Joseph also allowed civil marriage and divorce and abolished heresy as a crime, establishing liberty of conscience and allowing his subjects to attend non-Catholic schools.

In 2002, Kwinter publicly opposed the Liberal Party's position on tax credits for parents who send their children to private and non-Catholic denominational schools.

There are also two non-Catholic schools outside the town that service East Meath and South Drogheda both with a multi-denominational ethos.

Gardena Valley Christian School, a K-8 non-Catholic private school, is in Gardena.

Butler will be the only non-Catholic school in the new conference.

If there is a shortfall of Catholic school provision in an area, it has never been accepted that Catholic pupils should have to go to non-Catholic schools.

The only sector to show consistent growth has been non-Catholic religious schools, particularly Jewish day schools, called yeshivas.

And many non-Catholic private schools, some of them with tuitions triple the rate of the diocesan schools, have had stable or increased enrollments in that same time.

But Dr. Ware of Baptist Bible College said many families may find stronger bonds with non-Catholic Christian schools.

Among non-Catholic private schools, 12 percent had left, and in the Catholic schools only 3 percent dropped out.