BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. – Parents of students at a Michigan Catholic school are outraged after school officials dedicated a prayer room for Muslim and other non-Catholic students who attend.

About a dozen parents recently voiced their opposition to a prayer room at Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills that’s been in place for years to accommodate the school’s non-Catholic students.

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“When the question was ‘Is there a place that I can pray?’ the answer that evolved was yes,” John Birney, school president, told WXYZ. “We have this ‘sacred space’ available to you if you want it.”

One parent who emailed WXYZ called the prayer room “unconscionable” at a Catholic school, and claims the sacred space “undermined” her child’s religious education, while others have contacted Brother Rice officials with similar complaints.

“My quick response is, all Catholic schools have as part of their admissions that they don’t discriminate based on race, creed, color,” Birney said.

“I respect your opinion,” he said to objecting parents, “I need to talk to experts in the field before we finalize what we choose to do.”

For now, it seems Birney is content to keep the prayer room that’s currently used by a handful of students at the all-boys school.

“We have somewhere in the vicinity of five or 10 of the boys who want to do this on a regular basis, but I also just found out we have a Tibetan Buddhist in our school who also uses the room,” Birney told WJBK. “So, Sometimes, this focus on, ‘It’s Muslim,’ I guess the way I would view it, we’re a Catholic school; we continue to teach the Catholic faith and continue to celebrate our faith but we have other faiths here.”

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And while some parents have complained about the room on social media and contacted school officials to voice their grievances, others seem to think the non-Catholic prayer room is a good idea.

“The people that are going to Brother Rice, they’re already accepting the fact that we have to live in this world together as Christians, Muslims, whatever; and if they’re around Brother Rice and see people that will walk the talk and are good people, and it’s not all about them, it helps everyone,” parent John Everley told WJBK.

“I see parents; they’re worried,” he said. “They see things out there but, the worst thing is to separate and assume the worst about everyone.”

There have been no complaints about the prayer room from students, according to media reports.

The Huffington Post points out that a Catholic school in Ontario, Canada also created an Islamic prayer room in 2012 and drew similar complaints from parents.

Birney contacted the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit for guidance, though the school is not affiliated with the archdiocese, and Catholic officials highlighted precedent for interfaith prayer rooms, according to the Post.

“The Archdiocese of Detroit has provided Brother Rice High School with information in regards to the precedent in the Catholic Church for respecting religious liberty – including the ability to pray – for non-Christians who are present at a great number of Church institutions worldwide, including schools, universities, hospitals, soup kitchens and shelters,” spokesman Joe Kohn told the Post in an email.

“Such resect for non-Christian people of faith is in keeping with what the Church teaches and what the Church Fathers put forth at the Second Vatican Council,” he said.

Birney told WXYZ the issue essentially boils down to a question of “Is this something that compromises our faith and identity, or is it in fact consistent with the respect that we have?”

“We are Catholic in the sense that we share the good news,” he said. “We are not Catholic in the sense, ‘Hey if you’re not Catholic don’t bother coming here.’”