This article has been imported from our web archive. As a result, it may contain formatting errors, broken links or images, or other inconsistencies from the original publication.
Cowardice in Halton
By Michael Coren
February 1, 2011
Michael Coren
When the Halton Catholic school trustees, just outside of Toronto, voted to prevent so-called gay-straight alliances from being established in their schools, the reaction was as predictable as an atheists’ cliché.
This relatively trivial incident gained major coverage in national media. It was, we were told, “provoking outrage.” Really? Seems to me most people knew nothing about it and, when they were informed, couldn’t care less.
But various gay activists and anti-Catholic journalists certainly cared, and they applied the usual pressure. The trustees, relatively inexperienced in such matters, must have been stunned by how they were suddenly publicly abused. What critics demanded was that yet another nail be hammered into the bleeding body of Catholic education. If zealots have their way, parents can sleep comfortably knowing that their children may not receive much of a religious education, but they’ll certainly be taught just how horrible is the life of a homosexual in homophobic, intolerant Canada.
This relatively trivial incident gained major coverage in national media. It was, we were told, “provoking outrage.” Really? Seems to me most people knew nothing about it and, when they were informed, couldn’t care less.
But various gay activists and anti-Catholic journalists certainly cared, and they applied the usual pressure. The trustees, relatively inexperienced in such matters, must have been stunned by how they were suddenly publicly abused. What critics demanded was that yet another nail be hammered into the bleeding body of Catholic education. If zealots have their way, parents can sleep comfortably knowing that their children may not receive much of a religious education, but they’ll certainly be taught just how horrible is the life of a homosexual in homophobic, intolerant Canada.
It might be nice if the truth was given a little oxygen in this dark social experiment. Gay-straight alliances are not about protecting gay people in school from bullying. That’s the job of teachers. To protect anybody, irrespective of their sexuality, race or anything else, from being bullied. Catholic schools established such anti-bullying codes even before public schools, and there is no evidence at all that products of Catholic education become intolerant.
The name of these alliances says rather a lot. This is loaded, political language and runs directly counter to Catholic teaching. We are all made in the image of God, and as such have inalienable rights and must be respected as unique and capable of spending eternity in heaven. We are not, however, defined merely by our sex or sexuality, and to reduce the definition of the human person to a sexual preference is anti-Christian.
In that the Church believes that sexuality is precious and God-given and should have as its ultimate intention the miracle of children, we simply cannot condone a homosexual act. Spare me the usual childish attacks. Of course sex is supposed to be fun, and of course not all married couples can have children. The Church is given to us by God and as He created us He knows how we work, what we want, what pleases us and — vital this — what is good for us.
Gay people must be respected. This is not an option but an absolute. This does not, though, imply that we have to affirm the homosexual lifestyle. To protect a gay student from bullying is the Catholic thing to do, to encourage that student to live out homosexual inclinations is the direct opposite. Everything we know about gay-straight alliances tells us that a young person’s sexual temptations are not discouraged, that members of the group are told there is no sinful context to homosexual behaviour and to even suggest there is proves homophobia.
Catholic schools are not supposed to be episodes of Glee. They are meant to be venues where Catholic families trust that young people will receive a formation in the life of the Church. It’s hardly breaking news that plenty of ostensibly Catholic teachers live together, use contraceptives, seldom attend Mass and have no regard and sometimes contempt for Church beliefs. To the good ones, the brave ones, I obviously do not mean you. I’ve met enough teachers to know how challenging it can be living and teaching as a faithful Roman Catholic in, ironically, the Catholic school system. If there is a genuinely Catholic principal or a genuinely Catholic head of religion, the sense of liberation is extraordinary.
What is particularly irritating about all this is the cowardice on display. Nobody has to teach at or attend a Catholic school. If you’re no longer Catholic, teach in the public system. If your family pretty much left the Church years ago, send the kids to the public school. For 40 years now, too many teachers driven by an agenda or by sheer indifference have failed to do their job as Catholic educators. Throw in lapsed Catholic politicians and the Halton debacle was inevitable. What happens in the next few years will decide the fate of far more than one Catholic school board.
Michael Coren