The Catholic Church in Scotland has criticized the Scottish government’s new guidance on sex education, arguing that the latest proposals threaten the right of Catholic schools to protect their religious ethos.
Following the release of a draft government document called “Guidance on Relationships, Sexual Health, and Parenthood (RSHP) Education,” Scotland’s bishops issued a forthright statement on Nov. 8 in response, highlighting that previous religious protections had been scrubbed out.
“The Bishops’ Conference of Scotland is both disappointed and confused at the decision by the Scottish government to delete all reference to Catholic schools in its ‘Guidance on the Delivery of Relationships, Sexual Health, and Parenthood (RSHP) Education in Scottish Schools’ document,” the bishops said.
“We strongly request the reinsertion of the paragraphs relating to denominational education from the previous iteration of the guidance, which would reflect both the legal protection for schools with a religious character and the previously supportive position of the Scottish government for Catholic schools.”
Catholic schools in Scotland are part of what is known as the state system of education — the equivalent of public schools in the U.S.
However, up until now, Catholic schools in Scotland were guaranteed the right to control their own curriculum in order to ensure it remained consistent with the Church’s moral teachings.
The Scottish bishops are concerned that the latest guidance makes no reference to this arrangement, contrary to guidelines from previous years, which stated:
“The Scottish government supports the right of the Roman Catholic Church to give witness to its faith and to uphold the traditions of Catholic education.
“We value the contribution made by Catholic schools and have no intention of changing the current position where faith aspects of the curriculum in Catholic schools are determined by the Scottish Catholic Education Service acting on behalf of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.”
However, the latest proposals no longer include this caveat and instead read:
“Schools have a key role to play in providing an educational experience that is inclusive for all, regardless of the beliefs and values they hold. With inclusive RSHP education, children and young people, where religion and/or belief plays a role in their identities, should be able to feel included and accepted within their school and community.”
According to a report in the Herald Scotland, a spokesperson for the Scottish government claimed that it had consulted more than 30 stakeholders when formulating the guidance, including the Scottish Catholic Education Service. The report went on to say that the Church dismissed this account by the government as “disingenuous.”
Meanwhile, parents at one of the most prestigious Catholic schools in Scotland are mobilizing in order to try to reverse the government’s plans.
In a bulletin released by the parents council of St. Ninian’s High School in Giffnock, East Renfrewshire — shown exclusively to CNA — parents were urged to write to the government and make their concerns about the latest proposals known.
The November edition of the bulletin states: “For many years now, the content of sex education in Catholic state schools has been determined by the Catholic Church. That system has worked well for our children. It teaches sex education within a Catholic moral context. Our children are not thereby exposed to the ‘free-for-all,’ and more extreme and graphic content, that is available to children in nondenominational schools.
“Previously, the Scottish government’s written guidance has explicitly acknowledged — indeed, supported — the right of the Catholic Church to determine the content of the sex education curriculum in Catholic schools. That’s been the established position for over a century. This new draft guidance removes that right.
“The draft guidance also seeks to enforce the active promotion of an LGBT-inclusive education across the entire school curriculum (literacy, sciences, history, religious, and moral education, etc.) in order to determine the ‘ethos’ of the school.”
The government consultation period ends on Nov. 23, after which time feedback on the new guidance will no longer be received.
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Thousands of pro-life advocates gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. / Katie Yoder/CNA
Washington D.C., Dec 2, 2021 / 08:04 am (CNA).
Anna Del Duca and daughter, Frances, woke up at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning to brave the 30-degree weather outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. They arrived hours before oral arguments began in the highly-anticipated abortion case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The case, which involves a Mississippi law restricting most abortions after 15 weeks, challenges two landmark decisions: Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which upheld Roe in 1992.
“We’re looking forward to the end of Roe versus Wade in our country,” Anna, who drove from Pittsburgh Tuesday night, told CNA. In her hands, she held a sign reading, “I regret my abortion.”
Anna Del Duca (right) and her daughter, Frances, traveled from Pittsburgh to attend a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments for the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. Katie Yoder/CNA
“I would like to use my testimony to be a blessing to others,” she said, so that “others will choose life or those who have regretted abortion or had an abortion would turn to Jesus.”
Anna remembered having an abortion when she was just 19. Today, she and her daughter run a group called Restorers of Streets to Dwell In Pittsburgh that offers help to women seeking healing after abortion.
Anna and Frances were among thousands of Americans who rallied outside the Supreme Court before, during, and after the oral arguments. To accommodate them, law enforcement closed the street in front of the court. Capitol police also placed fencing in the space in front of the building in an attempt to physically separate rallies held by abortion supporters and pro-lifers.
At 21-weeks pregnant, pro-life speaker Alison Centofante emceed the pro-life rally, called, “Empower Women Promote Life.” The event featured a slew of pro-life women of diverse backgrounds and numerous politicians.
“It’s funny, there were so many diverse speakers today that the only unifying thread was that we want to protect preborn children,” Centofante told CNA. They included Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Catholics, agnostics, atheists, women who chose life, and women who regretted their abortions, she said.
She recognized women there, including Aimee Murphy, as people who are not the typical “cookie cutter pro-lifer.”
Aimee Murphy, 32, founder of pro-life group Rehumanize International, arrived at the Supreme Court around 6:30 a.m. She drove from Pittsburgh the night before. Her sign read, “Queer Latina feminist rape survivor against abortion.”“At Rehumanize International, we oppose all forms of aggressive violence,” she told CNA. “Even as a secular and non-partisan organization, we understand that abortion is the most urgent cause that we must stand against in our modern day and age because it takes on average over 800,000 lives a year.”
She also had a personal reason for attending.
“When I was 16 years old, I was raped and my rapist then threatened to kill me if I didn’t have an abortion,” she revealed.
“It was when he threatened me that I felt finally a solidarity with unborn children and I understood then that, yeah, the science told me that a life begins at conception, but that I couldn’t be like my abusive ex and pass on the violence and oppression of abortion to another human being — that all that I would be doing in having an abortion would be telling my child, ‘You are an inconvenience to me and to my future, therefore I’m going to kill you,’ which is exactly the same thing that my rapist was telling me when he threatened to kill me.”
On the other side of the police fence, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the National Abortion Access Coalition and NARAL Pro-Choice America participated in another rally. Yellow balloons printed with the words “BANS OFF OUR BODIES” escaped into the sky. Several pro-choice demonstrators declined to speak with CNA.
Voices clashed in the air as people, the majority of whom were women, spoke into their respective microphones at both rallies. Abortion supporters stressed bodily autonomy, while pro-lifers recognized the humanity of the unborn child. Chants arose from both sides at different points, from “Whose choice? My choice!” to “Hey hey, ho ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go!”
At 10 a.m., the pro-life crowd sudddenly went silent as the oral arguments began and the rally paused temporarily as live audio played through speakers.
Hundreds of students from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, traveled to Washington, D.C. for a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, in conjunction with oral arguments in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case. Katie Yoder/CNA
During the oral arguments, students from Liberty University knelt in prayer. One student estimated that more than a thousand students from the school made the more than 3-hour trip from Lynchburg, Virginia.
“Talking about our faith is one thing, but actually acting upon it is another,” he said. “We have to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. So to me this is part of doing that.”
Sister Mary Karen, who has been with the Sisters of Life for 21 years, also stressed the importance of prayer. She drove from New York earlier that morning because, she said, she felt drawn to attend. She came, she said, to pray for the country and promote the dignity of a human person.
“Our culture is post-abortive,” she explained. “So many people have suffered and the loss of human life is so detrimental, just not knowing that we have value and are precious and sacred.”
Theresa Bonopartis, of Harrison, New York, was among the pro-life demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021. She runs a nonprofit group called Entering Canaan that ministers to women and others wounded by abortion. Katie Yoder/CNA
She stood next to Theresa Bonopartis, who traveled from Harrison, New York, and ministers to women and others wounded by abortion.
“I’ve been fighting abortion for 30 years at least,” she told CNA.
Her ministry, called Entering Canaan, began with the Sisters of Life and is observing its 25th anniversary this year. It provides retreats for women, men, and even siblings of aborted babies.
Abortion is personal for Bonopartis, who said she had a coerced abortion when she was just 17.
“I was kicked out of the house by my father and then coerced into getting an abortion,” she said. “Pretty much cut me off from everything, and that’s something people don’t really talk about … they make it try to seem like it’s a woman’s right, it’s a free choice. It’s all this other stuff, but many women are coerced in one way or another.”
She guessed that she was 14 or 15 weeks pregnant at the time.
“I saw my son. I had a saline abortion, so I saw him, which I always considered a blessing because it never allowed me to deny what abortion was,” she said. Afterward, she said she struggled with self-esteem issues, hating herself, guilt, shame, and more. Then, she found healing.
“I know what that pain is like, I know what that experience is like, and you know that you can get past it,” she said. “You just want to be able to give that message to other people, that they’re able to heal.”
Residents of Mississippi, where the Dobbs v. Jackson case originated, also attended.
Marion, who declined to provide her last name, drove from Mississippi to stand outside the Supreme Court. She said she was in her early 20s when Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973.
“At the time, of course, I could care less,” she said. Since then, she had a change of heart.
“We were the generation that allowed it,” she said, “and so we are the generation who will help close that door and reverse it.”
Marion, who declined to provide her last name, was among those who attended a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, from Mississippi, where the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion case originated. Katie Yoder/CNA
The crowd at the pro-life rally included all ages, from those who had witnessed Roe to bundled-up babies, children running around, and college students holding up homemade signs.
One group of young friends traveled across the country to stand outside the Supreme Court. They cited their faith and family as reasons for attending.
Mathilde Steenepoorte, 19, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, identified herself as “very pro-life” in large part because of her younger brother with Down syndrome. She said she was saddened by the abortion rates of unborn babies dianosed with Down syndrome.
Juanito Estevez, from Freeport, a village on Long Island, New York, at a pro-life rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021. Katie Yoder/CNA
Juanito Estevez, from Freeport, a village on Long Island, New York, arrived Tuesday. He woke up at 6 a.m. to arrive at the Supreme Court with a crucifix in hand.
“I believe that God is the giver of life and we don’t have the right [to decide] whether a baby should live or die,” he said.
He also said that he believed women have been lied to about abortion.
“We say it’s their right, and there’s a choice,” he said. When girls tell him “I have the right,” his response, he said, is to ask back, “You have the right for what?”
Mallory Finch, from Charlotte, North Carolina, was among the pro-life demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021.
Mallory Finch, from Charlotte, North Carolina, also woke up early but emphasized “it was worth it.” A pro-life podcast host, she called abortion a “human-rights issue.”
“I hope that it overturns Roe,” she said of the case, “but that doesn’t mean that our job as pro-lifers is done. It makes this, really, just the beginning.”
Side view of the gilded statue of Joan of Arc at Place des Pyramides in Paris, France. / Shutterstock
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Our world from Scotland and to the far reaches of our planet has been enlightened. The torch bearer is the Angel of Light, his daemonic eminence Lucifer.
A true mystery is God’s justice. Why would the divine majesty, who hurled Lucifer down to earth, down deeper to the bowels of an eternal inferno, provide for equanimity for purchase of souls? Why wasn’t he kept imprisoned? Instead he’s permitted to patrol the earth seeking victims, and to contend with God on the issue of justice for the poor mortal in question? How can that be if not for the incomprehensibleness of God?
Lucifer wins souls by sheer sensual persuasion, or when suitable with sophisticated intellectual argument. Of a much higher order of intellect he’s pretty good at forming persuasive arguments to do something as horrendous as to enter his kingdom. Freedom, liberty, the individual as sovereign in relation to all things, today the most perverse disorder of homosexuality in all its myriad forms, LGBT acquiring letter after letter after number to identify some new bizarre distortion of the satanically distorted human mind. Christ, the Son of God purchased us by his blood.
Lucifer seemed to ‘divine’ this, perhaps the reason why the great cults practiced human sacrifice, as did the Canaanites, as did the Aztecs, Mayans in the new world. He true to form, and as Our lord warned, induced the Israelites to immolate their own sons and daughters. God, scripture says recoiled in horror. For justice sake God inflicted a terrible punishment. Jews stricken with famine began to cannibalize their own children. Can we successfully contemplate the justice in this? Lucifer likely would, not because of his inveterate evil, rather because of his superior intellect. Lucifer would also conceive Jesus as the promised savior. If he were rejected and crucified that would be the end of it. A sacrificial offering is one thing, betrayal, abandonment by the Apostles and disciples is another. Although something entirely unexpected happened. He rose from the dead. Who could understand the depth of God’s justice?
Our world from Scotland and to the far reaches of our planet has been enlightened. The torch bearer is the Angel of Light, his daemonic eminence Lucifer.
A true mystery is God’s justice. Why would the divine majesty, who hurled Lucifer down to earth, down deeper to the bowels of an eternal inferno, provide for equanimity for purchase of souls? Why wasn’t he kept imprisoned? Instead he’s permitted to patrol the earth seeking victims, and to contend with God on the issue of justice for the poor mortal in question? How can that be if not for the incomprehensibleness of God?
Lucifer wins souls by sheer sensual persuasion, or when suitable with sophisticated intellectual argument. Of a much higher order of intellect he’s pretty good at forming persuasive arguments to do something as horrendous as to enter his kingdom. Freedom, liberty, the individual as sovereign in relation to all things, today the most perverse disorder of homosexuality in all its myriad forms, LGBT acquiring letter after letter after number to identify some new bizarre distortion of the satanically distorted human mind. Christ, the Son of God purchased us by his blood.
Lucifer seemed to ‘divine’ this, perhaps the reason why the great cults practiced human sacrifice, as did the Canaanites, as did the Aztecs, Mayans in the new world. He true to form, and as Our lord warned, induced the Israelites to immolate their own sons and daughters. God, scripture says recoiled in horror. For justice sake God inflicted a terrible punishment. Jews stricken with famine began to cannibalize their own children. Can we successfully contemplate the justice in this? Lucifer likely would, not because of his inveterate evil, rather because of his superior intellect. Lucifer would also conceive Jesus as the promised savior. If he were rejected and crucified that would be the end of it. A sacrificial offering is one thing, betrayal, abandonment by the Apostles and disciples is another. Although something entirely unexpected happened. He rose from the dead. Who could understand the depth of God’s justice?
“Inclusive”, “consultation”.
Why does my skeptical radar go through the roof when I read these words?