The Papal Nuncio to Ireland has urged Catholics to protect religious ethos in schools from the risk of disappearing entirely.

Addressing a conference to mark the 50th anniversary of Gravissimum Educationis, the Declaration on Christian Education by the Second Vatican Council, Archbishop Charles Brown warned: “Schools have to be concerned about their Catholic character, and recognise that without a conscious effort to maintain their distinctly Catholic ethos, that ethos can dissolve to non-descript and vague spiritualism, or even disappear entirely.”

Making his comments amid an ongoing debate in Ireland over divestment of patronage of some Catholic primary schools, the Nuncio acknowledged that parents should be afforded choice of schools for their children, while adding that Catholics need have no fear of an increase in alternative school provision.

“We should avoid a situation where students are unable to go to schools they want to go to, or are forced to go to schools they don’t want to,” he stressed. “We need to provide – as much as we possibly can – a legitimate choice.”

Archbishop Brown went on to point out that “it was often the case that faced with alternatives the attractiveness of a distinct Catholic ethos became most evident for parents”.

Despite arguing for change in patronage of denominational schools in Ireland, supporters of change have been unable to demonstrate such a desire for change among parents. The last survey conducted by the Department of Education, in 2012 as part of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism, found not only had just 25% of parents in areas surveyed responded to the study, but of that figure, just 10% cited any strong interest in a change of patronage.