Friday, May 11, 2012

Vatican official criticises "Radio 4" agenda

A BBC Radio 4 agenda hostile to Catholic schools must be combated, a Vatican official is understood to have told head teachers this week.

Mgr Patrick Burke, a British priest who works at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the agenda was part of secular hostility to church schools. 

This secular agenda, in his view, wanted to present Catholic schools as infringing people's rights.
 
Mgr Burke told heads that secularists' ultimate aim was to eliminate faith schools and he pointed to the closing of the Catholic adoption agencies as a possible precursor. 

He said this secular lobby was given a very good airing by BBC Radio 4 and The Guardian and Times newspapers. 

To counter this trend he said that schools must have a strong identity which is solidly Catholic.

Mgr Burke was speaking at an event on Tuesday organised by the Diocese of Lancaster which the local bishop also addressed. 

In his speech Bishop Michael Campbell said the "failure of a younger and middle-aged generation to engage with the faith is there for all to see". 

While he praised the work of head teachers he said that some children leaving Catholic schools were "religiously illiterate".