Baptism ‘abused by pushy parents’

Having children baptised simply to allow them to attend a Catholic school is “an abuse” of the Sacrament of Baptism, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin said at the annual school Mass at St Mary’s Pro Cathedral, writes Sarah Mac Donald.

The archbishop emphasised that he is “strongly in favour of the presence of Catholic education as a component of a new pluralism in education in Ireland” but said teachers who are not believers should not feel compelled to teach religious education.