Sunday, February 28, 2010

Petition the Bishops on Sex Education in Catholic Schools

If you would like to sign the following petition, click here.
We, the undersigned, call upon the Bishops of England and Wales and the Catholic Education Service to fulfil their duty as guardians of our Catholic Faith and unequivocally reject recent Government measures forcing Catholic schools to teach what is explicitly condemned by the Church, viz: presenting active homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, and providing information on the nature - and provision - of contraception and abortion services. Compliance on the part of the Bishops and the CES in such measures would effectively render our schools no longer Catholic in any meaningful sense, and would place the faith and moral life of our children in jeopardy. As Catholic parents, teachers and pastors, we earnestly beg of you, our Shepherds in Christ, that you do not allow this to happen.

11 comments:

  1. Father, much as I would want to sign a petition along the lines of that offered I am sorry I cannot in the present instance because the latter part appears badly worded. I believe children- of appropriate age- should be taught the full truth about, for example, abortion. Here, if I read things correctly, is a great opportunity to expose the lies of the death mongers.

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  2. Thanks for this link Fr John. Signed - it was painless! Will all Catholics please sign this - it is vitally important to get our Bishops mobilised on this issue.

    Some good news on Fr Ray Blake's blog - three of our E&W Bishops are actually making a stand against Govt policies.

    First job is to kick the CES into shape so that they can be an educational force for good.
    Then, as a Bishops 'collegiate', their Lordships must stand shoulder to shoulder as a united front against the onslaught of secularism!
    The Bishops as our Shepherds must lead us from THE FRONT!!!! Tell us what to do your Lordships to assist in this spiritual and temporal battle and we will be your faithful troops!

    The harvest is huge but the labourers few! There are millions of souls out there thirsting for Jesus and who is going to bring them the message they so desperately need?

    Onward, Christian Soldiers - for our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Let's work hard to usher in The Kingdom.

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  3. Patricius: surely this will be done within the RE syllabus when discussing Catholic teaching on moral issues? I don't see any problem with the petition.

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  4. Dear Father

    Thank you for all you are doing!

    We've signed the petition and are spreading the word.

    Some people are having scruples about signing this petition. For that purpose we are drawing attention to Canon 212.3

    This holds that Christ's faithful... 'have the right, indeed at times the duty, in keeping with their knowledge, competence and position, to manifest to the sacred Pastors their views on matters which concern the good of the Church. They have the right also to make their views known to others of Christ's faithful, but in doing so they must always respect the integrity of faith and morals, show due reverence to the Pastors and take into account both the common good and the dignity of individuals.'

    Thanks and God bless
    Alan and Angeline

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  5. You are quite right. It is not disloyal to petition your pastors in this way.

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  6. Dear Father,

    Women should be seen and not heard.

    The Holy Mother is the example for women; head covered, hands in prayer, and quiet. (see Our Lady of Guadalupe).

    The collapse of vocations has been exacerbated by womyn crawling all over the Sacristy, handing out Holy Communion like it is popcorn, and trying to tell Bishops and Priests how to do man's work.

    Send this woman back home where she belongs; perhaps with womanhood re-established as hommakers in the U.K., the land of fairies can return to Roman Catholicism.

    I do not know him personally, but after reading his blog for a while, I find Padre Blake to be a faithful servant of Christ.

    With the assurance of my Holy Rosary prayers for all your good work in the vineyard of the Divine Master, I remain yours truly in Jesus and Mary Immaculate.

    Santa María de Guadalupe Esperanza nuestra, salva nuestra patria y conserva nuestra Fe.

    pablo

    *

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  7. Pablo: a rather strange comment about women which I don't quite understand. And Fr Blake is a 300% faithful priest. Of that there is no question.

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  8. Fr. John,

    Thankyou for standing up for the children of our Church.
    I think you are showing us what it is to be a true 'Father' in the church.

    Gill O'Donnell...Horsham.

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  9. As someone who helped to organise this petition, I would just make a couple of comments. First, thank you, Father, for your public support. Secondly, in response to the comments from 'Patricius' who felt that he could not sign the petition, there are two points I would like to make: the creators of this petition certainly do not object to children of an appropriate age being told the truth about abortion (indeed, all our children have taken part in prayerful pro-life witnesses); also, and perhaps more importantly, what we are opposing here is the idea that Catholic schools should be giving their pupils information about abortions and where to procure them, in the way that government schools currently do. That, we feel, is quite a different matter from a parent giving a child the facts in a Catholic context. This goes for all forms of sex-education, and is in line with Church teaching. My apologies if the petition does not make this clear, but space is very limited: petitions need to be short and to the point! I do hope that, with this clarification, 'Patricius' will feel able to sign.
    Kathryn Hennessy

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  10. As a matter of fact, I have signed it now!

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Please avoid being 'anonymous' if at all possible.

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