LifeSiteNews.com appears to be applauding Toronto Catholic District School Board’s new chair, Mike Del Grande’s refusal to
“take marching orders from the state” when it comes to crucial moral issues like the awaited explicit sex ed program from the Wynne government.
In fact, Del Grande should invoke his constitutional right to silence instead of shooting his mouth off about
the constitutional right of Catholic school boards in Ontario to reject any government mandate which adversely affects the content of faith and morals,
especially when he is discussing the health and welfare of 88,000 students in the publicly-funded Catholic education system in Ontario.
Del Grande likes to get his picture and opinions in the mainstream media, so he can promise gullible Catholic parents that Ontario’s new sexual education program and HPV vaccines are “‘examples’ of ‘moral dilemmas’ facing the Catholic education system.” However, Del Grande is, admittedly, unsure of whether sex-ed and vaccinations are “contrary to [the] Catholic faith,” so he is going to “ask for a theological position from the cardinal of Toronto.”
Cardinal Collins, the head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, has a BA (English), an M.A. (English), and a Bachelor of Theology; he does not have an education degree, a science degree or a medical degree. Collins is not an elected official; he was given his position by the head of a foreign state: the Vatican.
Del Grande suggestion that
having Catholic hierarchy give “consistent” and “universal” teaching and directives on issues such as the HPV vaccine as well as sex-education will help the board to remain faithful
is ludicrous. Del Grande should take advice from rational members of the TCDSB board like Maria Rizzo and Jo-Ann Davis. Rizzo knows Del Grande is “misinformed” about the HPV vaccine:
“It’s real simple. It’s not a moral issue. It’s a health issue.”
“We don’t want to be talking about having a higher rate of (cervical) cancer in Catholic women 10 years from now.”
and is ignorant when it comes to the updated sex ed curriculum:
“If the ministry of education says we have to do something, we have to do it. … It’s sort of like the gay alliance issues. There wasn’t a choice whether we agreed with it or not.”
Jo-Ann Davis agrees,
“The vaccine is a health issue and it’s a decision that we’ve already made as a board,” she said. “It’s about protecting our girls, protecting our students and protecting them from cancer.”
Ah yes, Rizzo and Davis are right, but Del Grande is a devout son of the Catholic Church, a church that has no respect for girls and women and even less concern for young children.