Scots faith education ‘under threat’
● Parishioners told to fight motion that ‘threatens’ future of faith education
A move by councillors to block school board voting rights for religious representatives is “the first stage in removing faith education in Scotland”, a leading Catholic clergyman has warned.
Green councillors are seeking to remove the legal right of the Catholic community to sit and vote on school board decisions in Edinburgh.
In a letter read out by parish priests at mass yesterday, Leo Cushley, Archbishop for St Andrews and Edinburgh, told parishioners to fight the proposal.
A leading Catholic clergyman has called on parishioners to oppose a move by councillors to block school board voting rights for religious representatives.
In a scathing letter read out by all parish priests at mass yesterday, Archbishop Leo Cushley branded the move the first stage of removing faith education altogether in Scotland.
The Archbishop for St Andrews and Edinburgh said the motion “casts into serious doubt” councillors’ commitment to retaining Catholic schools.
It follows a move by Green councillors, backed by a Liberal Democrat amendment, to remove the legal right of the Catholic community to sit on and vote on school board decisions in Edinburgh.
Archbishop Cushley wrote: “This motion presents a serious threat to the identity and Catholicity of our schools in Edinburgh and is also, in all probability, just the first step in a process to remove faith education from schools in Scotland altogether.
“To deprive the church’s representatives of voting rights on the education committee, where they sit on behalf of us and our children, casts into serious doubt the commitment of some of our elected representatives to the future of Catholic schools.”
The letter also called for parishioners to write to their councillors to oppose the move “as a matter of urgency” and urged Catholics to fight against the proposal.
Archbishop Cushley said: “The decision has not, however, been taken and there is still time for you to influence your elected representatives, who are very sensitive to local opinion.
“If you care about our Catholic schools and if you want them to continue to flourish in the future, please write to your local councillor as a matter of urgency to ask him or her to vote against this motion.”
Earlier this year, Perth and Kinross Council became the first local authority in the council to remove voting rights from church representatives, with Edinburgh potentially following suit on 22 August. In May, Green councillor Mary Campbell said church leaders were “out of touch” with councillors and the move aimed to give parents and church representatives the same amount of power.
She said: “It’s 2019. It’s no longer appropriate for religious representatives to have special status on an education committee, although they will still be able to take part in debate, just as parents can currently do.
“In 21st-century Scotland, it’s time to give parents and pupils at least the same status as churches.”
Eileen Rafferty, religious education adviser to schools for the archdiocese, said it was the voice of Catholic parents and educationalists who would be silenced.
She said: “It is only reasonable that Catholic reps vote when it comes to decisions affecting Catholic education and Catholic schools. The vast majority of our reps across the Lothians and Fife are not clergy, but parents and/or educationalists with rich experience in Catholic education. It is their voice that is determinedly silenced by this proposal. We trust that the majority of councillors will stand up for the Catholic community by rejecting this motion.”
The vote was delayed until August due to an ongoing legal challenge against the Perth and Kinross decision.
“It’s 2019. It’s no longer appropriate for religious representatives to have special status on an education committee”
MARY CAMPBELL
Green councillor