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| The face of the future... |
A stunning local victory for Islam?
An indicator of the rates of immigration in urban areas of northern England?
Or, a damning indictment of the Hierarchy of the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and the overwhemling majority of the Faithful who failed to heed the prophetic warnings of Pope Paul VI's encyclical, Humanae Vitae?
You can call it what you want, but this is nothing short of stunning news. It has to be said that unlike Catholics, Muslims did not and still do not embrace contraception. Not only this, but, for Muslims, passing Islam down to the next generation is of supreme importance. Read it and weep...
Courtesy of the Daily Star
'A Catholic school faces being taken over by a mosque after it was revealed that 95% of its pupils are Muslim. It is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain. Church leaders say it is no longer “appropriate” for them to run Sacred Heart RC Primary School which has just six Christian pupils.
Just 10 years ago more than 90% of pupils were Catholic. But now most are of Asian origin, do not speak English as their first language and follow Islam. The school in Blackburn, Lancs, could be handed to the nearby Masjid-e-Tauheedul mosque.
Harry Devonport of Blackburn with Darwen Council Children’s Services, said the decision to abandon the school was made by the Diocese of Salford. Diocese education director Geraldine Bradbury said: “We have never experienced a change to this extent before. We would not be serving the local community by insisting that we run the school. It brings things like having a Catholic headteacher and devoting 10% of the timetable to RE. It would be wrong of us to insist on putting a school community through that.”
The mosque runs an Islamic girls’ secondary school. Head Hamid Patel said: “Given that almost all of the pupils are Muslim, it makes sense.”
Other organisations are in the race to run the school – in a predominantly Asian populated area of the town – including the Church of England diocese. But the Tauheedul mosque is favourite to take over. A report to the local council said any attempt to turn Sacred Heart into a non-religious community school would be rejected because of the Coalition Government’s “stated preference for new faith schools and free schools”. Mr Devonport added: “There will be no disruption for children at the school.”'
I suppose one must be grateful that it isn't Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School.....give them time.
ReplyDelete'Muslims did not and still do not embrace contraception'
ReplyDeleteContraception has always been permitted in Islam. There has only ever been one scholar, Ibn Hazm (994-1064), who developed an Islamic ethic that prohibited contraception. This did not find much support at the time or since.
In contemporary times there is a rejection of contraception by Muslims, as it is seen as a method of control by the West. Muslim clerics are encouraging Muslims to have many children for the good of Ummah.
Also, as a Muslim man is permitted several wives, it is possible to have considerably more children. Islamic poligamy does occur in the Uk, but would not be visible as these marriages are not recorded in the civil register.
Finally, procreation and children are seen as great gifts in Islam.
You're right, the rejection of Church teaching as laid waste to the Catholic population in numbers and practice.
"Diocese education director Geraldine Bradbury said: 'We have never experienced a change to this extent before. We would not be serving the local community by insisting that we run the school. It brings things like having a Catholic headteacher and devoting 10% of the timetable to RE. It would be wrong of us to insist on putting a school community through that.'”
ReplyDeleteThis woman speaks in the name of her bishop. What do you suppose they would make of the fact that the Catholic Church in Bangladesh (Catholic population approx 400,000) provides nearly all of the schools for the entire population (total population over 140,000,000)? Have they never heard of mission and evangelisation in the Diocese of Salford?
There is a Catholic school in Glasgow which might well go the same way:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jihadwatch.org/2006/01/islamic-group-urges-catholic-school-to-move-to-muslim-faith.html