A FORMER education secretary is to give a lecture in North Yorkshire on the challenges of faith-based schools.

Baroness Estelle Morris will on Thursday give the St Wilfrid lecture at Ripon Cathedral.

The lecture will be entitled The Church, The State And Our Schools.

The St Wilfrid lectures began in 2009 as a response to the growing need for theology and education to interact with issues facing society in the 21st century.

Baroness Morris currently chairs of the strategy board at the Institute of Effective Education at the University of York. She started her career as a teacher before moving into politics in 1994, and has held a number of parliamentary positions.

This year’s lecture series will examine religion and politics and the role of the Church in contemporary society. It is jointly organised and sponsored by York St John University, Ripon Cathedral, the Methodist District of York and Hull, and the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds.

The lecture will take place at 7pm. Admission is free but by ticket only.

Email judithbustard@riponcathedral.org.uk or phone 01765 603462 to book a ticket, or for further information visit yorksj.ac.uk/stwilfridlectures