Brisbane (Fides Service) - The quality of Catholic education is convincing more and more families, regardless of their religion, to choose a Catholic school for their children: about one quarter of the pupils at Catholic schools in the state of Queensland are non Catholics. This recognition rewards the efforts of the Catholic Church in Queensland and the Church all over Australia in the field of education. In a note sent to Fides the Archdiocese of Brisbane reported an annual growth of 22.5% in the number of non Catholic pupils enrolled at Catholic schools. Families like the quality of the instruction offered at Catholic institutions as well as the education in moral values.
Joe Mac Corley, head of the Commission for Catholic Education in Queensland said that many families have to make considerable economic sacrifices to give their children a Catholic education and that some poorer Catholic families cannot afford the cost private school education and have to send their children to government schools.
Unfortunately the Church cannot lower the school fees because government contributions to Catholic schools are the same as they were ten years ago. Neither can it afford to build new schools where there has been marked population growth for example in south west Brisbane.
The first Catholic school in Australia was opened in 1820. Today the Church in Australia runs 1,700 schools where more than 640,000 pupils are educated by about 40,000 teachers.
(PA) (Agenzia Fides 29/7/2004 lines 28 words 302)