The Hermeneutic of Continuity

Rorate Caeli has been covering the events in Belgium where the police have, quite rightly, been  investigating crimes against children, following the revelations of the crimes of Bishop Vangheluwe of Bruges. The methods used by the police do, however seem over the top; they have included drilling into the tombs of Cardinal Suenens and Cardinal Mercier in the crypt of the Cathedral at Mechlin, as well as raiding the palace of the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels and detaining the Belgian hierarchy for several hours. One element of the story has caught the eye of many bloggers: the article written by Alexandra Colen, member of the Belgian Parliament for Antwerp for the Brussels Journal: The Fall of the Belgian Church . Other bloggers have warned, and I do too, that some of the sex-education material that she describes in the catechism textbook Roeach is disgusting and sick. The editors of Roeach was were Professor Jef Bulckens of the Catholic University of Leuven and Pr...

Robert Colquhoun and Greg Clovis will be speaking on Tuesday 11 May at Farm Street. The evening is being arranged to help parents talk to their own children about the gift of sexuality and the virtue of chastity. 6.45pm for 7pm start. There are full details at Robert's blog "Love Undefiled" at the post Parents' Talk . You can view the powerpoint presentation from one of Robert's previous talks: Finding Love in a Superficial Age ; he has two further relevant articles: Parents as primary educators of their children Teaching parents about chastity

John Smeaton reports on the pro-life and pro-family victory which has been won in Parliament. Since the General Election has been called today, the Government has to negotiate with the opposition parties to get through any legislation that is outstanding. In this process known as the "wash-up", controversial clauses are dropped from some bills in order to get them through. Thankfully this has happened with the Children, Schools and Families Bill which is to be passed without the offending clauses on compulsory sex education. Congratulations to all of you who made sure that the offensive clauses were indeed controversial.

In the Times yesterday, Madeleine Teahan wrote on the pressures faced by school teachers who are called upon to fulfil an increasing set of roles "sex advisor; behaviour manager; dietician; counsellor and fitness instructor, to name a few." The article offers a different perspective on the proposals for compulsory sex education in schools. See: Is sex education the responsibility of parents or teachers?

Today's Sunday Telegraph published a letter opposing current moves to enforce compulsory sex education. Here is the text: Mandatory lessons on sex in primary schools SIR – Parents and guardians have the primary responsibility for bringing up their children in accordance with their own values and culture. They may entrust the task of formal education to a school of their choice, but the overall responsibility for the upbringing of their children remains theirs. The Children, Schools and Families Bill undermines this principle and seeks to impose a particular ideology by means of statutory sex and relationships education from the age of 5 (which primary schools do not currently have to teach). We would therefore urge Parliament decisively to oppose it. A state which seeks to centralise responsibilities which are properly fulfilled by families is acting in an unjust manner and undermines the basis of a free society. The lead signatory and organiser of the letter was Norman Well...

A correspondent has sent the following reply received from the Public Communications Unit of the DCSF in response to an email about Catholic schools and sex education. Dear --- Thank you for your email of 24 February, addressed to Ed Balls about sex education within faith schools. As you can appreciate, Mr Balls receives a large volume of correspondence and cannot answer them all personally. On this occasion I have been asked to reply. This amendment confirms that schools can teach Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, including sex and relationships education (SRE) in a way that reflects the schools religious character and ethos. However, there remains a legal obligation on the head and on the governing body of all schools, including faith schools, to comply with the principles in the legislation. These include requirements that material presented is factually accurate and balanced, for example, that information provided by schools should reflect the latest medi...

A priest friend of mine has come up with the following questions to be put to candidates in advance of the General Election It is currently legal to abort certain handicapped babies up to birth, and to abort healthy babies up to 24 weeks of gestation. Would you vote for any restrictions upon this? If so, could you briefly suggest what type of restrictions. Ed Balls intends that Catholic schools be required to inform their children “how to access abortion” by virtue of the Children, Schools and Families Bill, if enacted. Do you agree with him? Would you vote against the legalization of euthanasia? Do you accept that faith schools have the right to teach as the truth matters of human sexuality and relationships according to the principles of their religion? There is a target to increase overseas aid to 0.7% of Gross Domestic Product by 2013. Do you think this is broadly correct, or should be more or less? One Labour candidate who, on abortion, took the Bill Clinton "safe lega...

Here is some good news. The American College of Pediatricians has issued an excellent statement on Abstinence Education . The statement begins: The American College of Pediatricians strongly endorses abstinence-until-marriage sex education and recommends adoption by all school systems in lieu of “comprehensive sex education". This position is based on “the public health principle of primary prevention – risk avoidance in lieu of risk reduction,” upholding the “human right to the highest attainable standard of health.”1 By every measure, adolescent sexual activity is detrimental to the well-being of all involved, especially young women, and society at large. The statement addresses not only physical but also psychological and societal concerns related to early sexual activity and emphasises the importance of the role of parents. As Catholics we would want to promote not only education for abstinence but the positive virtue of chastity. Nevertheless, I think that such a concern...

The Daily Mail has picked up the story of Lisa Bullivant , from Legbourne, Lincolnshire, whose daughter was subjected to the Channel 4 sex education programme "Living and Growing". Fr John Fleming's research in Australia has shown that although many parents will say that they are in favour of sex education in school, they often have no idea of the actual content of the programmes. This case is fairly typical. Lisa Bullivant said: 'We had faith in the head teacher and the school that all they would be learning would be basic puberty. It should have said in the letter children would learn how to have sexual intercourse.' Predictably, some of the children started copying what they had seen in the film. This relates to the problem of sexual assault in schools which is obviously exacerbated by explicit sex-education. In addition to graphic cartoons of people having sexual intercourse, the Channel 4 programme also teaches children all about masturbation. Having learne...

James Preece has a roundup of posts on the Government-CES-PSHE affair: see Ed Balls: Catholic Schools "must explain how to access an abortion" . This morning two other good posts were published that are worthy to be added to the list: Cranmer in his post Teaching abortion in an ‘enlightened’ and ‘non-judgmental’ way gives a good analysis of the way in which terms like "non-judgemental" are being used to erode the freedoms for Catholics and others that developed over three centuries. As he rightly says: One cannot be ‘neutral’ about sex, sexuality or the sanctity of life without being indifferent. Joanna Bogle gets to the key point that many clergy and laity now have no confidence in the CES and that a fresh start is needed.

People have been emailing me all day about the Radio 4 Today programme this morning . A liberal rabbi, Jonathon Romain went into bat first, berating the (actually worthless) amendment to the CSF Bill, purporting to allow faith schools to teach Personal Social and Health Education "in a way that reflects the school’s religious character." As I pointed out the other day , the amendment is indeed worthless since all schools, including Catholic schools, will still be required to give information about contraception, abortion, and homosexual partnerships: and they must teach a "range of views." In other words, whatever they do in terms of presenting teaching in a way that reflects the religious character of the school, they are not allowed to teach that Catholic doctrine is true. The Today piece was bizarre. Rabbi Romain was complaining that the reference to the school's religious character was unacceptable. Ed Balls was cast as the enemy, defending the rights of f...

Photo: Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk Recently, the Government introduced an amendment to the Children, Schools and Families Bill, allowing Faith schools to teach Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) "in a way that reflects the school’s religious character." The Catholic Education Service (CES) claimed credit for this, citing its "extensive lobbying." As we have now come to expect, according to a wearily familiar pattern, the purported concession is worthless, allowing the Government to be seen to appease Catholics, and then reassure the secularists and gays who protest loudly. Under pressure from humanist and homosexual activists (e.g. NSS and Pink News ) but focussed particularly as a response to the Accord Coalition , the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has issued a response . In a "Let's be absolutely clear" statement, the DCSF specifies that faith schools will not be able to opt of statutory PSHE and SRE (sex and rela...

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) today put on a Study Day for clergy on the problems of sex education in Britain with particular reference to the Children, Schools and Families Bill. Fr John Fleming gave a lucid and concise presentation of the problems with the proposed legislation. Extensive research carried out in Australia has shown that although there is widespread support for sex education programmes, the majority of people are actually not familiar with the content of those programmes. The same is true in Britain where the DCSF cite a study showing that although parents report being in favour of schools providing factual information, 57% know little or nothing of the content of the sex education courses. The vast majority report that no consultation has taken place about the courses. Fr Fleming highlighted the fact that despite the intention of sex education being to reduce STIs and teenage pregnancies, the evidence shows that not only have these aims...

I warmly recommend the Family Education Trust (Family & Youth Concern) which campaigns tirelessly on pro-life and pro-family issues. The latest bulletin is now available online. This issue has several articles related to the Children Schools and Families Bill, sex education, homeschooling and the rights of families.

Last week I mentioned the Children, Schools and Families (CS&F) Bill as a result of a mistake that I made, some very helpful information and advice on strategy came in from various sources; for which I am most grateful. (Commenters who could not allow their comments to be published may contact me on rosary@freeuk.com - I would be very glad to hear from you, at least to have the chance to thank you personally.) The current business statement for Parliament runs to 3 December and the CS&F Bill second reading is not included in it. When any progress is made, such information as the Hansard record of debates, procedural motions, lists of amendments will be posted at the dedicated page for the CS&F Bill at the Parliamentary website. There is also a link there to further information about the passage of a Bill . It was also pointed out to me that since this session of Parliament will be very short (there is widespread speculation that Parliament will be dissolved around Easter)...

The Government has just accepted all the recommendations of last year's Annual Report of the Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group (TPIAG). I suppose it is not too surprising that the Government accepts the report since it is actually produced by the Government's Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) on behalf of the TPIAG and is hosted at the Government's "Every Child Matters" website. First of all, let me give you a general flavour of the report. The TPIAG is predictably delighted that the Government has earmarked £26.8 million of our money to for "contraceptive services". They want condoms to be promoted on TV before the 9pm watershed and because of concerns about pornography, they want an official government portal on the internet where young people can access "approved sites on sex and relationships." How reassuring is that for all you mums and dads out there? The report gives a whistlestop tour of current Government...

You can read the CESEW response to the Governments latest proposals on sex education in schools, and a clarification which states: We welcome the government’s reiteration of its support for the important principles underlining SRE, which emphasise that schools continue to have the legal right to determine the content of what is taught in PSHE within their schools and that governing bodies retain the right to determine what is taught, and must determine this in line with the ethos of the school. The Times reports on the sex-ed proposals in its article: ( Pupils to be forced to have sex education under age of consent ). Here is an extract: Mr Balls said: “It is open to faith schools to teach what they believe, according to the tenets of their faith, that pupils should not have sexual relationships outside of marriage.” But faith schools would not be allowed to refuse to teach about contraception on the grounds that they do not believe in sex before marriage, he added. “You can teach th...

Today's conference for the Association of Priests for the Gospel of Life was quite a full day with a good number of priests taking part. Our principal speaker was Professor Thomas Pink from King's College London who gave a lecture on Morality and Human Nature in which he examined different meanings of freedom and showed how the metaphysical understanding of free will was fundamental to the freedom we expect to be guaranteed by law, and freedom as a condition. He also explained how the refusal to accept such metaphysical freedom made talk of human rights and freedom in society utterly incoherent. As he pointed out, you cannot defend someone's freedom to act in a certain way if you do not accept that they have the capacity to determine how they act. Before lunch, there was a brief presentation of the new programme " This is my Body " for sex and relationships education prepared jointly by SPUC and Lancaster Diocese. The programme follows the teaching of The Truth ...

Creative Minority Report has a good piece on the advice given to students at schools in Long Island, New York. Apparently the danger of swine flu has prompted officials to advise youngsters not to touch each other. Strange, given the politically correct skepticism about abstinence programmes! (See: I Thought Abstinence Was Unrealistic .) CMR has better advice, surely: As studies (not shown here or even available anywhere) have clearly indicated, children are going to touch each other no matter what those in authority tell them, so it's best to simply protect the children so that they touch each other in the safest manner possible. Perhaps even full body condoms are the way to go. So we agree? Let's keep our kids safe.

When I posted on the taxpayer-funded sex-ed filth from NHS Sheffield, I highlighted the problem of sexual bullying in schools. The other day, the Christian Institute had news of a programme made by BBC Scotland called The Dark Side of Teenage Sex . Fiona Walker found that over the past five years, over 500 charges of rape have been brought by Scottish Police against children and teenagers. There is talk of disclosure of sex offences, and the provision of treatment places for young sex offenders. What is missing is any appraisal of the part played by explicit sex education in schools, and the failure to promote chastity. The BBC programme focusses on the more extreme case of rape but for each of these cases, there are likely to be many more instances of unwanted touching and coercion. Children and teenagers need to know that some things are just "off limits"; but the message about sexual activity is a non-directive "only do it when you want to", "be safe"...