Cautious Church welcome for school forum [irishcatholic.ie]
- Published: 23 March 2011
Church leaders have given a cautious welcome to plans by the new Government to hold a forum on the future of Catholic education and warned that the process will not be simple.
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn confirmed that he will set up a national forum as soon as possible to discuss the hand-over of some Catholic schools to new patron bodies.
Speaking after addressing the Catholic Primary Schools Management Association (CPSMA), he said the purpose would be to ''assist'' the Catholic Church to divest itself of some of its schools ''where they choose and as appropriate''.
He said the forum will ''discuss implementation'' of this and will not be ''a talking shop''.
At present, 92 per cent of primary schools are under Catholic Church management, a situation which Church leaders say no longer reflects the true demand for Catholic education in some areas.
Welcomed
Bishop Leo O'Reilly told The Irish Catholic this week he welcomed the setting up of the forum. ''It is something that Archbishop [Diarmuid] Martin has already called for.
''A discussion of the issues involved should be valuable and I think it may help to highlight the complexity of the issue.
''There's sometimes a simplistic approach to this -- it's not just an issue of handing over schools, you have parents and children in local parishes and they have to be consulted,'' Bishop O'Reilly said.
Dr O'Reilly, who sits on the bishops' education commission, also said there were differences between rural and urban areas that had to be taken into account.
Full Story: www.irishcatholic.ie
