BANBURY - 17 October 2006 - 700 words
Archbishop Nichols praises vital role of Catholic schools
The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, spoke about the vital role played by Catholic schools in building social cohesion, during his address to Diocesan Schools Commissioners yesterday.
Speaking in Banbury, Archbishop Nichols said: "In popular political debate, there is little positive attention paid to the cohesive influence of Church schools. A broad Christian ethic is the cement of our society.
"The academic address given by Pope Benedict XVI at Regensburg University on 12 September was widely misunderstood. The main challenge was not so much to Islam but to our society, our western liberal democracy. That, of course, was neatly deflected by a media that does not wish to have its key assumptions challenged.
"The Pope's challenge was well expressed in one sentence: 'A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures.'
"This describes so accurately, much of our current debate. As a society, we recognise only too well that we have to bring together people for whom religious faith is significant, if not central, to their most profound thoughts about themselves and their lives.
"This is true for the 75% of people in this country who describe themselves as Christian. It is true for the small but significant number of Muslims here. It is true for the Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist communities and for many others who are coming here from EU nations and elsewhere. This is the fact. Yet our politicians seem to live in a different world, a world that is purely secular and material, a world that does not permit a mature consideration of the key role of religious belief.
"We even have those who suggest that part of the way to prepare youngsters to live in this society is by making it easy for them to opt out of religious worship and even religious education while at school. Behind this is the assertion that religious influences are bad for you and that ignorance of religion is better that exposure to it and its study.
"Pope Benedict points very clearly to the roots of this misunderstanding and prejudice against religious belief. It lies in the distorted and truncated notion of reason, which shapes our society, and to a large extent, the education it offers.
"Quite simply we have sold our soul to a positivistic understanding of reason. By this is meant that knowledge and reasoning is limited to what can be positively seen, measured and physically tested through hypothesis, experiment and observation. Such reasoning can discover, magnificently, what can be done. But it cannot answer the question: 'But should it be done?,
"A society which limits itself like this will always lack social cohesion.
"Every school should be able to give a reasoned account of its moral perspectives: of the school as a 'moral community'. A school which cannot do this is not able to make its proper contribution to genuine social cohesion.
"Catholic schools are well placed to do this. Our Catholic understanding of reason is not so limited. Our moral communion is well spelt out. It is, indeed, a major factor in what is described, and esteemed, as our Catholic ethos.
"What is more, faith, the response to revelation, fulfils our human capacity and destiny. Faith complements reason, and illuminates exactly the capabilities of that reasoning. Faith and reason are the two wings on which the human spirit soars."
Archbishop Nichols ended: "This understanding of faith and reason together lifting us to our true capacity, both as individuals and as a society, must have its impact on our conduct of religious education. If we are to play our full part in the task of building our new society, then we need to show quite clearly the strength of our faith in terms that are accessible to others.
"This can only be achieved in two ways: in the recovery of the true capacity of reasoning for both moral and religious insight and, of course, in the witness of lives well lived. Both, I believe, are available in our Catholic schools. Both need to be spoken of without apology."
Source: Archdiocese of Birmingham
© Independent Catholic
News 2006
Contact Independent
Catholic News
tel/fax: +44 (0)20 7267 3616 or email
Chaplain • Latest news • Archive • Listings • Pictures •