On Saturday 12 January 2019, John Lacken delivered a talk at a family conference organised by the Roundtower Association in Galway. You can view a video featuring excerpts from that talk above. The full talk is also available to view here.
Defending the Catholic Family
John Lacken – Saturday 12th January 2019 – Galway
In the discussion after the conference the attention of parents was drawn to a Bill that is currently making its way through the Irish legislature. Most people are unaware that a new move is afoot in this country to by-pass the ethos of Catholic schools in the matter of human sexuality. A private members bill was introduced into Dáil Éireann by Paul Murphy of ‘People Before Profit’ on March 28th 2018. The Bill seeks ” to guarantee the right of students to receive factual and objective relationships and sexuality education without regard to the characteristic spirit of the school.”. In other words, they seek to legally impose an RSE programme which contradicts the ethos of Catholic schools.
Mr Murphy, in introducing the Bill, said it was driven by young people who were also the driving force behind the same-sex relationships referendum and the repeal of the eight amendment referendum. Mr Murphy ignores the wisdom of the ages in favour of the oftentimes ill-informed opinions of young people who do not have much experience of the devastating consequences that irresponsible sexual behaviour cause in society. In the second reading of the Bill in April 2018, Mr Murphy reveals where his focus is. He says “Unfortunately, most school students receive RSE that is grossly distorted by the religious ethos of their schools.”
So much for factual information. The Catholic Church does not give a distorted view of human sexuality, she teaches a consistent message which if followed faithfully will help our young people to avoid the disastrous effects of pre-marital sexual activity which can include sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy as well as other negative psychological effects.
Mr Murphy does not seem to see the irony of calling for RSE which is factual and then saying that the Bill seeks to implement an RSE syllabus which is non gender normative saying that “it would require RSE to cover different genders so that young people know that not everyone is either male or female, that there are non-binary and gender fluid people in society and, of course, in our schools.” That everyone is either Male or Female is a biological fact which can be scientifically demonstrated using DNA sampling. Mr Murphy’s idea of factual had nothing to do with an upholding of facts rather, he regards his ideological opinions on human sexuality as being factual.
In April of 2018, the then minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, asked the NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment) to conduct a review of Relationship and Sexuality Education in Ireland. The NCCA makes one of the same mistakes as Mr Murphy does. They seek to consult with thirteen year old children to ask their opinions about how RSE should be taught. The material provided to schools for consulting with students is far greater than anything provided for consulting with the parents who are the primary educators of the children and without whose permission the state has no right over education except in exceptional circumstances where the parents are grossly failing in their duty to their children.
The NCCA have a survey for parents on their website and we encourage as many parents as possible to fill out the survey stating that RSE is best taught by parents in the home. Be careful because there are questions on the survey which are not really questions as they already presume an answer. One of these is the compulsory question “Who do you think is best equipped to teach RSE in school?” One is not allowed to give the answer that RSE should not be taught in schools, therefore in answering this question you are agreeing to the proposition that RSE should be taught in schools without being asked the question. This is an example of how loaded question on surveys are used to distort and form public
