April 3, 2011
To all Bishops of Ontario
Dear Bishop _______,
I represent a Catholic parent’s group concerned about maintaining Catholic identity in Ontario’s Catholic schools, which we believe is threatened by Premier McGuinty’s Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy (EIES). As parents to whom is entrusted the primary responsibility for the education of our children, we turn to you our shepherd in faith for assistance. Please be assured of our filial love to you and mother Church.
The main curriculum advisors to Ontario’s Bishops appear to be the Institute for Catholic Education (ICE), the principal agency tasked with studying curriculum issues on behalf of the Bishops, and also OECTA which has two executives on the ICE table. Furthermore, OECTA is allegedly responsible for certifying who gets to teach religion in our Catholic schools. OECTA also selects and delivers much of the ongoing ‘religious education’ for teachers.
In recent months, alarming news about both these advisors to the Bishops require us, in conscience, to respectfully ask that our shepherds revisit Premier McGuinty’s Equity Strategy. It appears that the assembly of Bishops accepted a so-called “Catholic template version” of the government’s EIES mandate, based in large part, on the recommendation of ICE. We believe the Catholic version policy is dangerously open-ended and represents a bona fide threat to the faith of children in our schools.
Concerns of scandal involving the Bishops’ curriculum advisors which must give you pause
1. According to an eye witness account, Sister Joan Cronin, the Executive Director of ICE, was co-presenter at a January 27, 2011 government training workshop on religious accomodation for Catholic educators. During the workshop, a grade 6 reader called “The Wonderful World of Dads”, which gave a positive portrayal of homosexual family structures, was used. The eye witness said that Sister Cronin was silent and never corrected her co-presenter for using a book which portrayed homosexual family
structures in a positive light. She did not even speak up to suggest that such a book might possibly be inappropriate for a Catholic classroom.
2. According to an eye witness account, Sister Joan Cronin was present on January 24, 2011 at a special meeting of the Toronto Catholic School Board to promote the board’s draft Equity policy. An extremely problematic prayer which attacks section 2357 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was read aloud by the group as the opening prayer. It specifically attacked the Church’s teaching that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered”. The eye witness said that Sister Cronin never once spoke up against the use of the prayer, nor commented about its obvious inappropriateness.
3. On January 7, 2011 a news outlet broke the story that OECTA was listed as a “partner” in the annual report of EGALE, the gay lobby group who coordinated and funded lawsuits across Canada to abolish the traditional definition of marriage. Furthermore, OECTA actually donated money to EGALE for its campaign of setting up Gay-Straight Alliances in schools across Canada.
4. OECTA invited EGALE’s Executive Director, Helen Kennedy, to make a presentation at its 2010 Annual General Meeting where it promoted openly gay, homosexual student clubs.
5. In a December 2010 interview given to The Catholic Register, OECTA’s President, James Ryan, responded to a reporter’s question saying he agreed with using “picture and fairy tale books featuring same sex families to teach students in Kindergarten and primary grades about equity and inclusivity.”
Based on these disturbing facts involving your advisors, we prayerfully ask you, our shepherds, to reconsider the recommendation given by these parties regarding the government’s Equity Strategy and the Catholic template version. As Catholic parents looking out for the best interests of our children we suggest the following:
A) Either rejecting the government’s Equity strategy altogether, or revisioning the “Catholic template version” endorsed by ICE and write a policy that includes specific language to protect Catholic identity. For example, amend the template to require the teaching of section 2357 of the Catechism, as well as other language that would protect against the government agenda to subvert Church teaching on sexual morality.
B) Given the scandals described above and the influence which their positions carry, we would suggest removing Sr. Cronin and OECTA members from the ICE table.
The problem of Premier McGuinty’s EIES cannot be swept under the rug. Eventually it will spill out… but not before thousands of our Catholic teens have lost their faith as a result of the mixed messages and contradictory, pro-gay indoctrination they will receive under the guise of “equity”.
For decades, Catholic schools have given away ground to secularizing, atheistic political forces. The consequence to the faith of our children has been devastating, emptying the pews of young people. The Barna Research Group, in its research on teens, notes that between 1984 to 2008 the percentage of teens that identify with the Catholic faith has fallen from 50% to 32% (Source:Project Teen Canada).
If this many teens have been lost until now, how much will the losses accelerate when Premier McGuinty’s doctrine of “Equity” and “Inclusiveness”, which if taken honestly does not concur with the Catholic faith, is successfully weaved throughout all subjects from Kindergarten to Grade 12?
By informing the Church’s shepherds of our concerns, I have heeded the dictates of my conscience and acted on behalf of my own children and those whom I represent in this organization. We pray that you, our shepherds, will have the wisdom and strength to carry out the will of Christ and protect our children. I hope to dialogue further about our concerns as Catholic parents. Please feel free to contact me.
With love, in Christ,
AP
Concerned Catholic Parents of Ottawa
email: catholiclife777@gmail.com
Web: http://concernedparentsottawa.blogspot.com/
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