June 14, 2026
“Religion on Display” by LKV Walsh
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While walking through a schoolhouse in an Irish model village from the 1800s recently, I came upon a sign that said, “Religious Instruction: This side to be displayed during RELIGIOUS instruction.” I have no doubt of its authenticity, but I can’t quite wrap my head around its purpose. National Schools – the primary schools still in operation in Ireland – came into being in the early 1800s and were meant to be multi-denominational, but by the end of the 1800s, the schools were heavily denominational and almost entirely Roman Catholic (more than 95%). It is the consistency of this religious focus that makes the sign hard to fathom. What was the purpose of putting a sign up for the pupils receiving instruction? Why would the teacher need to clarify the materials being presented in this way?
I don’t have to guess what was meant by religious instruction; it was the Roman Catechism. Students were taught to recite approved answers to dogmatic questions, and instruction it certainly was. The latin root for “instruct” means to pour into as opposed to the root for the word “educate,” which means to draw out of. The religious instruction in the schools of the time, and even still today in national schools, was a pouring into students. And the ideas poured into the students were not meant to be challenged or modified. The ideas were meant to be eternal. So perhaps the sign was to be a marker for students that notified them what they were receiving when the sign faced out was the stuff they would need forever more to live well and to live fully – the Truth, if you will. If so, I have decided I want signs that say the same!
As childish as it may sound, I very much want the spiritual truths I’m being offered by my life and its circumstances to come with a sign that leaves me no room for misunderstanding the importance of what I’m experiencing. I want each of my lessons (and some are doozies) to come with a warning… or at least a disclaimer. I want something to tell me it is time to pay attention because all the really important stuff is happening. That way, I’m not likely to miss it. And I won’t have to learn the hard way – having it all happen again! A sign would be a welcome aid in my attending to and even receiving all I’m meant to be learning in this beautiful, painful world.
I wasn’t allowed to flip the sign I found in the schoolroom over because it was in a restricted part of the room. My guess is that the restriction was in part to preserve the sign. Certainly most folks who walk through that schoolroom are tempted to see if the other side says something absurd…or hilarious…or both. How does one label the stuff in life that isn’t spiritual instruction? It’s a provocative question, and so that is the solace I take from not having flashing neon arrows pointing me to the things that need my attention – the things that have something to teach me. Maybe the sign is always pointing out because it is all spiritual instruction. Every bit of it. The stuff the “teacher” says, the stuff the “school” approved for the teacher to say, and the stuff no one could ever foresee in order to approve someone saying it. For me, that is where it gets interesting because that means we are all receiving the same instruction as each other no matter what pews or pastures we sit in to receive it. It is all spiritual instruction. And the sign even says so. Amen.
To Walk with Saints and Scholars 
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