A DEGREE of consternation from predictable sources accompanied the announcement this week that Nicola Sturgeon will make a keynote speech to mark the centenary of the legislation that brought Catholic schools into the Scottish state system. These siren voices were to be found mainly on social media platforms and were espoused by a Catholic ultra-montane faction who deemed the invitation to the First Minister to deliver the annual Cardinal Winning lecture to be an inappropriate one. They stem from deep unhappiness that Ms Sturgeon is a staunch pro-abortionist. These protests may have been sincere but, as is usual among those who speak from a position of moral certainty on complex human issues, they fail to see the bigger picture.

According to Bishop John Keenan, of the diocese of Paisley, the First Minister’s lecture will “mark the partnership between the Catholic Church and the state in Scotland in the provision of education to our young people”. It is all of that and more. Indeed the decision to invite Ms Sturgeon to deliver it is the most appropriate one at this juncture of the ongoing relationship between the Catholic Church in Scotland and the state. She is the embodiment of the unique social contract that exists in Scotland which permits the Catholic Church to operate its own schools within a larger secular system. It is a delicate thing and one that exists at the pleasure of the state. It must not casually be assumed that it will always be this way.

Ms Sturgeon is in the great majority of politicians in Scotland across all parties and of all faiths and none who support the right of a woman to choose to have an abortion, a choice that is rarely taken lightly or without a great deal of examination of conscience. I suspect that few who oppose abortion care little for the often chaotic and challenging social circumstances that may force a woman to take this step.

The First Minister is democratically elected to lead a nation where the separation of church and state is a valued and robust cornerstone of our unwritten constitution. She is elected to govern in the interests of all citizens and is expected periodically to place herself, her agenda and her record at the mercy of voters in elections. It would be a bizarre and undemocratic situation whereby the Catholic Church, whose adherents account for only around 16% of the population, wielded undue influence on the affairs of state. This is not to say that the Church, in common with all other faith communities, cannot strive to be heard and more so if its voice is one which is reasonable and measured.

Those, like me, who are the products of Catholic schools and who continue to support them must also acknowledge that these places enjoy a privileged position in a state which is overwhelmingly secular. Catholic schools have played an outstanding role in breaking down the old cultural and religious barriers that once existed in Scotland and which were built largely on fear and suspicion of the immigrant Irish community. Their critics insist that they are among the root causes of religious division but in truth they are an antidote to it. They have been crucial in forming young Catholic Scots, from families which fled the Great Famine in Ireland, to make a contribution at all levels of society. Not a shred of evidence has ever existed to back the view that they encourage division, a fact attested to by the hundreds of HMIE inspections to which they have been subject.

Circumstances change though, and those that were present when the Government sought to bring Catholic schools under the jurisdiction of the state in 1918 are no longer so. Discrimination against Catholics has now largely disappeared from Scottish society (though some pockets of it remain) and Catholics of Irish stock now occupy many of our nation’s most influential positions. In such roles they don’t stealthily attempt to propagate arcane Catholic beliefs, as some suspect, but merely seek to do their best for the wider Scottish community. The Catholic Church has been in existence for more than 2,000 years and has successfully resisted religious genocide, widespread discrimination and a slew of hostile and ill-informed propaganda. The faith does not stand or fall on the existence of Catholic schools in Scotland. This is not to suggest that Catholic state schools have outlived their value to society; it is merely to say that the Catholic Church must not assume their continuation as a right, even a God-given one.

Nor should we view all opposition to them as indicative of anti-Catholic bigotry. In the multicultural and inclusive Scotland that the vast majority of us seek to build it is entirely reasonable for many to question why we stitch ideas of separation and division into the fabric of a child’s life at the age of five. We should not recoil at such questions or take them personally. Instead, Catholic schools must continue to demonstrate that they can deliver a high standard of education and unconditional love for the children whose care has been entrusted to them by their parents. They must, though, also be open to changing their model in line with the divergent expectations of a post-Christian society. In other words the Church needs to get real and get political if it wants to maintain some of the privileges extended to its schools.

In the future this may be to join with Scotland’s other religious communities to create faith schools in which the core charisms that lie at the heart of these fundamental beliefs – love, compassion, forgiveness, basic human dignity – are fostered. More importantly, the Church needs to understand that this secular society has made some concessions and compromises with its own values in permitting it to enjoy the privileges of separate schools. In return I’d encourage the Catholic hierarchy fully to embrace the principal aims and objectives of the TIE Campaign (Time for Inclusive Education). This seeks to combat homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in Scotland’s schools, some of which still foster unchristian attitudes of discrimination and hate which can often lead to bullying.

It is not the job of a Catholic school to dispense its models of care and compassion to LGBTI pupils through the filter of the Church’s teachings in these areas. Rather, it’s their job to care for these children in the manner of Jesus who gave freely; asked no questions and attached no conditions.