From Mr Robert Williams SIR – I was interested to read your report (September 18) on the circular letter from the Vatican to our bishops on the religious instruction in Catholic schools (available on the Vatican website). Every faithful Catholic must welcome this move by Rome to improve the lessons on Catholic doctrine given in our schools today.
However, I do agree with Daphne McLeod’s comment that, as most parents were not taught the truths of the Faith effectively when they were at school, they will not find it easy to teach their children today. They need all the help available from Catholic websites and good textbooks. But they also need schools which can be relied on to teach the Faith well, while the parents undertake to teach the practice of the faith at home.
This document emphasises that the close link between Catholic schools and the local bishop should “guarantee that the instruction and the education are grounded in the principles of the Catholic Faith and imparted by teachers of right doctrine and probity of life”. It seems to me that this is what we must work for.
Every diocesan bishop must now take full responsibility for the Catholicity of the religious textbooks used in his diocesan schools and for the suitability of the religious teachers he engages.
Yours faithfully, ROBERT WILLIAMS Bangor is y Coed, Wrexham