I've recently entered into a dialogue with the Ottawa Catholic School Board in an attempt to learn more about which family planning methods Free the Children promotes. Is it Natural Family Planning, abstinence, condoms, IUD's, oral contraceptives or some combination of the above? The Catholic Church teaches that some of these methods are morally acceptable while others are not. This is why the details should matter for a Catholic School Board.
Let's just say that transparency and straightforward responses doesn't seem to be the OCSB's strong suit. For those interested in hearing about where things are with the board, I have posted my most recent letter to the Director of Education below.
Dear Mr. Hanlon,
I am writing to express my disappointment with your responses to my concerns. Since my first contact with you on October 20th I have yet to receive an explanation that addresses the questions raised about Free the Children's family planning advocacy.
As mentioned before, the following statements can be found in their community reports,
"The women's groups also learned the importance of family planning and how to best prevent sexually transmitted infections." (Free the Children's Enelerai Community Report)
"Mamas in the community also bring their families to the clinic to receive immunizations and for weekly family planning sessions." (Free the Children's Pimbiniet Community Report)
"They also learned about family planning and how to prevent HIV/ AIDS." (Free the Children's Motony Community Report)
"the provision of health workshops and family planning" (Free the Children's India Fact Sheet)As a Catholic parent and ratepayer I wanted to know what family planning methods were being promoted by Free the Children. In your responses to me you acknowledged that you did not know. Rather than leveraging the partnership our board has with this charity and pushing for answers, you instead provided me with a contact at Free the Children if I wanted to learn more. I definitely did want to learn more, but was surprised to learn that you also didn't want more information given your duty to preserve the school board's Catholic identity.
The contact you referred me, Scott Baker (Executive Director), also said he didn't know and was too busy to find out. I then asked him if Free the Children had any policies in place that prohibited the promotion of contraception as a legitimate method of family planning. As of the date of this letter, he has not replied to this question.
In your letter to me on November 22nd, you asserted that Free the Children does not promote contraception. Given that both yourself and Mr. Baker have both admitted to not knowing which methods are being promoted in the communities mentioned in the excerpts above, it is difficult to understand how you could have come to this conclusion.
The concerns being raised about Free the Children and contraception are new. The excerpts from the Free the Children community reports I have provided were not made available to other school boards in the past and were definitely not available when the decision was made to feature this charity in the Fully Alive program. As a result, it is not acceptable for you to abdicate your responsibility in this matter by simply saying that Free the Children must be 'ok' because other school boards also partner with them and they are featured in the Fully Alive program.
I am asking you to require Free the Children to provide detailed information with regards to the family planning methods they promote as a condition for the continuation of the existing partnership with our school board. Transparency should be a cornerstone of all partnerships the board engages in, whether charitable or not, and in particular when the questions being raised relate directly to Catholic morality.
To decide to do otherwise would seriously undermine any claims the OCSB makes about the importance it places on preserving the Catholic identity of our schools.
Sincerely,
AP
In the end, what's the point of having a Catholic School Board if the ones in charge of ensuring its Catholicity don't really care about what the Catholic Church teaches.
Contact info:
Julian Hanlon
Director of Education and Secretary Treasurer, Ottawa Catholic School Board
Phone: 613-224-4455 ext 2272
Fax: 613-228-4158
Email: Director@ottawacatholicschools.ca
Visit this page to get contact info for your trustee:
http://www.occdsb.on.ca/content.php?doc=4744
Archbishop Terrence Prendergast
1247 Kilborn Place
Ottawa, Ontario K1H 6K9
Phone: 613-738-5025
Fax: 613-738-0130
E-mail: archbishop@archottawa.ca
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