IN BRIEF
Treatment of activists condemned A parish priest from London has criticised the treatment of 150 Kurdish activists by the Turkish authorities after attending their trial last week. Fr Joe Ryan, chairman of the Westminster Justice and Peace Commission, said the presiding judge had “turned the whole scenario of justice on its head” by refusing to allow the defen- dants to testify in their native language during the hearing in Diyarbakir. Fr Ryan became involved with the case as a result of contact with the Kurdish community in his Tottenham parish of St John Vianney.
Full marks Four Catholic schools are celebrating after being named as regional winners of the inaugural Church School Awards. The quartet – St Alban’s Catholic Primary School in Gateshead, St Cuthbert’s Catholic Community College for Business and Enterprise in Merseyside, Ursuline High School in Wimbledon and St Swithun’s Catholic Primary School in Portsmouth – were chosen out of more than 300 schools for their work in pro- moting community cohesion and global outreach. Two national champions will be chosen from the regional winners and these will be announced at a gala at Westminster Cathedral Hall on 24 March.
Pupils could lose free transport Plans to axe free school transport for Catholic schoolchildren in Yorkshire are being considered. North Yorkshire County Council has put forward a proposal to charge transport fees for some church school pupils from September 2012. The change is dependent on the results of a government review, which is considering whether to allow councils to opt out of providing free buses for school pupils.
Investigation dropped
A monk who regularly contributed to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme could soon return to his pastoral duties after police dropped an investigation into an historic allegation made against him. Dom Antony Sutch withdrew from his parish last November after a complaint was made about his conduct while he was head - master of Downside School in Somerset. He still faces an internal church inquiry but could rejoin his parish of St Benet’s in Beccles, Suffolk, when this is completed.
Christmas competition winner Congratulations to Desmond Moran, from Truro, Cornwall who is the winner of The Tablet’s Christmas competition. He cor- rectly named the Sistine Chapel as the place where the cardinals gather to elect a Pope. His prize is a weekend break for two at Villa Palazzola, outside Rome.
32 | THE TABLET | 5 February 2011
Catholic schools can apply to become academies
Sam Adams
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS are to be allowed to apply for academy status following a series of concessions by the Government. More than 100 Catholic schools registered an interest in becoming an academy when the Government invited all schools to join the scheme last year, but the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales (CES) initially warned they would be “unwise” to do so. The Bishop of Nottingham, Malcolm
McMahon, chairman of the CES, announced this week, however, that Catholic schools could become academies, after “significant changes” to government policy on areas of concern such as land ownership and the rights of trustees. Bishop McMahon said the decision was reached subject to further discussions with ministers, and insisted Catholic schools that converted would retain their distinctive char- acter and duty to the wider community. “We are under no illusion about both the
direction and pace of government policy and we are taking a hard-headed look at the world
as we find it,” he said. “Our conclusion is that we should make conversion to academies a ready possibility for Catholic schools, subject to the wishes of their bishop, trustees and governing body. In arriving at a conclusion to [this] question we have reflected at length on Catholic social teaching and our respon- sibilities to the wider community and the poor. We are not in favour of a free-for-all in which some institutions flourish whilst others wither.”
Academy schools are state-maintained but independently run – freeing them of local authority control. Bishop McMahon said the establishment of a “federation of schools” could be a first step towards Catholic schools achieving acad- emy status, and may form the basis of new academy trusts. He said the CES would continue to support voluntary-aided schools, with specific arrange- ments being made for them to retain their status, join a federation of schools or become an academy. However, trustees of Catholic schools, the bishop and advisers, will need to give permission to a school wishing to become an academy.
Vaughan governors close to appointing head
A SHORTLIST of candidates has been drawn up for the vacant head teacher’s position at one of England’s top Catholic comprehensives, writes Sam Adams. Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School, in
London, has been without a permanent head teacher since Michael Gormally stepped down from the post last summer due to ill health. Appointing a new head teacher has been hampered by an ongoing legal battle between parent governors at the school and the dio- cese’s education service over its decision to appoint four new foundation governors to the board. The parent governors argue it is wrong that none of the foundation governors is a parent of pupils at the school, and fear that the appointment of a new head teacher is being rushed through while the status of the governing body is still before the courts.
■The bishop of Scotland’s most remote diocese has urged Catholics to attend weekly Mass and demonstrate their faith more visibly, writes Christopher Lamb. “In some ways in recent times we have tended to excuse ourselves too easily from some of the essentials of Catholic living,
They also believe that the appointment of Paul Barber, the diocese’s director of education, as a governor betrays a conflict of interest. On Wednesday, the Vaughan Parents Action Group was due to hold a candlelit vigil outside the school. The diocese denies any wrongdoing and this week Archbishop Vincent Nichols issued a statement saying he was “fully com- mitted” to the flourishing of the school, including its “fine traditions of academic rigour and musical excellence”. “I thank God for the work and achievements of the school which are always to be under- stood as an expression of Catholic faith and a part of the life and mission of the Diocese of Westminster. The Catholic character of [the] school, of which it is rightly proud, should be evident in all aspects of its life,” he said.
particularly the obligation of attending Mass every Sunday,” Bishop Joseph Toal of the Diocese of Argyll and the Isles said. “I have visited most parishes a number of times now and there is a noticeable lack of people at Sunday Mass across the diocese, and I and the priests sometimes ask ourselves why on earth
are people expecting us to be here if they will not attend Sunday Mass.” The bishop added: “Let
us renew our enthusiasm for the Mass, to show our love for it by our weekly (or, if it is possible, daily) presence at it, and to bring the love the Lord bestows upon us to everybody we meet and to all that we do.”
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