Introducing Primary Educators League:
We are a group of parents representing more than 14 parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis who are concerned about elements of the safe environment program being implemented in our archdiocese. We aren’t a formal organization, so we don’t have an official name or mailing address, but we share a desire to make parents aware of these programs.
We are grateful that our Archbishop has given us alternatives to the official curriculum (that we find problematic), and we are working to make parents and pastors aware of these alternative options that are available.
As many of you know, the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and Saint Paul is recommending certain anti-sex-abuse educational programs for children in its religious education classes and schools. Some parents and priests have raised concerns that the recommended programs are not age-appropriate and that they usurp the role of parents in directing their child’s education in sensitive matters. (Opt-out is available, but will parents have a chance to review the entire curriculum before making up their minds?)
Primary Educators League is trying to raise awareness of an alternative, already approved program called "Formation in Christian Chastity" (FICC). They provide some sample lessons on their website here. More detailed information can be found at the website of the Diocese of Harrisburg, which employs the program.
In FICC, all the instruction in grades 1-4 is done at home, while a mix of classroom and home instruction is done in grades 5-8. Parents, without their children, attend informational workshops or meetings at which they are provided with the resources to teach the material to their children.
It looks good — in any case, better than the Archdiocese’s recommendation. If our pastor petitions the Archbishop — and, if what appeared in the church bulletin last week is any indication, he probably will — we may be able to substitute FICC for TaT.
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