'Catholic Schools opening Their Doors to Teachers of Any Faith'* was the front page headline in The Irish News earlier this month. The paper was reporting on a change of policy by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) to relax the requirement for teachers in Catholic primary schools in Northern Ireland to undertake the Catholic Education Certificate in Religious Education. On first reading, the headline seemed to suggest a radical change from the current policy, where applicants to Catholic primary and nursery schools are required to undertake the RE certificate. If the requirement were removed then this would surely be a new era for Catholic education for it would change the religious nurture role of the teacher in a Catholic primary classroom and the principle that faith-development is fully intertwined with all other aspects of the education of children in the school. The exact situation can be understood more clearly, however, by reading a circular to p