The Catholic primary school where 90 per cent of the pupils are Muslim

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dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2174050/The-Catholic-primary-school-90-cent-pupils-Muslim.html
It was built in the 1930s to cater for large numbers of Irish families moving to the area.
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Now, in a sign of changing times, a Catholic primary school in Birmingham has an intake that is 90 per cent Muslim.
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All pupils at the Rosary Catholic Primary attend Catholic assemblies in the morning and Mass at the nearby church, while crucifixes and statues of the Virgin Mary line the corridors.
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But only around 40 pupils out of 400 are Catholics – most of the rest are Muslims of Pakistani origin.
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The school is among a few dozen Catholic primaries, mainly in the Midlands and North West, where churchgoing children are now outnumbered by Muslims.
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At Rosary, in the Saltley area of Birmingham, some of the pupils’ parents are imams and some live in nearby mosques.
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Father Bernard Kelly, the local parish priest and Rosary’s chairman of governors, said: ‘This is a changing parish like all parishes in strong Muslim neighbourhoods.
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‘Our school is largely made up of Muslim children whose parents are happy to have them attend a Christian school. For the church, this is a new reality.
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‘At school, the pupils hear about the teachings of Jesus but they are not imposed on them.’
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He added: ‘I’m sure we will be here in another 80 years’ time. Why not?’
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80 years? Seriously? I’d be amazed if they manage eight before its converted (at least officially) into a madrasah.
 
Why is this ok? Why do we simply stand by and watch something like this happen? The reason people go to “Catholic” school is so that they can receive a “Catholic” education and live a “Catholic” life. If their are muslim students who wish to attend who have no desire to be Catholic then let them attend public school and that be the end of it. Catholic schools aren’t just for teaching a higher standard of education, its for instilling the Catholic values Christ wants all of His children to live by.
 
SaintPatrick333 said:
Why is this ok? Why do we simply stand by and watch something like this happen? The reason people go to “Catholic” school is so that they can receive a “Catholic” education and live a “Catholic” life. If their are muslim students who wish to attend who have no desire to be Catholic then let them attend public school and that be the end of it. Catholic schools aren’t just for teaching a higher standard of education, its for instilling the Catholic values Christ wants all of His children to live by.
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It may do these Muslim kids a lot of good to be in a Catholic environment. Anti-Christian prejudice they hear at home and the mosque will be debunked straight away by their experience with real people of that faith. Plus, they’ll be exposed–probably in a subtle way, given the atmosphere in Britain–to the best that Western civilization can offer and which is now dying. A few may even be drawn to convert under the right circumstances; the story of Talat Strokirk (see show #155 here for her interview on the Journey Home) comes to mind.
 
Also Magdi Allam, the Egyptian-Italian journalist, was sent to Catholic schools from an early age. He is now a very high-profile convert to Catholicism from Islam.

One thing that should be understood is that for the Muslims, religious-based education will always be preferred to secular public education. In a manner similar to how Muslims can eat kosher if they can’t get halal food (not a problem in today’s Britain, from what I understand), they can also go to Catholic schools if they cannot go to Islamic ones. It is, as Muslims I know have told me, not so much a matter of fraternizing other religions, but because the Catholic schools (in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and just about everywhere else where they exist in the Muslim world) have very high standards relative to the Islamic ones, where kids will get a more rounded education, and also where they know that their religious convictions vis-a-vis dietary restrictions and daily prayer requirements are far more likely to be honored than they would in a secular school, where pupils may not be allowed to pray at all.

Given this reality, I don’t think it’s really fair to ask “How could we let all these Muslims into OUR schools?” It makes more sense to ask “How could we allow the other schools (non-Catholic school) and a number of our own schools to teach every secular argument as gospel in place of the ACTUAL Gospel?”, or maybe even “Why are we losing Catholic attendance at these schools, while they fill with Muslims? Why don’t we make them more attractive to Catholics, and even non-Catholic Christians?” I have known many Orthodox, including Copts, Ethiopian Tewahedo, and Syriac Indians, who went through Catholic education at certain points in their lives, and all have much better feelings towards the Catholic Church as a result. It all depends on how seriously you take this whole “being Christian” thing. If it doesn’t include educating your kids (and you can always do your part to educated them at the parish level in the distinctive doctrines of your church, if you are not Roman Catholic), then you’re pretty much screwed and probably shouldn’t be blaming your failures or laziness on Muslims who actually care about making sure their children are educated in a religious environment, and not destroyed by secularism.
 
dzheremi said:
Also Magdi Allam, the Egyptian-Italian journalist, was sent to Catholic schools from an early age. He is now a very high-profile convert to Catholicism from Islam.

One thing that should be understood is that for the Muslims, religious-based education will always be preferred to secular public education. In a manner similar to how Muslims can eat kosher if they can’t get halal food (not a problem in today’s Britain, from what I understand), they can also go to Catholic schools if they cannot go to Islamic ones. It is, as Muslims I know have told me, not so much a matter of fraternizing other religions, but because the Catholic schools (in places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and just about everywhere else where they exist in the Muslim world) have very high standards relative to the Islamic ones, where kids will get a more rounded education, and also where they know that their religious convictions vis-a-vis dietary restrictions and daily prayer requirements are far more likely to be honored than they would in a secular school, where pupils may not be allowed to pray at all.

Given this reality, I don’t think it’s really fair to ask “How could we let all these Muslims into OUR schools?” It makes more sense to ask “How could we allow the other schools (non-Catholic school) and a number of our own schools to teach every secular argument as gospel in place of the ACTUAL Gospel?”, or maybe even “Why are we losing Catholic attendance at these schools, while they fill with Muslims? Why don’t we make them more attractive to Catholics, and even non-Catholic Christians?” I have known many Orthodox, including Copts, Ethiopian Tewahedo, and Syriac Indians, who went through Catholic education at certain points in their lives, and all have much better feelings towards the Catholic Church as a result. It all depends on how seriously you take this whole “being Christian” thing. If it doesn’t include educating your kids (and you can always do your part to educated them at the parish level in the distinctive doctrines of your church, if you are not Roman Catholic), then you’re pretty much screwed and probably shouldn’t be blaming your failures or laziness on Muslims who actually care about making sure their children are educated in a religious environment, and not destroyed by secularism.
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Well said.
 
Interesting that in a Catholic school with 90% Muslim students, the HHS mandate will require the school to provide employees with no-copay coverage of contraception, sterilization, and morning after pill! None of those things are acceptable to either Catholics or Muslims.
 
The schools in the article linked in the OP are in the United Kingdom, Jim. A piece of American legislation has no effect at all on how they are run.
 
dzheremi said:
The schools in the article linked in the OP are in the United Kingdom, Jim. A piece of American legislation has no effect at all on how they are run.
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Oh sorry! I was picturing a Catholic-Muslim school in the U.S.!
 
Personally, I don’t have a problem with it, SO LONG AS the Muslim students and their parents realize they are going to a CATHOLIC school, and do not start demanding that the school water down its Catholic identity to accomodate their Muslim beliefs.

Visions of students and faculty at “Catholic” schools and universities in the U.S. and Canada complaining and protesting about attempts by the school to espouse Catholic teaching on abortion and homosexuality come to mind…
 
The other point is, at least the Catholic school is being kept open. Because the places are filled, a Catholic education is being provided for the few Catholic children who are there.

Who knows, perhaps in a few years time there will be another shift in population distribution. Catholic familes might move back into the area and there will still be a school for them.
 
JaMc said:
Personally, I don’t have a problem with it, SO LONG AS the Muslim students and their parents realize they are going to a CATHOLIC school, and do not start demanding that the school water down its Catholic identity to accomodate their Muslim beliefs.

Visions of students and faculty at “Catholic” schools and universities in the U.S. and Canada complaining and protesting about attempts by the school to espouse Catholic teaching on abortion and homosexuality come to mind…
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I went to this school up till 2004. When I first started, the majority of the Children were Catholics from an Irish background like myself. By the time I left, the School was predominantly Muslim. My parents took me out of the School early because I was in fact the only white non-muslim child in my class and I was having trouble with making proper friends. I remember vividly trying at play time to play with a group of boys and I was told by them that i couldn’t play with them because I wasn’t Pakistani and I was always left out. RE lessons were laughed at by the Muslim children (not all of course), but at a Catholic school, our beliefs and teachings should be respected, not ridiculed. The dress code was a constant topic of argument from Muslim girls. I’m not sure about now, but traditionally, girls HAD to wear skirts and were not permitted to wear trousers, though they could wear tights and shorts were to be worn by all children during PE. Every week there would be note after note from Muslim families asking for their children to be exempt from this rule. Back then, the teachers didn’t give in and said no, they must comply with the rules that everyone else abides by. The parents then just ended up trying to take their children out of PE.

A lot of the Muslim children were lovely and i’m still friends with them now 10 years on, but only the girls. The boys were far less likely to integrate and they acted as if they owned the school. It was quite intimidating as a child. But I never understood why Muslim families who were devout sent their children to a Catholic school where Morning, Lunchtime and Afternoon prayers to Jesus and the Virgin Mary were mandatory and everyone had to attend Mass once a week. There is now a Muslim prayer room built on the side of the very old Church there. I’m all for Multi-Faith prayer rooms in State and non religious schools, but a Catholic School is a Catholic school. The Muslim boys would giggle the whole way through Mass and as time went on, more and more teachers, including the failure of a Headmaster who is still there, started to bend to the will of Muslim families. It’s not right. A Catholic School should be a safe haven to be Catholic in a world where you are so likely to be laughed at for having a Faith in God, but here you faced it as well.

The current Headmaster started his tenure when I was about 7 or 8 years old and after he started, the School rapidly went to the dogs. I hear on these News articles and Ofted reports about how much of a good school it is. That may have been true once upon a time, but by the time I left, it was an absolute shambles. The Priest there has a reputation for being a drunk who tries to be popular with everybody. I remember him coming to my house to talk me through my first Holy Communion, but instead he came, no doubt visited the pub before hand, and spoke to my Dad the whole time about the Football.

If this was a state School, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I’m all for multi faith and multiculturalism, but it’s a Catholic School that should cater for Catholic Children. However, it being in a Muslim majority area (previously an area of Irish immigrants) obviously isn’t the best place to find any Catholics now, which is why the Church should give the School to the state, and instead the money that the Church is putting into it should be used to fund a Catholic School in an area where there are more Catholics to educate. It’s pretty much a common sense situation.
 
DaddyGirl said:
It looks as tho the school would close down for lack of students, if not for the local Muslim kids attending.

So weird.
Why would the Muslim parents not mind their kids learning a different religion than their own? It must be a bit confusing for the kids.

Unless…this is part of a new “open-ness” about religion…for kids to learn about all different kinds? In that case, I think it could be very healthy and revolutionary.
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There are many Catholic schools in Malaysia and Indonesia with 90% plus enrolment of Muslim students. Nothing revolutionary about what is going on unless you come from the ignorant position to start with that there isn’t common cause amongst traditional Christianity and Islam.

Islamic parents are not sending their kids to learn Catholicism, but rather to be educated in a school system that respects God.

In the British scene, it is much more preferable for parents than the dumbed down secular feminist BS that some would have pushed on their children. In that way it is a much healthier alternative for their kids to be immersed in traditional Catholic education.
 
What adds a layer of complexity is that this school is a “Voluntary Aided School”, meaning that the vast majority of the expenses for operating this school come from the State.
 
I think the government collect taxes in part to facilitate the culture of its citizens. They should be providing more resources to religious schools if there is a demand from the tax providing public in my humble opinion. After all, its the publics money.
 
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