Print friendly
An organisation representing a Canadian province’s Catholic teachers is determined to take part in a same-sex pride parade despite church opposition.
In March, the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association voted to send a contingent of more than 100 members to the World Pride Parade.
The association wants to send a message that it supports gay and lesbian students and teachers and their right to be free of bullying and harassment.
The parade, scheduled for June 29, will feature acts of nudity and simulated sexual activities.
The event is part of a 10-day World Pride festival, which will also feature what organisers call the largest same-sex multiple wedding in history.
More than 110 same-sex couples from as far away as India, Bosnia and Russia have already registered to marry at a “Grand Pride Wedding” in Toronto on June 26.
In a June newsletter, the Catholic teachers’ association stated its participation in the parade should not be seen endorsing behaviour contrary to Church teaching.
“Instead it should be viewed as reflecting our ongoing conversation and engagement with our multicultural and increasingly secular society in the pursuit of common good,” the newsletter continued.
The decision has been justified as an internal union matter, with which employers cannot interfere.
Toronto Cardinal and Archbishop Thomas Collins has voiced his concerns to the teachers’ association.
“I find it very troubling and strange that [the union] would choose this particular event as a way of expressing [support], when it seems to be going completely against what we believe in many ways,” Cardinal Collins said.
After the March decision, Cardinal Collins said it demonstrated an “inadequate and mistaken understanding of their faith”.
Advocacy group Parents as First Educators has started a petition against the association being in the parade.
“This has the potential to cause confusion among students about what the Church teaches about marriage and family,” spokesperson Teresa Pierre said.
The dispute has raised questions about how Church teachings are squared with students’ and teachers’ constitutional rights at publicly funded Catholic school boards in Ontario.
Some boards have opposed the teachers’ association being in the parade, but others are supporting it.
Sources
- National Post
- The Star
- Montreal Gazette
- Image: CBC
Related Posts:
News category: World.
