed, in
13
