ABSTRACT
The overriding purpose governing Catholic education is to ensure that children and young people arrive at that fullness of life which Christ declared he came to bring (see John 10:10). The Catholic Church’s involvement in education in England and Wales at all levels: primary, secondary and tertiary, has been a long and honourable one. The history of the Church in recent centuries in the UK has been a history strongly marked by her educational endeavours, investment and outreach. Since 1850 with the restoration of the Hierarchy in England and Wales, a central priority for the Church has been providing education. The Catholic Church in England has taken the practical challenge of providing a school place for every Catholic child as an over riding priority. As a result when dioceses and parishes began to take shape after 1850, in many instances the first parochial building to be erected locally was the Catholic school, often doubling as the parish church at weekends. Traces of such buildings can still be seen in quite a number of Catholic parishes today. The high priority placed on the education of our Catholic children and young people was even evident in times which were far less prosperous and favourable than our own.
