Is Pornographic New Creation "Catholic" Sex Education why Catholic Students are no Different than Public School Students?

"A parent came to me saying that one book of a seventh-grade class was pornographic in a X county Catholic school. The book had stuff on how to put on condoms, and if you urinate on a partner make sure you don't do it on the eyes or ears," Father X said...

... "The only place the Catholic public school students are going to get the sexual moral teachings of the Church on a continuous basis is at the pulpit," according to Father X. He remembers former X Diocese Bishop X saying, "For the vast majority of Catholics, the only religious talk they will hear is the homily and the only literature they are going to read is the bulletin. So, what does that tell you about their importance?" Before Vatican II, it was the practice in the United States for bishops to have syllabi or schedules for the year's parish homilies where the specific moral and faith teachings were to be systematically presented. Father X said that many priests have made a case that the Church in America needs to return to the syllabi. - Catholic Monitor

Father X, a priest in the X Diocese who asked to remain anonymous, said the document Pastoral Guidelines for Ministry to Homosexuals in the Diocese of  X contributes to the ethical confusion on homosexuality among Catholic high school students because it has no moral component. This diocese document claims "...individuals do not choose and cannot change their sexual orientation, but must understand it and integrate it into their life of faith and conscience."

"There is a presumption in the diocese that homosexuality has a biological basis," said Father X. "This, in part, originally came from the Kinsey report, which lead to gay safe zones in the public schools and were eventually followed by the Catholic schools. The problem is that a lot of Catholic teachers and theologians feel that they need to filter the Church's teachings according to their philosophical agenda or they won't teach it."

According to James Likoudis, a nationally known writer on catechetic and sex education, the reason Catholic high school students are just as pro-homosexual as their secular counterparts is that the relevant Church documents are filtered out. He said, "The Vatican document The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality intended to remove corrupting sex education programs in Catholic schools is a dead letter in this country, as can be seen in the continued proliferation of Catholic sex education programs in practically every diocese."

In the diocese of X, there are similarities in what Catholic students and students in public schools get. Frank Scanlon, a student at X Catholic high school said, "They taught us about condoms, and if you have sex use them."

Scanlon's father said, "a lot of the kids consider their religion class a joke. They had one priest who didn't want to impose the Catholic faith because of the non-Catholics in the class. He didn't want to make them feel uptight." 

"A parent came to me saying that one book of a seventh-grade class was pornographic in a X county Catholic school. The book had stuff on how to put on condoms, and if you urinate on a partner make sure you don't do it on the eyes or ears," Father X said. 

X organized a group of parents who meet with the principal and pastor. The principal and pastor defended the teacher's right to use the book. But when they went to the diocese superintendent of schools it was found to be against the diocese's policy. The book was taken out despite the teacher's complaints.

Parents in the Oakland diocese had a different experience with a sex-ed program called New Creation. Catholics United for the Faith, a Catholic information apostolate in Steubenville, Ohio, has faulted New Creation for its "graphic illustrations that offend against modesty and chastity;" for "emphasizing information over formation;" and for "violating the latency period." 

In 1998, the principal of St. Bede's of the Oakland diocese told parents that their children either had to attend the New Creation classes or they would have to quit the school. When a reporter for the Faith asked the superintendent of schools for the Oakland diocese, Anne Manchester, if mandatory attendance at these classes contradicted the guidelines in set forth in the Church's Educational Guidance in Human Love, she responded the site (St. Bede's) could make the decision.

A recent graduate of X high school, a public high school in X, Robert Davila said, "The school is diverse -- they have Hispanic clubs and gay clubs. They demonstrate how to use condoms so you won't get AIDS." The extent to which Catholic schools may run counter to Church teachings is only one part of the problem since the vast majority of Catholic high school students go to public schools. In the fall of 2000, Governor Davis signed legislation that went into effect on January 1 that mandated California public schools expose homosexuality, bisexuality, transvestitism, transexuality, and other lifestyles to all grade levels, including kindergarten.

"The only place the Catholic public school students are going to get the sexual moral teachings of the Church on a continuous basis is at the pulpit," according to Father X. He remembers former X Diocese Bishop X saying, "For the vast majority of Catholics, the only religious talk they will hear is the homily and the only literature they are going to read is the bulletin. So, what does that tell you about their importance?" Before Vatican II, it was the practice in the United States for bishops to have syllabi or schedules for the year's parish homilies where the specific moral and faith teachings were to be systematically presented. Father X said that many priests have made a case that the Church in America needs to return to the syllabi. 

Pray an Our Father now for the restoration of the Mass and the Church as well as for the Triumph of the Kingdom of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.