LETTERS
Identity of Catholic schools
Whilst I recognise some of what Daniel Kearney says (“An outreach too far”, Tablet Education Supplement, 15 May) about the nature of Catholic schools and more partic- ularly their staffs, I was dismayed by the title of the article. How can any Catholic school go too far in reaching out to people of all faiths and none, whether they are child or adult, learner or teacher? My experience as the head of religious edu- cation at a successful and over-subscribed Catholic secondary school in Cheshire is one where the head teacher cannot choose Catholicism over experience and suitability. However, once within our community, Catholic and non-Catholic alike will be welcomed and guided towards an understanding of what it means to be a part of our Catholic faith com- munity through an induction programme which includes time to reflect and question what we mean by ethos and spirituality. The crucial point is that those members of staff who are Catholic witness to our faith and so not only reach out to the children in all cur- riculum areas but reach out to non-Catholic staff as well. Our current cohorts consist not only of chil- dren who no longer attend church but are the children of the children who did not go to church and thus the Catholic stock of teach- ers is dwindling all the time. It is sad that this is the situation but that is as it is. It may be different in the independent sector but I can’t believe that a second-rate Catholic educator should be chosen over a first-rate non- Catholic pedagogue, especially if the latter can be reached out to through the actions and words that happen everywhere in the school community, whether it be the staffroom, corridors, canteen, yard or meeting room.
Nick McLeod
Liverpool, Merseyside
nick.mcleod@
sky.com
In his excellent article, Daniel Kearney showed clearly that Catholic independent schools often play down their Catholic iden- tity for fear of putting off the non-Catholic clients on whom their survival depends. He raises a wider question. Why is the Church involved in independent education at all? While the maintained sector cannot compete in terms of material resources or provision, Catholic schools within local authorities know exactly “who we are and how we came to be”. In my experience, the great majority of Catholic schools in the maintained sector have a very clear sense of mission and proclaim it unambiguously whether they serve a total or majority or minority Catholic intake.
Jim Foley
Birmingham, West Midlands
foleyj@stacs.bham.sch.uk
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to either a Labour MP or a Liberal Democrat depending on where in Sheffield I lived.
John Collins
London NW5
jbdcollins@hotmail.com
Is a single transferable vote fairer?
Contrition for the Church’s sins
I don’t believe that the “95 per cent of favourable messages” to Timothy Radcliffe (Letters, 15 May) should lead him to accept that the majority of readers agree with him. I, and some of my friends, sighed deeply when we read the original article, particularly as the writer is someone whose works we find accessible, tolerant and moving towards “a new Catholicism”. The tone seemed defensive, albeit I accept its purpose was to further understand- ing. To use a phrase of my daughter’s, the feeling is that the clergy “just don’t get it”. Reminding us that we are all sinners and asking us to ven- erate the Blessed Sacrament may be part of the solution but there is so much more that the institutional Church and clergy need to do – quickly, prominently, both nationally and locally. Let’s hope that the current problems besetting the Catholic Church start to erode the church-inflicted distance between clergy and laity. I hope they do something about it in my lifetime. I can’t wait and I don’t believe that the next generation will care.
Catherine Brady
Loughborough, Leicestershire
catherine@brainbox.uk.com
Fairer votes
Sir Ivor Roberts (“Is it time for voting reform?”, 15 May) claims that by using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) we would “lose the close connection with the constituency”. But it is also arguable that most voters would benefit from STV’s multi-member constituen- cies, because there is a good chance that at least one MP would be from a party they had voted for. Take Sheffield. Using first-past-the- post (FPTP), the five Sheffield seats have just elected four Labour MPs and one Liberal Democrat. Under STV, Sheffield would prob- ably be one constituency where the total votes in the recent election suggest the result might have been two Labour MPs, two Lib Dems and one Conservative. If I were a Conservative in Sheffield, I would rather take my queries to the one Conservative MP than
Implicit messages
Catholic Voices says that it is not interested in opening up debates within the Church, rather in presenting the Catholic message to the public in general (Notebook, 15 May). Although recent developments illustrate the serious need for open debate within the Church, I have no quarrel with a group set- ting itself up as a PR department for the papal visit. But what kind of image do they want to promote? Not content with being a sexist Church, with the age restrictions (20 to 40 years) are we now to present ourselves as an ageist Church?
Penelope Middelboe
London SE12
rightangle.london@yahoo.co.uk
Reluctant saint?
Christopher Howse (Presswatch, 15 May) mis-
understands my Sunday Times Magazine
article on the Newman “miracle”. First he assumes that the uncouth headlines – “Papal bull”, “Why Cardinal Newman is no saint”, “Sainthood scandal” – were penned or sanc- tioned by me, and that therefore I believe that Newman is no saint. He surely knows as a newspaper man of long experience that mere scribes have no power over these pro- motional signpostings. In any case, the article is not about whether Newman deserves to be made a beatusor saint, but the shaky basis onwhich the Vatican miracle experts declared Jack Sullivan’s healing to be a supernatural event. Mr Howse is confused, moreover, on
Newman and miracles. Of course, Newman believed that miracles could occur outside of the course of nature. But while believing that all is possible with God, Newman was more inclined to believe that “ecclesiastical” mira- cles, performed after the death of the last apostle, occur within nature. The question about the comparative diffi-
culty of forgiving sin, and, or, curing the palsied man, is uttered and performed by the Son of God while on this earth. Such miracles in the New Testament invariably carry a redemptive narrative significance. The appeal to scientif- ically tested miracles to prove a servant of God's standing in heaven is quite another matter. Official saint-making relators, such as Fr Gumpel SJ in Rome (promoter of the cause of Pius XII, and others), lobbied John Paul II over many years to admit “moral” as opposed to “physical” miracles in support of beatification, a circumstance which, for some strange reason, Mr Howse finds extremely comical. But my main, and serious, point is that, even if one accepts such appropriated
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