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TORONTO, Ontario, June 27, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two prominent Catholics have recently stepped forward to defend the teachings of the Catholic Church on homosexuality, in light of the ongoing battle in Catholic schools across Ontario over their implementation of the provincial government’s “equity” strategy.

Toronto Bishop Emeritus Pearce Lacey recently told the Catholic Register that he objects to the Ontario government’s endorsement of “homosexual clubs, gay and lesbian authors and many other controversial instructions.”

“It is our children’s education that is very much at stake, morally at stake,” Bishop Lacey told the Register. “The very fact that we have a Catholic school system is in itself taking a stand in the field of education. We can’t practice our Catholic school education as public schools do.”

Lacey added that the government’s recommendations that schools participate in a gay pride parade was “advocating the practice [of homosexuality].“ “In my mind, that should not be done,” Lacey said.

In a letter to LifeSiteNews, Lacey, formerly a Metropolitan Separate School Trustee, had previously said, “Parents and Catholic electors are justified in objecting to the government mandate.” 

“We equally support the right of the parents to seek through their trustees, policy amendments protecting the faith and morals of children in our schools,” added Lacey.

Well-known radio and TV show host, Michael Coren of the “Michael Coren Show,” has also recently defended Catholic teaching on homosexuality in light of the controversy. 

In his June 22 column in the Catholic Register, Coren called it “truly staggering” how homosexuality, a topic of “limited importance, concerning a tiny percentage of the population” should be the “catalyst for so much political extremism.” 

“Bullying is wrong,” he said. But “the problem with specific anti-bullying programs in Catholic schools around the issue of homosexuality, such as the so-called gay-straight alliances, is that they contain implicit and often explicit social platforms. Namely, that it is not enough to condemn bullying; it is essential to affirm homosexuality.”

Affirming homosexuality, said Coren, is against Catholic teaching on homosexuality. “So there we have it. The clash of exclusive truths. The dominant culture says one thing, Catholicism another. For a school to be truly Catholic, it has to challenge the status quo, and today in North America the status quo is aggressively intolerant,” he said.