What's in a Name?

The future of the publicly funded Roman Catholic School Board in Ontario it seems.

Premier Dalton McGinty, is soon introducing legislation that will mandate all publicly funded schools in Ontario to accept the creation of such a named support group, should any student in a particular school request it, as part of the larger Bill 13 dealing with anti-bullying in schools.

In a May 28, 2012 open letter, Thomas Cardinal Collins, the Archbishop of Toronto stated that the Catholic Church cannot except the name "gay-straight alliance" in its schools as this would condone if not promote the gay lifestyle.

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association has since come out in favour of permitting the GSA name in a May 28, 2012 press release on its web site.

According to some if not many, one obvious solution is to cancel public funding of the Roman Catholic School Boards in Ontario. Then Catholic Schools can teach whatever they want in accordance with their beliefs and Church precepts.  Religious freedom is preserved.

Whoa, so this is how the great injustice may end.  The great injustice being the public funding of Roman Catholic school boards while all other faith based schools are funded privately in Ontario.

What to think as an avowed Roman Catholic?  If this means higher personal costs to fund the continued operation of the Roman Catholic Separate School Board, I don't think that this "what's in name" issue is important enough to fall on our swords about.

On the other hand, this is another example of relentless march of secularism that pushes religious issues or concerns to the margin in today's society.  While the Catholic Church says homosexual behavour is "intrinsically disordered", it recognizes that individuals have no choice in their sexuality and that no one should be bullied , ridiculed or discriminated against for reasons of their sexuality.  Keep your religious beliefs to your self and human rights trumps religious freedom rights is the response in this current debate.

I see it differently.  The concept of the great "absolute truths" as passed down through the Catholic Church papal line, interpreted scripture and Catechism is being eroded by relativism like this.  It is easy to rationalize away any particular rule or belief as being dated, out of touch or simply wrong.  It's a matter of individual conscience as to how one lives their life.  But in Catholic theology it's the Holy Spirit working in and through me which in the end directs my decisions and behaviours.  This takes time to reflect on and discern and effort to avoid a rush to judgement.

While this what's in a name issue seems trivial, I need more time to reflect and discern on this before rushing to judgement.  I urge others to do the same.