A LETTER TO PARENTS
FROM THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
BISHOPS
OF NOVA SCOTIA
Your Child and Sex Education
Dear
Parents,
As the Catholic Bishops of Nova Scotia we see this as an opportune time
to remind parents of their right and privilege to be the primary educators of
their children. This right flows from
the great distinction of parents being co-creators with God and from the
obligation they accepted, when their children were baptized, of being “the
first teachers of your child in the ways of faith”.
It is thus the parents’ responsibility to be the first to educate their
children in the meaning of life and in the wonderful truth that God has created
each one in his image, “male and female he created them”. Since God created human beings male and
female, our masculinity and our femininity, thus our sexuality is an integral
part of who we are.
Education in sexuality is necessary and important, but parents have the
right to be the first teachers of their children in the moral principles and
context in which they can live its truth and meaning. It is first of all from their parents that
young people learn what is appropriate with respect to their masculinity and
femininity. Parents, as well, have the
right to be the first teachers of their children about the gift of
fertility. At the same time, they also
have the right to be the first teachers and examples of a generous, loving
culture of life, which this gift calls forth.
This is important for the child’s full and healthy life in this world
and for their moral life as Christ’s disciples.
In this, no one can replace the
parents, for as Pope John Paul II said in his 1994 Letter to Families, “parents are rich in an educative potential
that no one else possesses. In a unique
way they know their own children; they know them in their unrepeatable identity
and by experience they possess the secrets and resources of true love.”
We recognize the significant
challenges which face everyone involved in the effort to provide moral,
spiritual and emotional formation to young people today. We believe schools are meant to complement
and strengthen what parents are teaching, but never to undermine or contradict
the moral values which parents present to their children. If such is the case, then parents have the
right and duty to protect their children from these detrimental influences.
We know that not all parents are comfortable in speaking with their
children about sexuality and how this gift is meant by God to be a source of
mutual love, unity, and generosity between married couples. For those who are not comfortable and want to
develop their understanding of this gift and a vocabulary for explaining it,
many simple resources are available, including books, pamphlets and videos, as
well as programs in natural family planning.
May the Lord, with Mary his
mother and Joseph her beloved spouse, continue to strengthen you in your important
vocation of marriage and the family.
+Terrence
Prendergast, S.J, Archbishop of Halifax
Apostolic Administrator, Diocese of Yarmouth
+Raymond
J. Lahey, Bishop of Antigonish
+Claude
Champagne, O.M.I. Auxiliary Bishop of Halifax
- To download (Word Doc. Format):Press here
Your Child and Sex Education
A Letter to Parents from the Catholic Bishops of Nova Scotia
To download (Adobe Acrobat Reader [.pdf] Format):
Your Child and Sex Education
A Letter to Parents from the Catholic Bishops of Nova Scotia
(c)2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998 Diocese of Antigonish,
Diocesan Pastoral Center