AIDS schooling (kindergarten to grade 12): another critique.

The following is a critique of AIDS: a Catholic Approach to HIV, a kindergarten-to-grade-twelve program which is scheduled to be fully implemented next year (1998) in the Dufferin-Peel Roman Catholic Separate School Board near Toronto, and in other Ontario boards as well. Earlier, Catholic Insight published a criticism of it by Robert Eady, "AIDS obsession in schools" (March 1997). Other parents, for example, in the Durham (Oshawa) and Ottawa school boards, also have sent in sharp criticisms.

Unfortunately, the book has been conceived and approved without taking into account the massive pro-"gay" /lesbian climate of opinion which dominates the media today and, through them, society. While sodomy is defended, even lauded, opposition to it is derided as "homophobia" which is then targetted as the real enemy. Enough teachers already seem to soft-pedal the homosexual lifestyle, to make any program with the slightest ambiguity a further danger to both student and teacher.

The following submission was made to the Dufferin-Peel Catholic board by Mr. Jim Duffy of Brampton, ON, on behalf of six concerned parents.

1. The program uses an exaggerated concern about the public health issues surrounding the transmission and spread of HIV/AIDS as an excuse to promote a change in attitudes among Catholic students towards homosexuality and the homosexual agenda.

2. It distorts the Church's teachings on the nature of homosexuality and on the proper Christian response to unjust discrimination towards homosexuals. By using such homosexual activist terminology as "homophobia" and "heterosexism", it promotes the view that all homosexuals are the victims of unjust discrimination. It completely ignores the legitimate concerns that the Church has expressed about homosexual activism and its deleterious effects on the family and on society.

3. Finally, in my view, the program presents a limited and misleading concept of the proper Christian response to human suffering because it tends to minimize the moral dimension of the human condition.

I. Kindergarten to Grade 7 (lessons 1 to 25):

The biggest problem with this section of the program is that it violates the guidelines of The Pontifical Council for the Family published in The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality (1995) with regard to the latency period. Grade Six, lesson 21, contains a graphic description of sexual intercourse, and the vocabulary for this lesson includes male and female sex organs.

Let's hear now what the Pontifical Council has to say on page 37, paragraph numbers 78 & 83, on this subject.

78. It can be said that a child is in the stage described in John Paul II's words as `the years of innocence' from five years until puberty ... This period of tranquility and serenity must never be disturbed by unnecessary information about sex. ... prudent formation in chaste love during this period should be indirect, in preparation for puberty, when direct information will be necessary.

83, In some societies today, there are planned and determined attempts to impose premature sex information on children. ... Parents should politely but firmly exclude any attempts to violate children's innocence because such attempts compromise the spiritual, moral and emotional development of growing persons who have a right to their innocence.

As stated in the teacher's manual, these lessons are to be taught after completion of Theme 3 of the Fully Alive Program which, I believe, is also in violation of the Pontifical Council for the Family's guidelines.

Now, let us consider these children at such a young age: would they honestly be able to do anything about the information this program proposes to teach them? I don't think so, nor does the Pontifical Council think so.

I, therefore, would not consider any part of this program for our children until they reach puberty. I hope and pray that you will agree.

II. Grade 8 (lessons 26 & 28):

Let's look at lessons 27 & 28 on pages 105 - 119 in the teacher's manual.

I would like to draw attention to the selective quoting from the document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) Pastoral Care of The Homosexual Person, paragraph number 10.

10. It is deplorable that homosexuals persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the Church's pastors wherever it occurs.

I agree fully with this statement, but omitted entirely from the manual is the continuation of paragraph 10, which reads in part:

But the proper reaction to crimes committed against homosexual persons should not be to claim that the homosexual condition is not disordered.

This shows what I mean about selective quoting.

The "Call to Action" box on page 119 (lesson 28) of the teacher's manual states:

Investigate whether a branch of P-FLAG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, is in your community. Invite a member of this organization to speak to your students about their acceptance of their gay or lesbian family member. Emphasis should be given to the personal struggle of coming to terms with the idea that homosexuals and heterosexuals are more similar than different. OR design a reflective activity which relates to acceptance of a gay or lesbian family member.

In response, I suggest bringing some people from COURAGE to talk to the children? I would also like to draw your attention to The Pastoral Care of The Homosexual Person, paragraph 15:

. . . No authentic pastoral program will include organizations in which homosexual persons associate with each other without clearly stating that homosexual activity is immoral.

III. Grade 9 (lessons 29 to 31):

In lesson 29, my main concern is the mention of a guest panel of "community resource persons" invited to speak to the students. I would like to know who would be on this panel.

In lesson number 31, the Overview section states the students ". . . will be guided to form their own Christian response to these issues." I don't agree; the teaching of our Catholic Church guides us infallibly through the Holy Spirit to proper Christian responses.

IV. Grade 10 (lessons 32 to 34):

In lesson 32, the students review a case study about two high school students (Matthew and Beth) who end up having sex during a graduation party. The boy later discovers that the girl was previously sexually active with another student (Tom) who, it turns out, has contracted AIDS. Not once in lesson number 32 is the sacrament of reconciliation mentioned or even encouraged. Matthew and Beth's real problem was the sin of fornication. The solution to the sin of fornication is to seek reconciliation as soon as possible.

Sound Catholic teaching on this sin and on the sacrament of reconciliation can be found in paragraphs 2353 and 1468 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We can see from these sections the benefits and the wisdom of good Catholic teaching.

In contrast to this AIDS program, Cardinal Basil Hume's A Time for a Moral Renaissance has a number of good quotes in the teacher's manual, particularly page 163, paragraph 2:

2. AIDS is but one of the many disastrous consequences of promiscuous sexual behaviour. Promiscuity is the root cause of the present epidemic. It has always been sinful; it is rapidly becoming suicidal.

Going back again to the teacher's manual, on page 141, we are given explicit descriptions of oral-genital and anal sexual activity. Is it really that important to give these graphic descriptions? Let us look at The Truth And Meaning of Human Sexuality, and see what it has to say about this type of graphic description (see page 40, paragraph number 90):

. . . normally, one should discuss the cycles of fertility and their meaning. But it is still not necessary to give detailed explanations about sexual union, unless this is explicitly requested.

Page 141 of the teacher's manual (still lesson 34) is entitled Implications Related to Homosexuality. The manual, for a second time, quotes paragraph number 10 of the CDF document On The Pastoral Care of the Homosexual Person. It says that the homosexual person has the same rights and dignity as anyone else, and rightly so.

But once again, significant sections of this Vatican document are conspicuously omitted, such as paragraph 8 which says:

8. . . . increasing numbers of people today, even within the Church, are bringing enormous pressure to bear on the Church to accept the homosexual condition as though it were not disordered and to condone homosexual activity... the risk is great and there are many who seek to create confusion regarding the Church's position, and then to use that confusion to their own advantage.

V. Grade 11 (lessons 35 to 37):

In lesson 35 (pages 143 - 145) the students read the story of an African nurse in Dar Es Salaam called Elizabeth. She relates the story of how she contracted HIV from her husband (who eventually dies of AIDS). This story raises many moral issues.

The approach of the manual is to use this story to promote a false distinction between "human" and "moral" issues. The manual states:

AIDS is a human condition, touching on many human issues. It can also involve moral issues, but today we will focus on the human suffering - and the Christian response to persons with HIV/AIDS.

Further on, it gives a partial quotation from the letter of St. James, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him...."

We should read the whole passage in order to get a proper understanding of the Christian response to human suffering, St. James makes it clear that this response always involves a concern for the person's spiritual condition.

Lesson number 37 tends to downplay the vital role of the parents in the emotional and sexual education of their children. In this lesson there is a deliberate attempt to usurp the role of the parents. Students are instructed in techniques to propagandize their fellow students with the information they receive in these classes. In this way the right of parents to remove children from classes they find objectionable is negated.

We need to hear what the Pontifical Council for the Family has to say on the role of the parents, so let's look at page 49 and read paragraphs 113 & 117:

113. In fact, `sex education, which is a basic right and duty of parents, must always be carried out under their attentive guidance whether at home or in educational centres chosen and controlled by them'.

117 (4) It is recommended that parents attentively follow every form of sex education that is given to their children outside the home, removing their children whenever this education does not correspond to their principles.

VI Grade 12 (lessons 38 to 40):

Lessons 38 & 39 tend to confuse the moral issue. We are instructed, in the teacher's manual, to read John 9: 1-4 which tells about Jesus healing the man born blind. What's the point here? This man was born blind, he didn't have the AIDS virus. Is there a comparison? Let's look at a few other readings from Scripture.

For example, in Mark 2: 3-11 when Jesus heals the paralytic, he looks at the whole person. He looks at him not as someone with a physical infirmity only, but as someone with a spiritual need as well. Indeed Jesus deals with the man's spiritual condition first: "Your sins are forgiven." Then he heals him physically in order to demonstrate "that the Son of man has power to forgive sins." The message here is that the paralytic was repentant. In the incident of the woman caught in adultery (John 8: 10-11), Jesus asks her, "Does anyone else accuse you? . . . Go and sin no more." Again repentance is called for.

We should also, in this context, read from The Pastoral Care of the Homosexual Person, paragraph number 15.

. . . But we wish to make it clear that departure from the Church's teaching, or silence about it, in an effort to provide pastoral care is neither caring nor pastoral. Only what is true can ultimately be pastoral. The neglect of the Church's position prevents homosexual men and women from receiving the care they need and deserve.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there seems to be a blatant disregard for the moral aspects of this whole issue. We should be sending our students out into this world with a solid knowledge of their Catholic faith and morals. These young children are our future. They have the right to good sound education.

Throughout, this whole program, as I see it, presents a one- dimensional view of God and man. It continually speaks of God's "unconditional love", but ignores His holiness and justice. It speaks of man's human needs and sufferings, but downplays his spiritual condition and need for God's grace. Jesus is correctly presented as a model of compassionate care for the suffering, but his role as redeemer, and founder of the Holy Catholic Church, is ignored. His crucifixion is meant to teach us about the seriousness of sin, and the estrangement from God which is its consequence.

His founding of the Church was meant to give us a sure and certain knowledge of the truth about ourselves and our way to salvation.

God's unconditional love, therefore, is transmitted to us through the ministry of His Son, who suffered and died for us, and the ministry of the Church, which gives us God's grace through the sacraments and guarantees our salvation regardless of whatever physical problems we may encounter in this life. This program AIDS: A Catholic Approach to HIV is seriously defective and I recommend, therefore, that it not be used.