By Peter J. Smith
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, September 7, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Archbishop of Vancouver has called on parents to protest the government’s plan to mandate favorable teaching on homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual matters to children without the consent of parents. In an editorial in the B.C. Catholic Newspaper, this week, Archbishop Roussin, SM reminded B.C. parents that their rights to educate their children are “non-negotiable”, and that they must take action during the government’s consultation about the program engineered by two homosexual activists with unprecedented cooperation from the government.
The Archbishop’s editorial comes in response to the current alarming machinations of two activist homosexuals, Peter and Murray Corren, who have worked relentlessly with unprecedented cooperation from the B.C. government to graft homosexual, bisexual, and transsexual issues into the province’s school curricula since last spring.
This month, according to the Vancouver Sun, the Correns have helped draft a letter with the B.C. Education Ministry that requires school officials to enforce the Alternative Delivery Policy, which would permit parents to remove their children from certain classes discussing sexual orientation/identity, but still demands their children learn them through venues like home schooling or electronic learning.
Although for years schools ignored this policy to accommodate parents’ objections or religious and cultural differences, the Correns have seen this loophole as a threat to the re-education of B.C. children in homosexual matters.
“There was no point in us getting queer-positive information into the curriculum if it meant parents would be pulling their children out all the time,” said Peter Corren.
However, Archbishop Roussin says that the agreement to allow the Correns to determine homosexual curricula for B.C. schools may jeopardize “the right of parents to determine how their children are educated”, an issue which he said, “extends beyond our (Catholic) community and is worrisome for a broad range of faith groups, from other Christians to non-Christian groups.”
As his “main concern”, the Archbishop stated that while the government has assured the homosexual curricula does not apply to them, he worries, “Catholic parents whose children attend public schools have been given no such assurances.”
He added, “The right of parents to determine how their children receive instruction on matters of faith and morals is a primary consideration, and anything that puts it at risk should not go unchallenged.”
The Archbishop reiterated that the government must be reminded that “parents are the final decision makers when it comes to their children’s education … particularly so when it comes to their moral upbringing.” Quoting Pope Benedict XVI, the Archbishop said that parents’ rights over their children’s education are “simply non-negotiable” and added, “They must have the right to remove their children from problematic course content.”
The Archbishop strongly urged parents to join the “thousands of concerned parents and numerous organizations [that] are already working to assert their rights to oversee their children’s education and keep it from being placed into the hands of unelected special interest groups.” He added that they must “take advantage of the opportunity” to contact the B.C. government to protest their concerns about the content and their desire to be included in the consultation process.
LifeSite readers may convey their concerns to the B.C. Education Minister and Deputy Premier Shirley Bond through these means:
Â
E-mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 250 387-1977
Facsimile: 250 387-3200
Or mail the Minister of Education here:
Honorable Shirley Bond
PO Box 9045, Stn Prov Govt,
Victoria
BC
V8W9E2
See the original editorial in the B.C. Catholic Newspaper: https://bcc.rcav.org/06-09-04/editorial.htm
See Previous LifeSite Coverage:
900 Protest in Vancouver Over Homosexual Activist Control of Gay Curriculum in Schools
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082807.html
Documents Reveal Government Signed Over Control of Education to Homosexual Activists
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06061907.html