“Catholic schools in England and Wales must strongly oppose any action or proposal that would sexualize children or be seen as in any way promoting sexual activity outside the context of married relationships,” said Archbishop Vincent Nichols, Chairman of the Catholic Education Service of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, in Newcastle. "In Catholic schools sex and relationship education must always be designed and delivered according to the teaching of the Church. It is this alone that gives critical stability to what Catholic schools do and to the coherence of the arguments they make,” he told more than 300 Governors of Catholic schools at a recent conference in the North East of England.
The Archbishop emphasised: "This is not simply a matter of responding to or resisting public opinion or widespread behaviour. It is a conviction of faith that here lies the correct use of the wonderful gift of human sexuality, both as an expression of a conscious and faithful self giving to another, and as an action of such intimacy that it creates human life in partnership with the Creator of all."
Archbishop Nichols explained that the Church has made important representations as part of the Government's review of the provision of sex and relationship education in schools.
He said that while he welcomed the fact that the review intends to give greater emphasis to relationships education and to the emotional content of sexuality, the right of governing bodies to determine a school’s sex and relationship education programme in accordance to the teaching of the Catholic Church must be preserved.
"The Catholic school must be centred on the faith. Christ is the centre of a Catholic school and RE is the core of the curriculum, because it is in RE that we seek to systematically understand what it is to live life in relationship to Christ and in the light of the truth that he brings."
Meanwhile, speaking to the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference in London, Reverend Tim Hastie-Smith, an independent school head, also called on the Government to “stop interfering” in education, and hand state schools similar freedoms to those enjoyed by independent schools.
“Freedom from Government interference results in better schools,” he said.
Rev Hastie-Smith, an Anglican clergyman, and head of Dean Close School in Cheltenham, claimed too many schools were “embarrassed” to discuss God and religion and instead allowed “passing fads” such as the X Factor to fill the vacuum.
He said that the TV talent show promoted the belief that success can be “grabbed out
of the air” if image and “personal packaging” are acceptable.
He also warned that Government “nannying” was fostering a nation of buck-passers and deterring individuals from accepting personal responsibility for their failings.
Mr Hastie-Smith gave the example of a typical train carriage, which contained 45 sets of
instructions, many printed six or seven times, and repeated announcements telling passengers to read them.
“A generation nurtured on nannying government, legislation that shifts personal responsibility, and finger wagging admonition on public notices and labels is highly unlikely to take the blame for anything,” he said.
“This is not a society currently noted for overwhelming personal responsibility.“The risk to future generations of having a society which is childishly self-indulgent, where everything is somebody else's fault, is that you have a toddler mentality among adults.
“If you get that, not only do you go down the line of a hideously litigious society but you also get the problem of adults who behave like children.”
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(Source: CIN)