Shelagh Slams Decision To Drop “Mother” And “Father” Terms In Catholic School

15 November 2017, 14:48

Shelagh Fogarty has taken aim at a decision to drop the terms “mother” and “father” from a Catholic school’s admission forms after a parent complained it discriminated against some families, such as those with gay or step-parents.

The Holy Ghost Primary School, in Wandsworth, south London, was found to be in breach of the government’s school admissions code because it used traditional terms on a form.

Shelagh described the decision, upheld by Office of the Schools Adjudicator, as “baffling” during her take on Wednesday.

She said: “If as a gay parent you send your child to school you should of course expect the admissions code to be rigorous and to be legal and to be within the bounds of what set down by the law and the Department of Education.

“But you're sending a child to a Catholic school so you should also expect some other things, Catholic things, and that that tolerance that you're seeking cuts both ways.”

Th LBC presenter continued: “If that school's ethical stance is that mothers and fathers and families of that nature are the preferred way isn't the Catholic school within its rights to teach that?

“If that's its belief and if its belief is that abortion is unethical, isn't it within the school's right to teach that?

“I don't mean drum it in and teach nothing else but to say as Catholics this is what we believe.”