This essay argues for the development of a research agenda on the comparative history of Catholic education internationally from the nineteenth century to the present. This requires, in the first instance, the production of a series of individual-country case studies, concentrating on relations between the Catholic Church and the particular state in question on education over the period. The example of Ireland is provided to indicate one way in which a case might be constructed. Not until a large corpus of such case studies is produced will it be possible to engage in comprehensive theory generation and development in the field. (Contains 17 footnotes.)