Bishop Leo O’Reilly of Kilmore, a diocese which straddles the border with Northern Ireland, said it would be "extremely unwise" for Mr Quinn to try and bulldoze the changeover, or ram it through quickly.
Bishop O’Reilly, a former chairman of the Bishops’ Council on educational matters, said in a weekend interview that the plan to hand over 50 primary schools posed the question whether diversity and choice was being offered for all, except those practising as Catholics.
"It’s a position that essentially suggests freedom of religion is freedom from religion — that’s a crucial distinction and worrying in itself.
"They apparently want no prayers in schools, and that anyone without faith, to not be impinged upon, in any way, by any religious content, as if it were some kind of an infection that could be damaging to their health."
Bishop O’Reilly said he hoped Mr Quinn did not get blindsided into implementation of the proposals.
"If he does, there could be trouble," he warned, adding "to try and bulldoze or ram it through would be incredibly unwise".
Potential patrons for the 50 schools to be handed over by Catholic bishops have been asked to make their interest known to the Department of Education.
Mr Quinn last month announced a scheme to allow for the divesting of patronage of Catholic schools in areas where there is little or no other choice of primary education and where it is unlikely that population growth will result in new schools being opened.
The department has now asked for expressions of interest from bodies that might wish to become school patrons in the 44 areas identified last month.
Once the list of interested parties is finalised, the department will carry out surveys to determine if there is sufficient demand for a change of patronage to one or more local schools and, if so, the preference of parents locally for a new patron.
There is likely to be interest from multidenominational body Educate Together in becoming patron in most of the areas, but local vocational education committees (VECs) are also expected to offer their multidenominational model of community national school. There is also expected to be interest in many areas from An Foras Pátrúnachta, already patron to numerous all-Irish schools with different ethos systems.
The 44 areas selected by the Department of Education for inclusion in the first divesting exercises include 12 in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin, four in Waterford & Lismore (Carrick -on-Suir, Clonmel, Dungarvan, and Tramore), and three each in Cork and Ross (Bandon, Carrigaline, and Passage West) and Cloyne (Cobh, Fermoy, and Youghal).
Bishop O’Reilly, a former chairman of the Bishops’ Council on educational matters, said in a weekend interview that the plan to hand over 50 primary schools posed the question whether diversity and choice was being offered for all, except those practising as Catholics.
"It’s a position that essentially suggests freedom of religion is freedom from religion — that’s a crucial distinction and worrying in itself.
"They apparently want no prayers in schools, and that anyone without faith, to not be impinged upon, in any way, by any religious content, as if it were some kind of an infection that could be damaging to their health."
Bishop O’Reilly said he hoped Mr Quinn did not get blindsided into implementation of the proposals.
"If he does, there could be trouble," he warned, adding "to try and bulldoze or ram it through would be incredibly unwise".
Potential patrons for the 50 schools to be handed over by Catholic bishops have been asked to make their interest known to the Department of Education.
Mr Quinn last month announced a scheme to allow for the divesting of patronage of Catholic schools in areas where there is little or no other choice of primary education and where it is unlikely that population growth will result in new schools being opened.
The department has now asked for expressions of interest from bodies that might wish to become school patrons in the 44 areas identified last month.
Once the list of interested parties is finalised, the department will carry out surveys to determine if there is sufficient demand for a change of patronage to one or more local schools and, if so, the preference of parents locally for a new patron.
There is likely to be interest from multidenominational body Educate Together in becoming patron in most of the areas, but local vocational education committees (VECs) are also expected to offer their multidenominational model of community national school. There is also expected to be interest in many areas from An Foras Pátrúnachta, already patron to numerous all-Irish schools with different ethos systems.
The 44 areas selected by the Department of Education for inclusion in the first divesting exercises include 12 in the Catholic archdiocese of Dublin, four in Waterford & Lismore (Carrick -on-Suir, Clonmel, Dungarvan, and Tramore), and three each in Cork and Ross (Bandon, Carrigaline, and Passage West) and Cloyne (Cobh, Fermoy, and Youghal).
In some places, two schools might need to be handed over, as more than a dozen areas have five or more schools but none are multidenominational.
The first surveys will be conducted in five of the areas in October.
The first surveys will be conducted in five of the areas in October.