” “The Catholic Church of England and Wales has hailed with satisfaction the decision of the British Government not to impose any quotas on the admission of non-Catholic students to the new schools run by the Church. A compromise has been reached at the end of last week between the Minister of Education, Alan Johnson, and the archbishop of Birmingham, mgr. Vincent Nichols, president of the “Catholic Education Service”, the office of the Bishops Conference of England and Wales in charge of education, according to whom Catholic schools "educate students to religious tolerance". The presence for the first time of Muslim schools funded by the State in the United Kingdom worries the Government that, with the idea of the quota on schools funded by the State but run by the Churches, was trying to ensure social integration. While the Catholic schools, which have already over 30% of non-Catholic students, attract students from all religions, the Muslim schools are having a hard time finding students from different religions. "During the meeting with the Minister, we reached an agreement on how to plan the future of the Catholic schools, so as to cater to the needs of Catholic families and at the same time provide wider access to the new schools that are going to be opened", stated mgr. Nichols.” “
