A wasted battle

Sometimes I wonder how and why it all went so wrong. How and why so many Catholics adopted a series of spasms in place of a considered, Christ-centred response to pressing social issues. Seldom was this as clear and painful as the reaction from numerous Catholic activists to the new Ontario sex education curriculum. There were myriad letters and statements, there were demonstrations, there were dire warnings that this was all about denying parental involvement in our children’s moral education and that five- and six-year-olds would be encouraged to indulge in dangerous activities directly contrary to Catholic teaching.

So I felt obliged as a parent and a Catholic to read the 250-page document and a most boring read it was. Ninety per cent of the thing is completely neutral and bland and discusses diet and health. As for the sexual bits, let’s put it this way: some zealots have either not read the document or are, forgive me, simply not telling the truth.

There are, in fact, numerous references to how we should all pay attention to various “religious” and “moral” concerns, there are calls for mothers and fathers to be more involved in sex education and clear acknowledgements that parents are the primary educators. In terms of calls for abstinence, how’s this? “They need to understand that the only 100-per-cent sure way of not becoming pregnant or getting an STI, including HIV, is not having sexual contact.” Or, “Engaging in sexual activities like oral sex, vaginal intercourse and anal intercourse means that you can be infected with an STI. If you do not have sex, you do not need to worry about getting an STI.” The latter is discussed not, as we have been told, when children are five-years-old but when they are 12.