Catholic schools offering parents help in answering sexuality and gender questions

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has released two collections of resources to help parishes, teachers, and parents better grapple with the increasingly complex world of modern sexuality and gender. 

The initiative arose from a growing understanding within the archdiocese that both the evangelical mission of the Church, and the educational mandate of Catholic schools, were suffering from an uncoordinated response to issues surrounding sexuality and gender.

Michel Gloanec, director of evangelization and catechesis for the archdiocese’s Catholic school board, said, said principals and teachers were seeing “the need … that existed for our young people” who were having trouble navigating the challenges of the world, “post sexual revolution.”

The initiative is the result of a collaboration between the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese (CISVA) and the archdiocesan Chancery Office to implement Archbishop J. Michael Miller’s vision that local Church institutions be “fearless and well informed” in the face of societal pressures, said James Borkowski, the Archbishop’s Delegate for Operations.

The issue is further complicated by the fact that for many Catholics the issues surrounding sexuality and gender are a “blocker” for their interactions with the Church, Borkowski said. 

The schools’ goal was to harmonize all levels of archdiocesan policy on issues about sexuality and gender with existing CISVA resources and policies – some of which were approaching 25 years of age. 

More importantly, the team wanted to present an authentic “Catholic anthropology,” Gloanec said. This meant going back to the “Church documents to see what our own Church has to say.” 

As with any issue, the way sexuality and gender are presented in CISVA schools is important, said Gloanec.

“How does this look different than the (public) school down the road?” he said. If there is little difference between Catholic and public schools – especially when it comes to social issues – there is work to be done, he said.

Most significantly, the offices became reacquainted with the emphasis the Church places on the significant role that parents should have in their children’s education. This prompted the creation of “Sexuality and your Child” parent nights that constitute a four-year program to give parents the knowledge and resources to be the core educators of their children on sexuality and gender. 

The schools’ mandate is to partner with parents in their children’s Christian education, and the new resources were chosen to complement CISVA’s Christian education curriculum.

“I am always worried about rolling out another initiative,” said educational consultant Pat Gillespie, but the new resources don’t mean extra work for teachers, and in fact should lighten their load.

Among the resources offered to schools is a binder that offers case studies, scenarios, and policies specific to the Church’s teachings on issues ranging from chastity and teen pregnancy to abortion, pornography, and gender dysphoria.

An educational pamphlet for parents, entitled “When your Child is Questioning Their Gender and Sexuality,” has also been created for schools and parishes. The documents help parents develop a framework to assess whether their child who is struggling with issues relating to sexuality and gender needs additional support.

Bullying, relationships, gender identity, among other concerns, are all covered in the pamphlet.

For parishes, the focus of the materials is pastoral, with no model of implementation was given. Instead, the focus is on giving parishes the tools to better minister to parishioners as well as those outside the parish who might be struggling with issues related to sexuality and gender. 

Borkowski said parishes can sometimes have difficulty welcoming people with whom they disagree, and the hope is that the resources will help open doors to evangelization that might have otherwise been closed.

After all, said Borkowski, “the Church knows that some of our best relationships start in profound disagreement.”