The Author: Tom O'Donoghue is Professor of Education and Deputy Dean in the Graduate School of Education, The University of Western Australia. He also lectures extensively in Singapore, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. He received his Ph.D. in History of Education from the National University of Ireland. His areas of expertise are in history of education, international education and qualitative research methods. In addition to numerous articles published in international journals, he has published 12 books. This book is the third on the history of education and the Catholic Church published by Peter Lang, the other two being The Catholic Church and the Secondary School Curriculum in Ireland, 1922-62 (1999) and Upholding the Faith: The Process of Education in Catholic Schools in Australia, 1922-65 (2001).

Contents: Catholic schools and recruitment for the religious life - The promotion of the religious state amongst pupils by the classroom teacher - The work of the recruiting agents - The authoritarianism of religious life and the recruitment and retention of the religious - The recruitment and retention of the religious through marginalizing the laity in the schools - Keeping the lay teacher at a distance - The religious life and the Catholic Church's hostility to co-education and sex education - The Catholic Church's maintenance of a commitment to single-sex education - The Catholic Church and the commitment to single-sex education and the religious life - The fortress Catholic Church, the schools and the religious teaching orders - The Catholic Church and child abuse - Vatican II and after.

Nowadays, lay teachers predominate in Catholic schools throughout the English-speaking world. Yet, for over a century the Catholic teaching force was heavily influenced by the presence of the religious orders. The turning point was the mid 1960s and the opening up of the Catholic Church to the modern world as a result of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). This opening up resulted in large numbers leaving the orders, a major drop off in new recruits and a consequent need to employ ever-greater numbers of lay teachers.
This book is concerned with the period 1922-65. The focus is on the situation prevailing in the United States, England and Wales, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand from 1922 to 1965, whereby Catholic schools were used to maximise the possibility of recruiting new members to the religious orders and to minimise temptation to leave the religious life amongst those who had already joined. Four major practices are examined in this regard. First, Catholic schools deliberately set out to encourage pupils to join the ranks of the religious. Secondly, they replicated within the schools the authoritarianism of the religious life. Thirdly, they worked continuously to marginalize lay teachers from decision-making. Finally, they were ever vigilant in their opposition to co-education and sex education.
The contribution of the religious orders to Catholic education is recognised in the final section of the book. However, consideration is also given to the darker side of what sometimes took place, namely, the child abuse, both physical and sexual, in which members of various religious teaching orders engaged. Finally, the book closes with a brief consideration of changes in Catholic education with the demise in the presence of the religious orders in the schools. In particular, it focuses on the new role of the lay teachers and the changes in the Church's attitude towards them.