Reign of Relativism Why Are Catholic High School Students No Different?

July 22, 2006 (Press Release) -- Reign of Relativism

Why Are Catholic High School Students No Different?

A poll conducted by Zogby International of 1,003 high school students found that 80% of Catholic seniors believe homosexuals should have the right to marry while only two-thirds of the total of all demographic high school senior groups in the survey claimed gay marriages should be legal. Dennis Gilbert of Hamilton College, in Clinton, N.Y., did the survey. In an interview in the September 6 Wanderer, Gilbert said, "Large majorities of seniors take pro-gay positions on relevant gay issues. And virtually every definable demographic group took these positions," apart from evangelical or 'born-again' Christians."

According to Father X -- a priest in the San Jose Diocese who asked to remain anonymous, the document Pastoral Guidelines for Ministry to Homosexuals in the Diocese of San Jose contributes to the ethical confusion on homosexuality among Catholic high school students because it has no moral component. This diocese document claims "...individuals do not choose and cannot change their sexual orientation but must understand it and integrate it into their life of faith and conscience."

"There is a presumption in the diocese that homosexuality has a biological basis," said Father X. "This, in part, originally came from the Kinsey report, which lead to gay safe zones in the public schools and were eventually followed by the Catholic schools. The problem is that a lot of Catholic teachers and theologians feel that they need to filter the Church's teachings according to their philosophical agenda or they won't teach it."

According to James Likoudis, a nationally known writer on catechetic and sex education, the reason Catholic high school students are just as pro-homosexual as their secular counterparts is that the relevant Church documents are filtered out. He said, "The Vatican document The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality intended to remove corrupting sex education programs in Catholic schools is a dead letter in this country, as can be seen in the continued proliferation of Catholic sex education programs in practically every diocese."

In the diocese of San Jose, there are similarities in what Catholic students and students in public schools get. Frank Scanlon, a student at Bellermine Catholic high school said, "There's no gay slant at Bellermine, even though at a retreat, one kid came out that he was gay. But, they taught us about condoms, and if you have sex use them."

Scanlon's father said, "a lot of the kids consider their religion class a joke. They had one priest who didn't want to impose ...