AMERICA/COSTA RICA - Bishop of Tilaran calls for caution before ruling on religious education in schools

San Jose (Agenzia Fides) – On February 2, the Constitutional Court of Costa Rica declared that Article 34, paragraph 2 of the present law on the careers of teachers, which gave the Bishops' Conference the power to grant the “missio canonica,” or apostolic sending of teachers qualified to teach religion in public education centers, was unconstitutional. The judges, upholding an appeal presented by the Ecumenical School of Religious Studies at the National University, have repealed the practice in force since 1972, to avoid a "possible private monopoly" in favor of the Catholic University, administered by the Bishops' Conference itself.
According to information sent to Fides by Father Sixto Varela Santamaría, Bishops' Vicar for the Communications in the Diocese of Alajuela, Bishop Victorinus Girardi of the Diocese of Tilarán, Chairman of Religious Education for the Bishops' Conference of Costa Rica, thus commented on the situation: "The decision of the judges... admits multiple readings and therefore, we must have great care not to incorrectly interpret the action taken by the Constitutional Court."
For the Prelate, three factors give reason to believe there would be no interest in eliminating the teaching of the Catholic religion from public schools:
1. The judges are well aware of Article 75 of the Political Constitution of Costa Rica, which allows freedom of worship, but states clearly that the Catholic religion is the religion of the state, so there is a commitment to collaboration between the two institutions.
2. The judges also know the right of parents to offer their children the religious education appropriate to the faith they profess.
3. The Department of Religious Education of the Ministry of Education, which has always been in this area the bridge between Church and State, between the Ministry of Education and the Church, has not been abolished.
For Bishop Girardi, now it is time to “seek to reach an agreement with the State, to clarify how to interpret the constitutionality of Article 34 of the regulation, considering that the same people who have invoked it now want to work as teachers of religion, but without having studied at Catholic universities." (CE) (Agenzia Fides 23/03/2010)