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Catholic schools must hold true to teachings
By Michael Coren
June 22, 2011
Michael Coren
It’s certainly open season on Catholic schools in this country. Not because Catholic schools provide poor education, fail to care for their students, or teach immorality, but because they don’t quite obey establishment wisdom on — wait for it — homosexuality. It is truly staggering how this subject of limited importance, concerning a tiny percentage of the population, should take up so much time and space, and be the catalyst for so much political extremism.
The Catholic position is simple. And, forgive us, by a strange coincidence it happens to be Catholic. Sin and sinners are two different things. We are more than our mere sexuality, and gay people are deserving of respect, dignity, and love because they are made in the image of God. They are no more to be liked or disliked because they are homosexual than others are to be liked or disliked because they are heterosexual.That they should not be bullied is a self-evident truth, and if a gay child was bullied in a Catholic school the perpetrators would be punished. Bullying is wrong, not because of the nature of the victim but the nature of the crime. The problem with specific anti-bullying programs in Catholic schools around the issue of homosexuality, such as the so-called gay-straight alliances, is that they contain implicit and often explicit social platforms. Namely, that it is not enough to condemn bullying; it is essential to affirm homosexuality. This cannot be so, because it runs contrary to Catholic teaching.
The Catholic position is simple. And, forgive us, by a strange coincidence it happens to be Catholic. Sin and sinners are two different things. We are more than our mere sexuality, and gay people are deserving of respect, dignity, and love because they are made in the image of God. They are no more to be liked or disliked because they are homosexual than others are to be liked or disliked because they are heterosexual.That they should not be bullied is a self-evident truth, and if a gay child was bullied in a Catholic school the perpetrators would be punished. Bullying is wrong, not because of the nature of the victim but the nature of the crime. The problem with specific anti-bullying programs in Catholic schools around the issue of homosexuality, such as the so-called gay-straight alliances, is that they contain implicit and often explicit social platforms. Namely, that it is not enough to condemn bullying; it is essential to affirm homosexuality. This cannot be so, because it runs contrary to Catholic teaching.
So there we have it. The clash of exclusive truths. The dominant culture says one thing, Catholicism another. For a school to be truly Catholic, it has to challenge the status quo, and today in North America the status quo is aggressively intolerant. It is now standard to hear people argue that unless Catholic schools accept “human rights,” they should be denied public finding. Ignore history, constitutions, agreements, and pluralism — encourage homosexuality or lose your schools.
A few weeks ago a lesbian comic who had supposedly been hired to speak at an “anti-homophobia” event at a Catholic school was suddenly told that her performance had been cancelled. This, at least, was her story. She explained in an interview, however, that the teacher who allegedly booked her for the event had, “seen my work and liked it.” I suppose a lot of Catholic school teachers go to watch fairly anonymous lesbian comics, but could it just be by some stretch of the imagination that there were a few agendas at work here, and some of them not of the strictly Roman Catholic variety?
I can’t say that she is a mingling of Jonathan Swift, Lenny Bruce and the Pythons. More languor than laughs, and more political clumsiness than cutting comedy. She also made the point that “the debate has to be opened up about the funding of these places.” So she cares so much about bullying in Catholic schools that she wants Catholic schools to close. Now that actually is quite funny.
Oddly enough, I have had speeches cancelled at Catholic schools. One young chaplain had me speak, and because she and the staff had enjoyed my speech, she recommended me to the board. At which point the head chaplain demanded that the recommendation be changed, and condemned me for being far too Catholic. On another occasion in Hamilton, Ont., a speech was cancelled when a couple of union heavies put pressure on the religion head. It was only the intervention of the vice-principal that allowed my appearance to be re-booked. The union activists showed their displeasure by making loud cell phone calls outside the building.
It’s all a bit of a mess. Catholic teachers’ union leaders who cringe at Catholicism, Catholic teachers who seldom enter a church and reject Church teaching, Catholic students who have not the first idea about what they are supposed to believe. But within all this are the good guys: the kind, faithful, eager, devoted, and devout teachers, young people, parents, and administrators.
Will they have a school system in a decade, and will it be one worthy of the name Roman Catholic? I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one, I really wouldn’t.
(Coren’s new book is Why Catholics Are Right. His web site is www.michaelcoren.com.)
A few weeks ago a lesbian comic who had supposedly been hired to speak at an “anti-homophobia” event at a Catholic school was suddenly told that her performance had been cancelled. This, at least, was her story. She explained in an interview, however, that the teacher who allegedly booked her for the event had, “seen my work and liked it.” I suppose a lot of Catholic school teachers go to watch fairly anonymous lesbian comics, but could it just be by some stretch of the imagination that there were a few agendas at work here, and some of them not of the strictly Roman Catholic variety?
I can’t say that she is a mingling of Jonathan Swift, Lenny Bruce and the Pythons. More languor than laughs, and more political clumsiness than cutting comedy. She also made the point that “the debate has to be opened up about the funding of these places.” So she cares so much about bullying in Catholic schools that she wants Catholic schools to close. Now that actually is quite funny.
Oddly enough, I have had speeches cancelled at Catholic schools. One young chaplain had me speak, and because she and the staff had enjoyed my speech, she recommended me to the board. At which point the head chaplain demanded that the recommendation be changed, and condemned me for being far too Catholic. On another occasion in Hamilton, Ont., a speech was cancelled when a couple of union heavies put pressure on the religion head. It was only the intervention of the vice-principal that allowed my appearance to be re-booked. The union activists showed their displeasure by making loud cell phone calls outside the building.
It’s all a bit of a mess. Catholic teachers’ union leaders who cringe at Catholicism, Catholic teachers who seldom enter a church and reject Church teaching, Catholic students who have not the first idea about what they are supposed to believe. But within all this are the good guys: the kind, faithful, eager, devoted, and devout teachers, young people, parents, and administrators.
Will they have a school system in a decade, and will it be one worthy of the name Roman Catholic? I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one, I really wouldn’t.
(Coren’s new book is Why Catholics Are Right. His web site is www.michaelcoren.com.)
Michael Coren