Canada, Homosexuality and Children

[I've received a number of positive comments from readers concerning the September 8th "Of Canons and Culture..." -- a column I write for the Wanderer. So I hope nobody minds if I blog the original unedited version -- PJV]

Of Canons & Culture
Canada, Homosexuality and Children

Pete Vere

“Daddy,” my four-year-old asked, “why are those two men kissing like you and Mommy?”

While I initially hoped to avoid mentioning homosexuality in this month’s column, the question left me stunned. It was Saturday afternoon. My daughter and I were enjoying the public playground down the street. We were not sitting around watching Gerry Springer, MTV, or Dan Blather covering a joint NARAL-DNC convention. Just a father pushing his daughter on a swing and catching her at the end of the slide. I look forward to this family time each week.

Now the answer to my daughter’s question is obvious: these two homosexuals were not kissing like Mommy and Daddy. Even the most confused and careless of storks steers clear of the former, whereas my four-year-old owes her existence to the latter. Of course she is innocent of this truth, and despite the shock this may cause sex indoctrination...er...education experts, her naivety is entirely appropriate for one her age. Yet even at four my daughter recognizes something unnatural about two men kissing. I’m not so sure about most sex education experts.

The liberal Canadian establishment reverences homosexuality with a passion they once reserved for abortion. For example, Bryan Pinn and Bill Dalrymple are two Canadian men. Best friends for 22 years, they each claim to be heterosexual. Thus it surprised friends and family when Bryan and Bill announced their impending marriage for, to quote the report in Agence France Presse, the "significant tax implications.” “The [law] did not specify that the couple had to be gay,” the story notes.

The reaction of Canada’s homosexual lobby was predictable. “It makes a mockery out of marriage,” one homosexual activist complained. Although you may find this difficult to believe, the activist was reportedly expressing outrage and not satire. Other homosexual activists followed through with their ritual accusations of homophobia, at which point Pinn and Dalrumple called off the wedding. In Canada, “homophobia” has replaced “Jesus” as the name before which every knee shall bend and every tongue confess.

Coincidentally, I had just finished reading This Side of Jordan when I came across Pinn and Dalrumple’s allegedly homophobic wedding. This Side of Jordan is Bill Kassel’s latest novel and it addresses the topic of homosexuality from an orthodox Catholic perspective. Although a tad sermonizing at times, I found the novel highly entertaining. In my somewhat cantankerous opinion, the book’s exchange between two fictional priests catches the essence of the word homophobia :

***

“I frankly think the biggest problem the Church faces right now is homophobia,” states Lowell Walton, a progressive pastor who eschews the title Father.

“Homophobia, Lowell?” replies Fr. Karl Muller, the protagonist and a champion of Catholic orthodoxy. “An even bigger problem may be homophobiaphobia—the fear of being called homophobic. I think it’s crippling our ability to discern truth from falsehood.”

***

In Canada, it is also crippling out ability to preserve our children’s innocence. For how do we teach our children to discern truth from falsehood when in our society none dare speak against the love that dares not speak its name in other societies? This question was the topic of conversation this past weekend when John O’Brien, John Pacheco and I met for coffee.

Our American readers may recognize John O’Brien as the son of Catholic novelist Michael O’Brien. Here in Canada, where many Catholic schools have become defacto public schools since accepting public funding, the younger O’Brien is a leading proponent of private Catholic education. As the principal of Wayside Academy (www.waysideacademy.ca), he saw this private Catholic academy in expand from a grade school to include a high-school as well.

John O’Brien believes that private Catholic education is the means for preserving our children’s innocence. Yet it is not just about religion, for O’Brien also believes private Catholic education is the best means for preparing our children to become productive citizens. After all, a child not obsessed with sex can focus on such novel subjects as reading, writing and arithmetic.

O’Brien is presently helping John Pacheco establish a sister grade school here in Ottawa. The name of the school is Maryvale Academy (www.MaryvaleAcademy.ca) and its first class of thirty-five students is now underway. Maryvale operates on a shoe-string budget. Pacheco spends most of his spare time these days looking and praying for donors. “I think we just may break even this year,” he shared during our conversation. He and the other founding parents have already dug deep into their own pockets, while Maryvale’s teaching staff have agreed to salaries that are less than half of what their public school counterparts bring home. Yet given the immorality corrupting Canada’s social and cultural institutions, this is the sacrifice we must make to preserve our children’s innocence.