Catholic Church 'not Opposed' to Multi-faith Schools

The Catholic church this afternoon refuted claims that it was opposed to expanding the number of multi-faith academies.

The church hit back after the chairman of the influential Common’s children, schools and families committee, Barry Sheerman, told members earlier today he had been told that Catholic education authorities were not going to repeat the successful model of the academy of St Francis of Assisi in Liverpool.

The academy, run jointly by the Catholic church and the Church of England, last January topped a league table of 2006 GCSE and A-level results of Catholic schools and was heralded as a "ground breaking venture."

But this afternoon the director of schools in the Catholic archdiocese of Liverpool said the church did not have any blanket opposition to the multi-faith academy model, which has been so successful in the city.

Frank Cogley said: "There may be pockets of opposition, but equally there has been a lot of support for all the work we have been doing together.

"It’s simply not true that the church generally is no longer perusing the possibility of joint schools or joint academies."

He said he was aware of a "number of dioceses" that are interested in copying the Liverpool model. But he added: "The situation is that each case is looked at according to its own merits and it’s a matter for each diocesan constituency and its bishops to decide the outcome."

Earlier today Sheerman told the committee that the St Francis of Assisi model was "not to be repeated".

After the meeting, he told EducationGuardian.co.uk that he stood by what he told MPs.

"My experience is that there is a move away from joint faith and multi-faith cooperation in the Catholic education sector, which is disappointing."

His comments to the committee prompted the school’s secretary, Ed Balls, who was giving evidence to the committee about the work of his children, schools and families department, to reiterate government policy over the expansion of faith schools.

Balls told MPs: "It is not the policy of the government or my department to promote more faith schools. There are no plans to expand the number - that should be a matter for the local community.

"We want to support those communities to make their own decisions... but [the government] was not leading a drive for more faith schools."

The Catholic education service, the national body promoting and support catholic education in England and Wales, was not available for comment.

Jim Bourke, principal of the academy, refused to discuss the issue.