A Well-Rounded Education

Catholic Social and Moral Teaching

Exposure to learning opportunities, imbuing children with an interest in the world around them in all its permutations, is integral to eventually turning out an individual capable of considering life through a wide-angle lens. Much, much preferable to shielding the presumed vulnerable from exposure to differences between their parents' values and those of the outside world, presumably. Those are the polarities that result from an engaged, open-minded educational opportunity, and a firmly closed, social-avoidance education, in a system that does its best to have its impressionable youth see life through a narrow lens.

Perhaps overlooking the fact that children begin to absorb life lessons, values and priorities long before they attend institutes of formal education. Minds are shaped primarily through exposure to, and living with, family values. It is largely by witnessing how parents face life that children learn to do the same. Most children are not only willing, but anxious to adopt their own parents' code of existence. Their choices usually reflect those of their parents. So it might seem redundant to the reasonable mind that steeped in parental values, children still require shielding through elementary and secondary school experiences.

It seems, however, that people who take their religion very seriously in the Catholic Church have no wish to see their children meet with deviances in any form from their own way of life. Any kind of exposure to other people who, though they may do nothing to impart to those children an acceptance of lifestyles alien and offensive to their own values, are thought capable of tainting the delicate minds of children simply by the fact that they may interact, however briefly, with those who have a supposed aura of anti-Catholic teaching emanating from them.

And obviously, this would include the rejection of lapsed Catholics, even Catholics who take much of the Church dogma seriously enough, but cannot find it in themselves to subscribe to certain verities beloved of the Church. For example, that homosexuality merits being shunned, or at the very least hushed up, and that it remains a sin punishable by excommunication to support abortion, under any dire circumstances whatever.

In Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada (like all other Canadian political parties) has come around to imagining that it is the right of women to procure an abortion if she feels incapable of supporting the needs of a child, that homosexuals must have equal treatment to all others protected under the law, that no hint of 'untoward' sexual or gender behaviours be breathed in the general vicinity of where their children breathe their entrance into public morals and mores. The Catholic Church has looked with huge disfavour upon two former prime ministers of Liberal-led governments who were faithful Catholics.

But then the Church believes that all of its strictures and structures must be equally respected; it is not for the laiety to determine which of them happen to be suitable to their way of thinking; all or nothing. So then, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is now identified as persona non grata as a speaker at any schools operated by the Ottawa Catholic School Board. He had been invited to speak at an elementary school in Orleans about anti-bullying. Unsurprisingly, as a father of young children himself, he would logically be appalled at the prevalence of bullying.


But he is also an individual who is known to be supportive of freedom of choice for women, otherwise known as abortion rights, and he is comfortable with homosexuality as a gender difference that a surprisingly large segment of any population is infused with. A private matter, different but above moral condemnation. 

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast cancelled a presentation in 2011 by Father Luis Arriaga, director of the Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Centre in Mexico because of its ties to groups supporting abortion rights. "If he's going to set that as our example concerning speaking to an adult audience, I think then we should hold the same standard when it comes to speakers coming and talking to our children", observed one parent who felt that a committee of school parents might represent a useful way in which to screen all future speakers for suitability in adhering to Catholic values and imparting useful views to vulnerable children.

This is religious, ideological commitment, undiminished by the tenor of the times. Because parents at the school are dogmatic about the issue, and because of intervention by Toronto-based parent advocacy group Parents As First Educators protested at the appearance of Justin Trudeau, known to have unacceptable social justice views, they agitated against any future appearances by him or anyone else tainted with such views. As a result, the province's Catholic School Board has revised its policies for partnerships, sponsorships and donations.

Under the old policy, the statement "The principles of Catholic Social Teaching include reference to the dignity of the human person, human rights and responsibilities, common good, solidarity, the preferential option for the poor, and the value and dignity of human work", appeared. It was revised to read "Partnerships and sponsorships with individuals, parish and community groups, business, industry and government shall be forged to ensure respect for the distinctive nature of Catholic education and adherence to the Roman Catholic tradition."

Thus, "incompatible" partnerships have been identified. Including proposed student trips to El Salvador (because some students might be exposed to groups there holding values inimical to Catholic ones), students' involvement with Save The Children on hunger, poverty and equity issues (involving also perceptions of abortion views) might be viewed dimly and cancelled. A student who reportedly received credit working for a group attempting to eliminate bullying, homophobia, transphobia and other types of discrimination would never have such credits approved now.