As Catholics, we need to ask ourselves why is Catholicism in Canada and in the province of Ontario fallen to such a low ebb? Here we all need to examine our consciences. When most of us are busy living comfortable lives, we risk being blinded from today’s ideological deceptive policies by those who want to completely destroy our religion and remove God from public discourse. Surely the EIE strategy is a perfect example of this. We have not been on guard and the Trojan Horse has now entered our schools. What are we going to do?
So one must assume that part of the current difficulty in fighting back the McGuinty government on the Equity policy is the fact that many Catholics within the school system aren't making much of an effort in living and protecting the faith. Otherwise how do you explain, that there's a number of teachers and administrators who are openly willing and ready to promote homosexuality through gay/straight alliances in Catholic schools? How do you explain a Catholic parent who makes a passionate plea before trustees for Catholic schools to establish gay/straight alliances?
How do you account for the Ontario Catholic Teachers’ Association to fully support the Equity policy even when it defends and promotes homosexuality, gay/straight alliances in schools and the undoing of traditional marriage? Good Catholic teachers should get together and refuse to pay union dues because the union in no longer truly Catholic. Surely there are some lawyers and Catholic teachers that could take this to court. Why are teachers paying $1000 a year in union dues to a union prepared to defy the faith? This is both a moral and a legal issue. We need to be honest with our children and ourselves. We cannot save the faith and the Catechism if those of us who profess to be Catholic don’t try to practice it and live it in both our private lives, and in our schools, our unions, our government, our places of work and at home.
Throughout the TCDSB charade of the consultation process with the community and after several months of involvement, those parents who actively participated to defeat the Equity policy and have amendments passed, can take solace in the fact that there were many who were came to meetings to witness for the faith and to defend Catholic education and the Catechism. The trustees, with some exceptions, refused to listen not just to the will of the parents, those who are the first educators of their children, which is important enough in a democracy, but they defied the teaching of the Church.
Here’s a question that trustees who voted to support the Equity policy should in all honesty ask themselves: why do I want to be a Catholic trustee, if I do not fully support the Catechism and what it teaches? The same question applies to teachers, parents, superintendents and directors. All baptized Christians are free not to believe in what the Church teaches about human sexuality or anything else, but then as a Catholic leader, a trustee or an administrator one can no longer effectively and truthfully do the job, and in that case, honesty would lead one to resign. Don't we owe this primary responsibility to God and to those innocent children? A true confession would help immensely in sorting out the moral mess we are presenting to our children.
Nevertheless, in everything that has happened, an important precedent has been established: many Catholics should now see the need to defend Catholic education from a government and school boards that are prepared to compromise and accommodate these deceptions. Parents have witnessed the importance of making trustees accountable at meetings and at the next election. Why would any parent re-elect a provincial Liberal government that wants to destroy Catholic education, freedom of conscience and boldly violates parental rights? It’s no secret why the Catholic union is totally behind the Liberals. Did you know that about half of trustees in Ontario were acclaimed in the 2003 elections? And doesn’t evil thrive where apathy prevails?
Parents have learned some great lessons: they have come to recognize that they have denominational rights and can use them to guide their children’s curriculum and ensure that whatever teachers, administrators and board officials do is aligned with the Catechism. Parents have also learned that the Education Act allows them to remove their children from any classroom instruction or school activity that they object to on religious or conscientious reasons. Finally, parents have discovered that they were never truly consulted and their rights respected in passing and now in implementing the Equity policy as new schools year 2011-12 begins. All this we hope will lead to a time of awakening as we vote for a new provincial government.
Another lesson is that Catholic leadership is in crisis. Catholic leadership is much more than student achievement, implementing government regulations and making sure that school buildings are properly maintained. Catholic leadership ought to be synonymous with virtuous leadership. It's about serving and protecting Catholic education, and Catholic children are central to this evangelical mission. As baptized people we all have this spiritual role. To leave it solely to our priests and bishops is to abandon our Christian responsibility. But sadly there was little of evidence of this Christian leadership across the province as the Equity policy was passed in every Catholic and public board.
In the end, educational changes in Catholic and public schools we'll only come when parents demand them. We have a provincial election underway so vote responsibly. Contact your trustees, your local school, administrators, board officials, priest and the archbishop and express your concerns about the Equity policy. Monitor closely your child's curriculum and contact the media to let them know what you think. Parents must guard their children's education: “... And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me. But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea." (Matthew 18:5-6)
These personal observations are offered in the spirit of service. It’s an effort to share so that together with prayer we are can continue to defend our faith. I'll end with the fitting advise we find in the First Letter of St. Peter: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” (I Peter 3:15)
