Archbishop Vincent Nichols was speaking this morning at the opening of St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, the first Catholic secondary in the London borough of Richmond.
During a homily at a two-and-a-half-hour Mass for the opening, Archbishop Nichols said that setting up the school had not been easy, adding: "Some have wished to use this effort as an occasion to sow division."
Richmond Council saw off a challenge from the British Humanist Association and the Richmond Inclusive Schools Campaign, which tried to argue that the school would be discriminatory.
The case went as far as the High Court, which last November rejected the groups' appeal for a judicial review.
Archbishop Nichols continued: "A Catholic school is a response to the proper and legitimate expectations that parents can look to the state to help them to educate their children in the faith and way of life which is precious to them. In this way a Catholic school contributes to social cohesion by respecting the rights of parents and by maintaining educational diversity. This parental right is enshrined in European Conventions."
The school was opened with an outdoor Mass celebrated by five bishops including Archbishop Nichols, Southwark Archbishop Peter Smith, Cardiff Archbishop George Stack (formerly an auxiliary in Westminster), Bishop Richard Moth, Bishop of the Armed Forces, and Bishop John Sherrington, Chairman of the Diocese of Westminster Education Commission.
Around 20 local priests also attended, along with nuns from a branch of the Bridgettine order to which St Richard Reynolds belonged.