Applauding the bishops’ timely intervention

From the chairman of governors at Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College SIR – When I read the bishops’ pastoral letter on Catholic schools (Report, September 7) I immediately had copies sent to my fellow governors and placed it on the agenda for our governing body meeting next month. I have also sent copies to our staff and asked that it be included in the discussions during their forthcoming spirituality weekend.
The pastoral letter is timely, judicious and affirmative. It is timely as a response to increasingly vocal, secular criticism of faith schools as socially divisive and to calls for their curtailment or abolition. Only this week I received a document, circulated nationally, in which the General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers claims that “segregating children on religious grounds is divisive to communities” and calls for a curtailment of religious schools’ rights in matters of admissions, curriculum and appointments.
It is judicious in acknowledging the benefits our schools have gained from the support and co-operation of the state and local authorities while, at the same time, pointing out the contribution which our schools have made to society and their great popularity with parents.
It is sensitively affirmative in giving, in the spirit of Vatican II, a “commitment to interfaith dialogue and working with other Christians” while pointing to the distinctiveness of our Catholic schools’ “vision... and educational endeavour centred on the person of Jesus Christ, who is our Way, Truth and Life”.
The pastoral letter deserves to be read, reflected upon and acted on by all involved in Catholic education. The bishops have given a clear lead; it deserves our wholehearted response.
Yours faithfully, JOHN MULHOLLAND Altrincham, Ches