MARRIAGE TALKS FOR SCHOOLS

By F. C. Price I N his annual report the honorary secretary of the Man chester and Salford Catholic Teachers' Guild, Mr. J. F. Kiernan, states that recently he attended a meeting called by the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council to see inhere was a need for the teaching of preparation for marriage in Catholic secondary schools.
"Your council discussed the matter," he continues, "and the general feeling was that there was a need for such an approach to be made, and further discussions will take place with the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council."
The report also points out that for the first time in its history the membership of the Guild exceeds 700.
Heads meet
Another development this year was a meeting of senior and secondary school headteachers held at St. John's Cathedral. Following its success other similar meetings are planned so that beadteachers can discuss their common problems.
In another section of his report Mr. Kiernan writes, "In May of this year Salford L.E.A. gave details of a Secondary Schools' Certificate which was to be introduced in 1963. Amongst the subjects to he offered was Religion. Your secretary took up this matter with the Bishop and the Chief Religious Examiner. "The pros and cons of the matter were gone into and for the moment it has been decided that Religion shall not be offered as a subject by Catholic schools."
Committees
In another report, Mr. J. J. Finan, the Guild's Catholic Teachers' Federation representative states, "As the educational system becomes more complicated, so does the work of the Council. This year's activities include matters which, ten or fifteen years ago, would not have been thought
of as being part of the work of the Catholic Teachers' Federation.
"For instance, there are now a Secondary Schools' Committee and a Primary Schools' Committee. The former organised at Easter a Conference on Catholic Secondary Education which was held at Hopwood Hall.
"The Primary Schools' Committee is now engaged in preliminary discussions with a view to holding a conference on Catholic Primary Education.
"Another activity," he continues, "showing how the Federation's horizons have widened is shown by our membership of the World Union of Catholic Teachers. Next August, at the Federation's invitation, this body will hold its congress in London."
The report concludes, "A bad reflection on modern times is seen in the work of another committee set up as the result of a resolution passed at the last C.T.F. Conference at Oxford. This committee is considering the question of pornographic literature, and arrangements have already been made to work in liaison with other bodies to discover what can be done to stem the flood of indecent literature that threatens the morals of Our children."
Ixworth Priory
Ixworth Priory, a former House of the Canons Regular near Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, at which Mass was recently said for the first time in 325 years, is available in part for use as a retreat house or venue for meetings of local Catholic societies. The present owners emphasise that their invitation does not involve any charge,
Now that the Fords strike is at an end, I would re-emphasise what I said last week about reorganis
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