Some Catholic schools already ‘emboldened’ by Bill 13 to promote homosexuality: pro-family group
ONTARIO, May 31, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An Ontario Catholic pro-family group is warning that while the Ontario government’s anti-bullying “Bill 13” is an unprecedented threat to religious freedom in the province, the effects of the bill are already showing themselves, with some schools and boards having already been “emboldened” to openly promote the homosexual agenda .
“From the start, Campaign Life Catholics predicted Bill 13 would undermine biblical teaching on human sexuality. Now we have the proof,” said Suresh Dominic of Campaign Life Catholics.
“It arrived early, even before passage of Bill 13, in the form of open rebellion against Christian teaching by the Waterloo Catholic School Board and the Peterborough Catholic board.”
On May 1st the Waterloo Record reported how the vice principal and a teacher at St. Mary’s Catholic High School started an LGBT student club called PRISM (Pride and Respect for Individuals of a Sexual Minority).
According to the Waterloo Record, the school allows students to self-identify as “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered,” and to discuss homosexual issues in a peer group forum.
“Emboldened by the proposed legislation, dissidents within the system have moved ahead with a homosexual agenda that will indoctrinate kids to celebrate the gay lifestyle,” said Dominic, “and by necessity, reject a moral doctrine of the Church.”
Dominic argued that the PRISM homosexual student club at St. Mary’s Catholic High School clearly contravenes a document put out by the Ontario bishops earlier this year. On January 26, Ontario’s Catholic School Trustees Association (OCSTA) had released Respecting Difference, co-authored with the bishops, that provides a framework for student-led “anti-bullying” groups in Catholic schools.
The bishops’ document re-affirmed Catholic teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual acts. It also made clear that homosexual activism must never be permitted under the guise of a Respecting Difference support group, and that all discussions, materials and resources must be respectful of Catholic teaching.
Subsequently on May 17, the Waterloo Record reported that St. Mary’s conducted a school-wideInternational Day Against Homophobia campaign that is organized by a Montreal-based group, Fondation Émergence inc., which promotes homosexuality in schools and workplaces.
Dominic said that such an event was clearly “not appropriate” for Catholic schools, adding that, “At the school-wide assembly, young people ‘came out’ as ‘gay’ in front of the entire faculty and student body.”
LifeSiteNews contacted the Board of Trustees and the administration of the Waterloo Catholic School Board for clarification of the board’s position on the issue. Only one trustee, Mr. Greg Reitzel, responded. He said in an email, “As an individual trustee, I cannot speak to the school board’s position but I can tell you that personally I am in support of the Respecting Differences document that was co-authored by OCSTA and the Bishops of Ontario.”
Dominic also pointed to the Catholic school board in Peterborough, specifically its pamphlet called “The Colour of Equity,” as another example of Catholic schools gone awry.
LifeSiteNews reported earlier that the booklet was criticized by both homosexual activists, who said a quote in it was “derogatory, patronizing and discriminatory,” and by faithful Catholics who lambasted the pamphlet for not being Catholic enough.
The original 29-page Colour of Equity booklet, produced by the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland Clarington Catholic District School Board (PVNCCDSB), entered the spotlight in March when a lesbian, whose two children attend a Catholic school near Peterborough, demanded that the board remove a Catholic Catechism quote stating Church teaching that the homosexual inclination is “objectively disordered.”
But complaints from other parents noted that the pamphlet misrepresents Catholic teaching in numerous ways and calls on schools to highlight homosexual role models and familiarize students with terms like “LGBTQQ” and “two-spirited.” The booklet indicates that Canada legalized same-sex “marriage” in 2005 without mentioning that the Church opposes such unions.
Subsequently the board pulled the booklet and issued a second, revised version of the booklet at the end of March that deleted the Catechism quote and replaced it with an out-of-context quote from then Cardinal Ratzinger - now Benedict XVI - that could lead an uninformed reader to conclude that the Church supports the goals of homosexual activists.
Further confusion was created when the revised booklet was pulled and returned to the writing committee with 81 proposed revisions from critics.
Lorne Corkery, city of Peterborough representative for the PVNCCDSB, told LifeSiteNews earlier in May that the booklet was referred back to the writing committee because of what he called a “fair bit of input from a number of sources,” some of whom said “it’s non-Catholic, throw it out.”
Campaign Life Catholics is urging concerned people to take action to stop Bill 13 in light of the proof of homosexual activism already in place in the province’s schools.
“It is difficult to claim the Catholic character of Ontario schools will not be watered down with proof like this,” Suresh Dominic stated.
“This sort of propaganda is certain to flood the Catholic system after Bill 13 is passed. Families of other faith traditions with kids in the public system will also have their religious beliefs trampled by Premier McGuinty’s sexual agenda,” Dominic concluded.
Contact info for your local MPP and Premier McGuinty is available here.
Contact info for Ontario Catholic bishops is available here.
