OTTAWA – The repeal of Ontario’s controversial sex education curriculum by the new government has elicited reactions ranging from jubilation to gloom among Catholic education stakeholders.

In the wake of Ontario’s new government repealing its sex education curriculum, students in Catholic school classrooms will continue to be taught in “a manner that that conveys, respects and models Catholic principles to our students, said the head of head of Ontario’s Assembly of Catholic Bishops.

Recently I was able to visit Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ont. This site is a national shrine consecrated to the Canadian Martyrs, a group of eight Jesuits who lived in community with the Huron people and who were tortured and killed for their faith. 

NEW YORK – Joy has to be rooted in the fullness of reality, the suffering of the Cross, the glory of the Resurrection and the providence of God, not in a gooey meringue of sweetness.

After three years as president of the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto, David Mulroney steps down June 30. The long-time diplomat and former ambassador to China reflects on his time at St. Michael’s and the direction of Catholic education.

As the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was wrapping up its work in 2015, commission chair Justice Murray Sinclair repeated over and over, “Education got us into this mess and education will get us out.”

This summer is going to be different than summers in the past. After graduating from Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College a few weeks ago, I have struggled to maintain a strong spiritual life without the regularity of a school and work schedule.

On June 12, 1984, Ontario Premier Bill Davis surprised everyone with the announcement that the province’s Roman Catholic schools would be put on equal footing with the public school system and be fully funded through the end of high school. The end of the long fight to secure the funding — which included intense lobbying efforts by Cardinal Gerald Emmett Carter — also brought out some words of caution by The Catholic Register’s Fr. Tom Raby in his column of June 30, 1984:

For over 360 special needs students from 24 Catholic high schools across Toronto, a day spent running around an old hangar at the former Downsview air force base is more than special.

Socks, toothpaste, tampons, tissues and a handwritten note from a teenager aren’t likely to rewrite a life story that includes  sleeping in shelters, seeking comfort in opioids and waking up in the emergency room at St. Michael’s Hospital. 

Forty years of intelligent conversation about what we see, hear and read in modern media took a breather this month as the Jesuits in English Canada wrapped up their storied Jesuit Communication Project.

About 20 students at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School stayed after school every day last week — and it had nothing to do with being punished.

I don’t go to a Catholic high school, but I have friends who do. Some of their stories suggest a failure in the Catholic education system that makes me feel relieved that I’m not their classmate. But I think if schools continue down this path, we are endangering the future of Catholic values in society, which is disheartening to me.

It took a trip to Peru for Grade 12 student Carolyn Lee to gain a new appreciation for her classroom in Toronto.

A new, three-year pastoral plan will drive Toronto’s 195 Catholic schools and 91,000 Catholic students to a deeper sense of who they are and what they are meant to be, even as campaigning Ontario politicians promise to tinker with school curricula to gain votes.