Free the Children: Another update

To start off with, parents should know that we're moving forward in discussions with the board in a very positive way. We are beginning to get answers to some questions and have a very reasonable hope of getting answers to the rest in the not too distant future. 

Previous "family planning/reproductive health" links given to the board referenced workshops and seminars conducted in FTC's health clinics (part of their "health pillar"). We're still waiting for answers related to what exactly is being taught in these workshops and seminars.

More recently, we have also asked questions about the "family planning" education in the schools FTC establishes (part of their "education pillar"). Specifically, we asked the board to provide transparency around the "family planning" related activities mentioned in the following two online articles, here and here.

The following is the board's reply to our questions surroundng these two articles,

Dear Mr. Pocrnic, 

Thank you for your email expressing concerns about Free the Children and their position regarding contraceptives. I have spoken with Marc Kielburger from Free the Children who has provided further clarification. 

Free the Children does not, itself, teach family planning. Free the Children is an organization which seeks to help resource poor children, by alleviating poverty. They focus their attention on five core pillars through their "Adopt A Village" Program. They invest in community infrastructure in the following areas: education, clean water and sanitation, health, alternative income and livelihood, and agriculture and food security. This is achieved through projects such as the physical building of classrooms and schools, the establishment of clean water kiosks, or helping women with small business grants. 

Within the education pillar, Free the Children builds schools in communities so that children have a place to learn. In some instances, they assist in the ongoing support of the school, such as providing malnourished students with lunch-time meals. But, they are not responsible for the actual formal education of the children and/or the formation of the curriculum. This is the responsibility of the government. The government hires and pays the teachers and sets the local or national curriculum. 

In Kenya, the government presents the issue of family planning as a part of the curriculum and this includes a conversation on contraceptives. 

Previously you had asked questions about what Free the Children teaches. Free the Children's model is not about the formal teaching of children themselves, that remains the responsibility of the government.  Free the Children seeks to provide the infrastructure whereby children can, in fact, have a school to go to. 

I hope that this provides clarification to your recent questions. 

Sincerely, 

Ted

The above message provides confirmation that the schools established by FTC do teach contraception, though FTC, as the note explains, is not responsible for this. According to them, the government controls the curriculum, and as such, they have no control over the family planning education that occurs in their schools. Our first thought is that parents should seek independent confirmation of FTC's claims regarding what is, and what is not, required teaching in Kenyan schools. Are Catholic schools in Kenya required to have the same "conversation" on contraceptives? We need to find out.

In their communication to the board, Free the Children is attempting to present themselves as being neutral with regards to the teaching of contraception. The natural question is does this charity have any credibility on this topic.  When you consider their past public defense of funding for International Planned Parenthood, which they have never retracted, and their linking of "reliable birth control" to "Girl Empowerment" in one of their worksheets for use in Canadian public schools, a reasonable person would conclude that they are in fact not neutral. If they didn't, as an organization, hold a pro-contraception mentality, why have they been unwilling to provide parents their definition of the words "reproductive health" and "reproductive rights". Parents have good reason to be suspect.

Moving on to other items, it should also be mentioned that there has been new information with serious implications made over the last few days regarding FTC's Barak Medical Clinic. The Catholic Health Commission of Kenya recently issued a letter asking Catholics in Canada and the United States to stop funding Free the Children's Baraka Medical Clinic because of its distribution of contraceptives. They also refuted Free the Children's claim that health clinics in Kenya are mandated by law to stock and provide contraceptives. We will be contacting the OCSB to learn how they plan to address the Kenyan bishops' request.

Recent Developments: OCSB and Free the Children

Over the past week, an October 1, 2013 letter written by Marc Kielburger of Free the Children (FTC) to Mark Mullan, the former Chairperson of the Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB), was made public by LifeSiteNews. This letter was FTC's response to a September 24^th, 2013 board meeting delegation brought by Parents as First Educators (PAFE). The OCSB provided a written response to this parental delegation on October 8, 2013. The board's response made reference to written communication from FTC, but the Kielburger letter (Oct 1) itself was not enclosed.

The OCSB has informed Concerned Catholic Parents of Ottawa (CCPO) that their intent was to enclose the Kielburger letter with the board's October 8th written response. Furthermore, they regret that a technical error on their part has led LifeSiteNews to suggest that the board made a deliberate decision to keep the Kielburger letter from concerned parents. 

CCPO accepts the board's explanation of events and going forward is only interested in engaging in discussions that relate directly to transparency surrounding the activities FTC engages in and their definition of “reproductive health”.

In addition to the existing questions that remain unanswered, the contents of the now public Kielburger letter has raised new ones. Specifically, questions surrounding the stocking and providing of contraceptives in FTC's Baraka Health Clinic.  

Parents should know that dialogue with the OCSB is better now than it has been since questions surrounding FTC were first raised in 2011. This improvement began shortly after we received the board's response to our second delegation; it should be noted that this was well before the LifeSiteNews story broke last week. This should give parents hope that we will begin to see greater transparency from both the board and FTC going forward. We will continue to keep you informed of any new information as it becomes available.

OCSB Disappoints Parents Again: Fails to Provide Transparency on Free the Children

Concerned Catholic Parents of Ottawa has received the Ottawa Catholic School Board's response to the delegation it brought on January 28th. The response can be read at this link.

The delegation asked the following questions:

1. Does Free the Children teach methods of artificial birth control to any of the people they serve?
2. Does Free the Children teach that condoms prevent STD and HIV transmission to any of the people they serve?
3. Does Free the Children's definition of reproductive rights and/or health, as mentioned in numerous Free the Children documents and online media, include access to artificial birth control?

The questions asked relate directly to Catholic moral teachings and the board's own recently revised policy on partnerships. Despite the relevance of the questions put forward, the board chose not to answer them. Why? We don't know.

The board did tell us (though we didn't ask about these items) the following:

1. "They care about the faith journey of each student"
2. "They strive to live out the new Evangelization by being an example of faith to all"
3. "Their relationship with Free the Children is one of openness and mutual respect"
4. "We (the board and Free the Children) work together to meet the needs of the less fortunate and to spread the Gospel through action"
5. "The communication between us (the OCSB and Free the Children) has been exemplary..."
6. "Free the Children have been open and have taken the concerns that we (the OCSB) have expressed seriously"
7. "the Administration and the Board of Trustees are satisfied with the responses we have received"

It is difficult for parents to grasp why the openness and exemplary communication the board has with Free the Children isn't being replicated with concerned parents. Surely the board's relationship with parents should take precedence over that of an external partner. And yet that doesn't seem to be the case.

On a positive note, the OCSB's response does imply that they now know the answers to the questions asked. We see no reason why the board would want to keep those answers hidden from parents or why they wouldn't want to share the responses Free the Children has provided them.

We will be contacting the board asking for precisely that information. Stay tuned.....

OCSB Board Meeting - Jan 28: Delegation Details

CCPO presented their delegation to the school board this evening. We had a solid contingent of supporters that braved the cold conditions in order to show their support. The board chair informed us that we should expect a response in two to three weeks.

A link to the speech given can be found here.

A big thank you to all those that have taken the time to contact their trustees. For those that haven't yet had an opportunity to do so, it's not too late at all. Their contact information can be found here.

When contacting trustees we do ask that you do so in a respectful way that opens the door to consideration of our points. Facts, calmly presented, will give us the greatest chance of having an effective dialogue with our elected representatives.

OCSB Board Meeting - Jan 28th: Parents ask for Accountability from Trustees

Concerned Catholic Parents of Ottawa will be bringing a delegation to the January 28th board meeting asking for accountability from their trustees. Four months earlier, Parents as First Educators (PAFE) brought a delegation outlining their concerns surrounding the board's partnership with Free the Children. That delegation asked the following three questions:

1. Does Free the Children teach methods of artificial birth control to any of the people they serve?
2. Does Free the Children teach that condoms prevent STD and HIV transmission to any of the people they serve?
3. Does Free the Children's definition of reproductive rights and/or health, as mentioned in numerous Free the Children documents and online media, include access to artificial birth control and/or abortion?

Surprisingly, only half of the third question was answered. This is unacceptable from our elected representatives. Support local parents by attending the Jan 28th meeting and contact your trustees, reminding them they are accountable to the ratepayers that elected them.

Location & Time of Board Meeting:   570 West Hunt Club Road - 7:30 pm

Removal of Cathecism Demanded

This is where we are now. The teaching of the Catholic Church as defined by the Cathechism of the Catholic Church is being targeted for removal from a Catholic School Board's equity pamphlet. The Cathechism quote in question is the following:

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

This is not a one-off event and we should expect more of the same from all those working either externally or within to expunge faithful Catholic teaching from our schools.

Rather than defend and explain what the Church teaches to those that claim offense, the sad reaction is to placate the activists by saying that they will be giving the wording a "relook" to see if they can explain the Church's teaching better. We can be assured that any attempts to reword Catholic teaching on this subject by will be a watered down version of the truth.

We have nothing to apologize for and should to the contrary be sharing the truth of the Church's teaching on this subject at every opportunity. We are obligated to share our faith, all of it, with those that do not know it. It's time to be playing offence, not defence. This is what our society needs most of all and in particular our children.

Respecting Difference

The long awaited bishops document on the structure of anti-bullying clubs for same-sex attracted youths was finally released last Wednesday by the Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association. The document was supposed to be ready last fall but was delayed till the start of this year. Given the relative inaction of the bishops up to this point, many Catholic parents were fearing the worst. To say the document is better than expected would be an understatement. Here are some notable excerpts:

“Being “tolerant” of another person does not mean accepting that what he or she says is correct or immune from moral evaluation and criticism”

“This Resource is based upon the need to recognize that it is possible to respect, affirm and support the dignity of another person while at the same time disagreeing with their viewpoint on sexual morality.”

“The holistic view of the human person and the understanding of what constitutes the “common good” may be difficult to explain to others outside a Catholic context, but part of the respect owed to Catholics is that those outside try to understand it or at least stand in a position of respectful disagreement with it.”

“The primary teaching document of the Catholic Church is the Catechism of the Catholic Church.”

The document also outlines that the “Respecting Difference” clubs must be open to all students, must be respectful of and consistent with Catholic teaching, have mentors who must know and be committed to Catholic teachings and only use outside speakers who respect Catholic teaching. The clubs will also not be single-issue (i.e. exclusively for youth that are bullied because of same-sex attraction) but will rather cover any and all differences between kids that lead to bullying.

This document is faithful from start to end. And because of this you can be sure that the gay activists are fuming. What they thought was going to be an easy entry into our schools has now been firmly closed. As they have the current McGuinty government securely in their hip pocket, expect the push back to be fierce. Education Minister Laurel Broten has already come out since the release of the document insisting that Catholic schools must permit single-issue clubs such as gay-straight alliances. The governments quick response makes it clear that this was never about bullying in the first place, but rather just a pretense for the forced normalization of the homosexual lifestyle in our schools.

This fight is far from over, but based on the language and tone of the document, it appears the bishops and our trustees are prepared to dig in and hold their ground.

Please thank both Bishop Bergie, who headed the committee that produced the document, and Nancy Kirby, the head of the Trustees association. Their contact information is below:

chancery@romancatholic.niagara.on.ca
ocsta@ocsta.on.ca