RE — why are

parents not fully consulted?
From Mr .I.T Van der Linden Sir, In my ignorance I thought that Catholic schools were started in this country 150 years ago in order to make certain that religious instruction was available to the children of those parents who were willing to pay the not inconsiderable expense that involved.
We are still regularly asked for money for this purpose. Judging by their products, the schools have not been doing their job for some 30 years now. As a result, nobody can blame today's parents who were unfortunate enough to find that unsuitable methods were adopted without consultation.
They need adult instruction if they are to take on their responsibility in full. The means are at hand — the Catechism, referred to by the Pope as one of the best fruits of Vatican IL As to the wide consultation referred to by Canon Humfrey when were parents consulted about Icons, and why is not the latest draft available to them?
The only consultation I saw, was not widely advertised, and had too short a response period to deserve the name.
One would wish to be certain that the job description of our National Adviser for Religious Education and Catechesis consisted of a simple line: to ensure that the faith was taught in Catholic schools, so that all pupils had a chance of learning its tenets.
Yours sincerely, J.T. VAN DER LINDEN Surrey KT19 9TA