(LifeSiteNews) — A Catholic daycare in Austria canceled the Mother’s Day poem because “traditional gender roles” are no longer “in keeping with the times.”
A daycare operated by the Catholic charity Caritas in Gallneukirchen, Upper Austria, chose not to honor mothers with a traditional poem this year.
When several mothers expressed anger over the decision, the St. Joseph daycare replied, “We are deliberately choosing not to practice traditional poems or songs specifically for Mother’s or Father’s Day.”
“We are aware that children today grow up in very diverse family structures. Traditional gender roles surrounding Mother’s and Father’s Day do not always reflect this diversity and are therefore, in our view, no longer in keeping with the times for everyday life at the kindergarten.”
“As a mother, I want to be honored on this day, even with a poem,” one of the angry mothers told the newspaper Heute.
“We don’t have any families here in Gallneukirchen who live in alternative family arrangements,” she added.
“The diocese has other problems, but now this? The Church should stand by a traditional family model,” the mother said.
Edith Bürgler-Scheubmayr, director of Caritas Upper Austria, told Heute, “In our kindergartens, we focus on the reality of the children’s lives – and that is diverse today.”
She added that “around Mother’s and Father’s Day, we design our activities so that all children can relate to them and show the appropriate appreciation to the caregivers who are important to them. Poems and songs still have their place.”
“We take feedback from parents seriously,” Bürgler-Scheubmayr claimed. “At the same time, it goes without saying that it is up to families to observe such traditions at home according to their own preferences – including the practice and recitation of poems.”