Lancaster Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue has claimed that university graduates are spreading scepticism and sowing dissent. Instead of following the Church’s schooling they are “hedonistic” and “selfish”, he said.

Mass education makes students hedonistic and selfish?

“What we have witnessed in Western societies since the end of the Second World War is the development of mass education on a scale unprecedented in human history - resulting in economic growth, scientific and technological advances, and the cultural and social enrichment of billions of people’s lives,” the Lancaster bishop said.

He continues: “However, every human endeavor has a dark side, due to original sin and concupiscence. In the case of education, we can see its distortion through the widespread dissemination of radical scepticism, positivism, utilitarianism and relativism”.

Lower visits to church

Attendance at mass has decreased a lot the latest years. In 1991, there was recorded as 1.3 million attendants, representing a drop of 40 per cent since 1963. But in the last recordings (2004), there was only 960 000 making a visit to the church.