Friday, April 24, 2009

So who really does take sex ed seriously?

When I pointed out that 'most' Catholic bloggers, like the Catholic press and the hierarchy, seem to be largely ignoring the sex ed issue, I was rebuked by Mulier Fortis: 'don't antagonise your friends' she tells me.

I recognise the work Mulier Fortis has put into this issue, her courage and persistence; my remark wasn't directed at her. As for the others, I suggest the Catholic bloggers who do care about this needle them until they start taking notice.

Here's Google's top 25 Catholic websites. The ranking seems a little questionable to me but it is mostly blogs and it's a place to start. Looking at the blogs alone:

The Curt Jester: a search for "sex ed" throws up a number of references. There are numerous references as a side-issue and several posts devoted to the subject: on Bishop O'Donaghue, 'Screw Abstinence', Homosexual Progaganda, for example.

The Hermeneutic of Continuity is brilliant on the issue, so is Creative Minority Report.

Jimmy Akin: a search reveals a lot of references, but they seem to be mostly in the comments on his posts. The same seems to be true of 'Inside Catholic' and What Does the Prayer Really Say?. It is interesting that their readers are more concerned about it that the authors.

The Conversation Diary has fewer references, again many of them are in comments, despite acknowledging its importance in a post on 'How I became pro-life'. There are a handful of references on Pro Ecclesia.


So what's my point? The most read Catholic blogs are, I should say, completely orthodox on the issue, but most of them just don't talk about it very much.

Abortion is a big issue for Catholics because children are being killed under our very noses. Sex education should be a big issue too: not only are children being abused under our noses, but unlike abortion (at least until recently), it is happening to Catholic children in Catholic schools.

This last point makes it a hot potato. That makes it all the more important that we don't drop it.

Congratulations to the Catholic blogs who talk about it persistently - we link to a lot of them on the side-bar, including Mulier Fortis; see also Catholic and Loving It. But few of them are among the most widely read blogs.

6 comments:

Mulier Fortis said...

Hercules - sorry, I did over-react just a bit! This was, however, because there is a lot of "blog-bashing" going on at the moment (Fr. Tim at the Hermeneutic of Continuity thinks it's because of the Bishops discussing blogs during their Low Week meeting)

Most of the bashing is via the mainstream media - and here you'll have seen The Tablet having a go - but there has also been major criticism from other blogs - Ruth Gledhill comes to mind. I just felt that, with everything else that is going on, criticising Catholic bloggers who are trying to be faithful wasn't going to help...

:-)

Frabjous Days said...

My ever so 'umble blog had a link to the anti-sex ed petition in December. I've forgotten how to do HTML in links but it's at http://frabjousdays.blogspot.com/2008/12/open-letter-to-catholic-bishops-of.html

Keep up the good work.

Hercules said...

Thank you, Elizabeth!

Hilary Jane Margaret White said...

I think it's important to remember too that there isn't just one category: "Catholic blogs", but dozens of different kinds of Catholic blogs.

For instance, one would not expect to see a great deal on sex ed at the New Liturgical Movement. Different blogs talk about different things and I think this is perfectly legitimate. Different people are interested in different things, and I think that talking about sex ed is something that comes about more naturally when one has children, and particularly when one is English or British and has children.

For someone like Steve Skojec, who lives in what can still broadly be described as as free country in which parents are more or less allowed to say what goes with their kids, the issue is less prominent.

One can't be het up about everything that's out there to be het up about. We'd turn ourselves inside out if we did.

Hercules said...

I'm not criticising these blogs individually; it's the pattern which interests me.

The NLM isn't in Google's top 25 sites but I take the point; the same is true of Rorate Caeli perhaps. My point is simply this: the Catholic press in the UK, I don't know about the US, is silent on the sex ed issue; the blogs have to talk all the louder to make up. And are they? Generally, no. The number of major blogs who have decided that it is an issue which interests them is fairly small.

The Catholic press is pretty useless on dissent, abortion, and liturgical abuses, and between them the blogs take up the slack on those issues. They should be doing the same thing with sex ed.

I wonder if there are any other hot potato issues which fit the sex ed pattern.

Unknown said...

At last a like minded sex-ed opponent at Cath Action!
I'm member of small women's group been studying issue for 15 yrs - done post-grad. work on issue.

You are so spot on re. pro-lifers needing to concentrate on sex-ed - it's the leading cause of abortion now

Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to St Michael

Holy Michael, Archangel, defend us in the day of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust down to Hell Satan, and all wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen