H-T Catholic Mom of 10: From Mr Eric Hester
SIR - You report (January 16) (Catholic Herald Letters to the Editor ) that the National Association of Catholic Families has written an open letter to the Catholic Education Service (CES) about that body's support for the Government's plan to introduce compulsory sex education for all children in schools from the age of four as part of the National Curriculum.
The Government's proposal has been rightly described by Gerald Warner of the Daily Telegraph as "child abuse".
Those who think that what the Government has in mind is something mild that can be incorporated into Catholic teaching about chastity should realise that the material that is already used and recommended is obscenity of the worst kind. Those with strong stomachs can see for themselves by looking at the websites of the Government-recommended agencies, such as the Terence Higgins Trust, the Teenage Pregnancy Unit, Marie Stopes International, the Family Planning Association, and Connexions.
The Government proposals are opposed by almost everyone, including the association that represents headteachers and the National Union of Teachers, as well as, according to opinion polls, 75 per cent of parents.
It is therefore astonishing that the CES is supporting the Government rather than Catholic parents. Catholic teaching could not be clearer on two important points: that the rights of parents are "inalienable" and that there should be no sex education at all in what John Paul II called the "years of innocence" -_that is, before puberty.
Yours faithfully,
Eric Hester
Bolton, Lancs
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