There has been a strong effort by the provincial government since 2009 to make sure every school board approves and begins to implement the Equity and Inclusive Education (EIE) policy by September 2011. According to the government, we need this policy because, “Racism, religious intolerance, homophobia, and gender-based violence are still evident in our communities and – unfortunately – in our schools.” But in a Toronto Catholic District School Board Support Document for the EIE, there is a clear statement that there has been no increase in bullying based on sexual orientation or religious discrimination. So, somebody is not telling the truth here.
The thinly veiled objective of the equity strategy is to normalize homosexuality among children. This is what parents are really worried about. The real agenda is disguised with a number of other issues such as Islamophobia, anti-black racism, anti-Semitism and religious intolerance.
The only board that has not yet completely approved the policy is the Toronto Catholic District School Board (which is scheduled to consider amendments on August 31). Why? Because many parents have mobilized and shown leadership in defense of the faith. They have strongly expressed their concerns and opposition. They fear that the policy directly contradicts the catechism of the Catholic Church with its views of the human person, sexuality and family life.
We need to ask this question: What has happened to Catholic leadership in Ontario? A Ministry of Education document comes out that openly undermines the Catholic moral teaching and all we have been getting is silence and compliance on the part of senior administrators and directors from every Catholic board in the province. Have they sold out their faith? Have they lost their faith and their moral courage or do they really believe the equity strategy can be accommodated? I have attended a number of the meetings at the TCDSB during the process in dealing with the policy. This I can say: both the director and the superintendents, if anything, have argued in favor of the policy.
As evidence as to why parents should be concerned, consider this example. At a meeting this past Spring, a student trustee report was presented to the TCDSB. From among many anti-homophobia recommendations we find this one, “TCDSB students believe that a Catholic education promotes inclusivity” and “is deeply rooted in social justice, teaches important Catholic values, and allows for the connectedness of students.” Notice here the false reasoning by association: Catholic values equal a Catholic education and this is the same as inclusive education. Not so. This is how the words “Gospel values and teaching” have been hijacked by secular forces.
The student trustee goes on to say that Catholic secondary schools should, “allow and provide student and/or teacher generated support, lending itself to the inclusion of students in Catholic schools who are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered, by providing safe spaces for students to discuss issues surrounding homophobia and the giftedness of sexual orientation. At the discretion of the students involved, this space can be referred to as a ‘Gay-Straight Alliance’, but preferably to be named according to those students who gather.” This is in total defiance of the guidelines given by the bishops of Ontario. And yet, no board official or trustees pointed out to her that Catholic teaching does not support the contents of the report.
Are parents to sit by and pretend that all this is coming from the students? This is an example of the failure of Catholic leadership in Ontario today.
We live in a democracy and board administrators have a right to their opinion. But, as senior officials of a Catholic board, they also have the responsibility to promote and defend the faith. Isn’t this the main requirement for these top jobs? If the Ministry of Education wants them to approve a policy that undermines the Catholic faith, they have the moral responsibility to openly reject it. They also have the legal right to do so, since our schools are protected by the BNA Act, Section 93, a fact which made Canadian Confederation possible. Therefore Catholic administrators and trustees have every legal and moral right to reject the morality being imposed upon it by the provincial government.
Administrators and trustees are the guardians of the faith in our schools. As Catholic leaders, they chose to assume those top positions (and their accompanying salaries). With all the benefits, there’s the duty and obligation to embrace the moral responsibility to defend the faith. Neither the administrators nor the trustees have a mandate to approve a policy that subverts Catholic teaching. If they no longer feel able to protect or live the faith, they always have the option to resign.
Catholic leaders on the equity policy are acting out the words of St. Paul: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
Catholic leaders need not be afraid of defending the catechism. Catholic truth is counter-cultural to the political agendas of the day. It does not align itself with a policy that is trying to push religion into the margins of the public page, if not remove it completely. This is at the heart of the matter. If Catholic leaders cannot be guardians of the faith, then again we ask, are we experiencing a crisis of faith in Catholic leadership? And perhaps the equity policy has been the final test and our leaders have failed miserably.
Leadership that believes that we are going to create better schools for students with the equity strategy is mistaken. It’s an illusory secular utopia on paper and should remain there. Real change will come when our Catholic leaders are prepared to defend and live the faith, not welcome compromise and accommodation. Weak Catholic leadership has permitted the equity policies to further erode and displace the Catholic faith.
In Fides et Ratio Pope John Paul II made this insightful observation: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth, and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.” Catholic leadership must embrace both reason and faith. When reason rejects the catechism, it rejects the faith and loses its way in the search for truth.
Lou Iacobelli is a parent and former teacher.
