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precarious, on the crown which his grandfather James II had relinquished or been expelled from. The sacrament of Holy Communion was an instrument of dynastic ambition alongside the secular weapon of highland armies. The course of most forms of identity in Britain has, whilst never approaching uniformity, moved away from rigid and ostentatious distinctions of rank, class, or wealth. Religious identity has moved in different directions, and whilst there was never uniformity, equality in variety was only approached in the twentieth century. It might be responded that
’ was set up in several dioceses.89 The preparation for sacraments was to rest more on the parish and on the parents–church–school triangle, thus expecting parents to be more directly involved and giving schools a supporting role rather than the central one.90 Such a development was supported by the Irish Primary Principals’ Network (created in 2000), through declarations made by Sean Cottrell, who headed the network at the time. At the same time, the Catholic Church never meant for ‘its’ schools to be entirely freed from their responsibility in this area. In 2006
‘secularisation’ of principals. In 2006, it came into direct conflict with the Catholic Primary School Managers’ Association (CPSMA), when the head of the IPPN, Sean Cottrell, took a stand against religious instruction and especially against preparation for the First Communion and Confirmation within school hours.88 Cottrell declared that families, not schools, should by right take responsibility for their children’s religious education, with direct help from clergy. He insisted that schools could no longer be expected to prepare children for sacraments, if only for practical