The laity must do their part but so do the shepherds

As reported by The Catholic Register, this week Cardinal Thomas Collins spoke at an event hosted by the Catholic teachers' union. He told those present that today we are living a culture that has reduced the person to an object. Toronto's archbishop stressed the importance of Catholic education in pushing back euthanasia and that faith must be counter cultural. Students need to be exposed to good writers like St. Thomas Aquinas, G. K. Chesterton and have knowledge of the Bible and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Students also need good Catholic teachers who are not afraid to live their faith and thus give an example to their pupils.

What Cardinal Collins said about Catholic education, student involvement in living their faith and teachers needing to provide Christian leadership are all true and good. But it's also true that shepherds have failed to lead. Pastors and shepherds have not strongly defended the faith. What can the laity do when the Catholic teachers' union defies Catholic teaching and the bishops do nothing? What can parents do when the government approves a radical sex curriculum that contradicts Catholic doctrine and the bishops instead of fully backing the faith make a point of defending the curriculum from criticism? What can Catholic teachers do when Catholic boards approve an "Equity Education" policy that is against the Catholic view of the person, human sexuality, family and marriage and the bishops refuse to speak up with once voice? So, Catholic leadership and responsibility run in both directions: the laity must do their part but so do the shepherds.

Take this recent example where Lynise Reedy, a teacher with the Toronto Catholic District School Board, takes 90 students from Dante Alighieri Academy to see Kinky Boots.  (more...)

The laity must do their part but so do the shepherds

H/T to Catholic Intelligence Association