'Fit for Misison' - controversy?

[afleitch]

Now that the minor furore within Catholic educational circles in the UK has quietened down regarding Bishop O'Donoghue 'Fit for Mission' what do you think of the follwoing exchange that took place in the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee

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Fiona Mactaggart: I have read your document and find some things surprising, such as the suggestion that schools should ban Red Nose Day and works that contain polemic against religion in general from school and college libraries. That means no Marx or Camus and many books that I think a sixth-former ought to read, even if critically. I think that that is odd.

Rt Rev. Patrick O'Donoghue: May I throw the issue of polemic back to you? Suppose you went into a school and found in the library material that said that the Holocaust never took place-and there are such books-what would you do?

Fiona Mactaggart: Do you refer to books of fiction, as well as non-fiction?

Rt Rev. Patrick O'Donoghue: Yes.

Fiona Mactaggart: Certainly, I would not expect a school to promulgate material that is lies, but I also think that children should encounter great work even if they need to be given the tools to criticise it. Your advice does not suggest that, but would you advise that such work should be excluded from children's experience?

Rt Rev. Patrick O'Donoghue: No, I would not. I would have to look at the material that was being provided, as would others, and ask whether it was legitimate.

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What do you think the Bishop meant?

Here is the passage in question, copied from a hard copy I have.

It is not to be expected that a school or college library would stock non-fiction or fiction that contains polemic against the Catholic faith, religion in general, race, gender, or the dignity of the human person.

So is it really bye bye Marx, Camus and even Pullman? Well I can part answer that, as most Catholic schools are state funded, and the folks above often make an appearance in the national curriculum the answer is, the UK at least no.