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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.

Last week a woman commented to my son and husband, "Wow, you two look a lot alike."   

Oscar replied, "That’s because we have the same genes."

She said, "You’re homeschooled, aren’t you?"

Huh?  What gave it away?  I told her, surprised, that he was, and she explained, "One of my children is homeschooled."  I suppose if one of her children is homeschooled, she may be able to see some difference that I can’t… 

This isn’t the first time that’s happened, maybe the second or third.  I told Hannah about it this week.  She speculated that homeschooled kids stand out, not because they are smarter, not because they have a larger vocabulary, not because they are more articulate, but because they are more comfortable talking to adults. 

They expect that an adult who asks them a question is requesting a meaningful answer; they expect that an adult who addresses them directly is initiating a genuine conversation.  After all, homeschooled children are socialized primarily by adults, not primarily by other children their own age.

I would expect that some homeschooled kids would have a fairly tough time, conversely, engaging in conversations and other social activity with institutionally-schooled children their own age.   Of course, so do plenty of institutionally-schooled children!

A few days ago I mentioned that my parish won’t be doing any of the archdiocesan-recommended anti-sex-abuse programs, and wondered how it would all come out in the press.  Today in the Star Tribune an article described a curious situation involving a fairly well-known and respected priest at St. Agnes, Fr. Robert Altier, who has commented unfavorably about the children’s portion of Virtus, the Archdiocese’s sex abuse education program (links below added by me):

A St. Paul priest’s opposition to an Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis anti-sex-abuse curriculum has led to a request by Archbishop Harry Flynn "to take some time off" from his radio and web ministries, the archdiocese’s spokesman said Friday.

The Rev. Robert Altier of St. Agnes Catholic Church has condemned the children’s component of the Virtus program, which is mandated for all Catholic schools and religious education programs.

Altier’s "Voice in the Desert" website… said he has chosen "obedient compliance" with Flynn’s request to refrain from posting commentaries or broadcasting them on Relevant Radio, 1330 AM.

"Father Altier is an honored priest, and has not committed any improprieties," archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath said. He said Flynn will not discuss the issue publicly because it is a "personnel matter, but I surmise that Father Altier’s contrarian position on Virtus is the issue."

Father Altier is a great priest — I can say this from personal experience, as I’ve heard his homilies and I’ve been to him for confession.  He has posted transcripts of his homilies, which are intelligent, reasoned discussions of the Gospel, for a long time, for anyone to access via the web.  (Now they’re down.)  He is a regular guest on — in my opinion the best part of — the Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio, fielding all kinds of questions about Catholic practices, theology, current events, you name it.  (Not for the time being.)

This is an example of it all going both ways, I suppose.  I have criticized some in the past for complaining when the archdiocese stops comment or activity by priests who push the envelope of Church teachings in the "left" direction.  They work for the Church, the Church issues their paychecks, they ought to expect that it will dictate their activities to some extent.  So when criticism comes from priests on the "right," and the archdiocese requests that they quiet that criticism, the same principles apply.  (Except, nags one side as I write this paragraph in an attempt to be fair and balanced, Fr. Altier isn’t left or right of, but centered on, the magisterium; he’s trying to encourage the archdiocese to be faithful to the magisterium.)

Of course he’s chosen "obedient compliance" with Archbishop Flynn’s request:  the archbishop is his superior, and Father Altier is a faithful priest, and he vowed obedience, after all.   The ones who are outspokenly faithful to the magisterium are the ones who will be quiet when the bishop asks them to… which is as it should be, but sort of frustrating.

I’m guessing, however, that a large number of Catholics — locally and nationally —who like what Fr. Altier has to say, and who are not bound to the same kind of obedience, will be writing and talking a lot about Fr. Altier’s enforced silence.

(But cheer up!  Even though we can’t read Fr. Altier’s homilies anymore, text versions of the speeches made by guest speakers at St. Joan of Arc during Sunday Mass are still available!  And there’s plenty we can learn from them… for example, that the only important reason why we follow Jesus instead of John the Baptist, the most important difference between them (after all, they were similar in every other way)  is that John preached a God of vengeance.  Or that Mary’s "yes" to the angel of the Annuciation is not properly translated as "Behold the handmaid of the Lord"— which would imply that women should not have control over their bodies — but rather as "I am a partner of Holy Mystery unfolding.")

OK, that was snarky, I admit it.  <sigh>

UPDATE:  Alicia tells me that some of Fr. Altier’s homilies have been cached and put online at Catholic Light.

UPDATE:  The Catholic blogosphere is awakening:  Regular Guy has comments and links.  Our Word and Welcome To It, local, has a brief, weary statement.