The time has come to ask the faith question

Vote for Catholic trustees who will defend the faith

What have we done of late to live, defend and promote the faith? Come next Tuesday we will be voting in the Municipal election 2014. Have you, your family or your parish taken any steps or initiatives to make sure we elect good Catholic trustees to responsibly govern and administer our Catholic boards?

In yesterday's Gospel of Matthew Jesus tells us, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” But if we have difficulty answering the questions posed at the beginning this suggests that we could be giving everything to Caesar and there may not be anything left to give to God.

A little history can help put the question in context as well as our baptismal goal. It was in 1897 during the Manitoba School Question that Pope Leo XII intervened in an effort to help resolve the educational divide by writing an encyclical Affari Vos. He took this extraordinary step because as Catholic education became threatened he urged Canadians to protect it. The Pope argued that students should not be educated so that, “the Catholic religion is ignored, or actively combated, in schools where its doctrine is despised and its foundational principles repudiated.”

In New Brunswick in 1871, a law was proposed for "common schools" to put an to end religious funding of schools. The argument was so fierce that rioting broke out against Catholics. A compromise solution was reached, but not before there were several deaths and the seizure of property from Catholic priests.

More recently, all provinces in one form or another have adopted “diversity” policies that have been implemented in all schools. In Ontario, they are called, “Equity and Inclusive Education Strategy” and the policies became provincial law with Bill 13. The new school policies and law have changed the "legal" meaning of human sexuality, family and marriage.  (more...)

The time has come to ask the faith question