Bishop Charles Gauci wants the Northern Territory government to shelve its plan to remove the right of religious schools to employ staff who share their faith.

The NT parliament is considering government amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act.

The change will end an existing provision that lets "religious educational institutions discriminate against staff based on their sexuality''.

Bishop Gauci has warned that the draft bill has the "unintended consequences'' of preventing religious schools from requiring staff to teach in line with the school's faith.

"Denying faith schools the right of ensuring that their belief systems are upheld by employing the right people is a violation of religious freedom,'' he wrote in his Bishop's Reflection on Thursday.

"Can you imagine a Catholic school employing a leader of a school who advocates atheism, or thinks that the beliefs of our church are silly?

"Now, it doesn't mean that every teacher is a Catholic or even a believer. But we certainly have a firm policy that the principal, the deputy, the director of religious education, are practising members of our faith community," Bishop Gauci said on Darwin's Mix 104.9 Radio on 16 November.

"I'm taking this very, very seriously.

"It's really questioning whether we are going to be viable in all of our schools. And we have plenty of them, giving a great contribution to people across the NT," Bishop Gauci said.

Government taking a "radical approach''

He said the legislative amendments could force Catholic schools to let teachers promote atheism or polygamy to students.

"If I cannot have a faith school … then we would have to seriously consider closing them, and then all the kids would have to go to the state schools,'' he said on Wednesday.

"We are not talking about a teacher's personal beliefs or even their own private lives; we are talking about what they do in schools and what they teach.

"I repeat: more than half the students to come to our schools are not Catholic, but they value what we present and what we hold."

The Australian Association of Christian Schools said the NT government was taking a "radical approach'' towards anti-discrimination laws by removing the longstanding employment exemption for religious schools.

"Completely removing (section) 37a from the Discrimination Act leaves our schools vulnerable to claims of discrimination when it comes to employing staff who share the faith,'' AACS executive officer Vanessa Cheng said on Thursday.

The Australian Christian Lobby also called on the NT government to reverse the amendment.

"Everyone understands the right of political parties to hire staff who are members of their parties, and for other values-based organisations to hire staff who adhere to their ethos,'' the ACL's NT director Christopher Brohier said.

"And yet the NT government plans to deny faith-based schools this same right.

"Religious schools should not be forced to hire staff opposed to, or out of step with, their beliefs.''

Mr Brohier said the NT bill "discriminates against parents who choose to send their children to religious schools".

Sources

• Catholic Weekly
• The Australian

In a rare intervention, Australia's Catholic bishops told the schools that sex is not a social construct but a "physical, biological reality."

Society has "widely adopted the belief that each person's innermost concept of themselves determines their gender identity," the bishops said.

These changes are "in conflict with the Catholic understanding of creation, in which every person is created good and is loved unconditionally" as they are.

For most children and adolescents, gender ­incongruence is a psychological condition. They will pass safely and naturally through this with supportive psychological care, the bishops explained.

Helping children to transition genders isn't necessary, they say.

They suggest teachers use a 'biopsychosocial model' when offering support.

The model is based on research that found a strong relationship between "childhood gender incongruence and family dynamics" that can be quelled with psychological support for both the child and their family.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli says the guidance document elevated the dignity of every person rather than "defining that person by any single characteristic".

Pastoral care initiatives that are "in conflict with the generosity of the Christian vision" are to be "respectfully avoided".

These include concepts that say gender is arbitrarily assigned at birth, it is fluid and is separate from biological sex.

Comensoli said Catholic schools ­adhered to the "foundational principle that each person is created in the image and likeness of God, and is loved by God.

"That principle guides this document, which we offer to our schools to support them in walking compassionately alongside each student we are invited to educate," he said.

The document is aimed at ­providing support and care to students. It makes no recommendations that would result in students being expelled because of their gender identity.

Rather, it's about encouraging teenagers not to make life-changing decisions when they're too young to know exactly what they're doing, or without rigorous and multi-disciplinary medical assessments.

Catholic schools are encouraged to cater to the needs of students experiencing gender incongruence, a term recommended for use by educators over the term "transgender".

The bishops' document also recommends they provide unisex toilets or change rooms not aligned to biological sex, however.

In addition, it proposes "flexibility with uniform expectations" to cater for student diversity.

The guidance comes amid public debate surrounding the ability of transgender students to participate in school sports.

The National Catholic Education Commission notes many medical professionals are challenging the gender-affirmative approach. They support the biopsychosocial approach, which is less invasive, holistic and more closely aligned with a Catholic worldview.

"It remains critical that our Catholic schools can speak about the Church's teachings on these matters in an informed way, underpinned by the principles of respect and human dignity," the National Commission says.

Source

• The Australian
• The Daily Mail
• Sky News