Along with many parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston, my parish is working to include two large mandated elements into the curriculum of our parish Faith Formation program. First there is the Safety Curriculum mandated by the US Bishops following the sex abuse scandal. In addition to that, the Archdiocese of Boston is mandating a curriculum on Chastity for middle school students.
The Safety program is familiar to our parishioners because a similar program is in place in the public school system. As you might guess, the local school system does not offer a curriculum on chastity. From different vantage points and with different agenda, the two programs mandated for parishes touch on issues that some believe should only be taught in the home, that some believe are beyond the maturity level of the target audiences and that some believe should only be taught by professionals. As recently as early this week our parish convened staff and lay leadership to discuss these issues and how best to address them.
Then comes today's New York Times not only reporting on teenage sexual activity but with Concord, MA in the dateline. That's All the news that's fit to print hitting very close to home.
From the NYT front page article: "The consensus around the (high school cafeteria) table was that it was unrealistic to think that 16-year-olds would not have sex, and that someone should have talked to Ms. Spears about contraception." The questions facing our parish Faith Formation program are: "What expectations does our faith have of us as we live and grow as men and women created by God as sexual persons? And how do we work towards meeting those expectations?"
None of us is foolish enough to deny the statistics on teenage sexual activity. As I mentioned at our parish meeting this week, if not in high school then in college a majority of our sons and daughters will be sexually engaged in uncommitted relationships. This is not what Christian morality expects of us nor do I imagine that this is what parents hope for their children. The question, then, is what are we willing to try to do to offer our young people an alternative response to what their culture teaches them? What models of behavior might we offer that are more substantial than the characters (and actors) on Zoey 101?
No easy answers here but I believe that the questions get harder the longer we delay in responding to them in some shared, programmatic fashion. This is certainly one issue where the Catholic Christian faith has a counter-cultural message to offer.
It is unfortunate to read so much condemnation online, in various Catholic blogs, of this young woman who has become pregnant. She could have quietly chosen to abort, as so many others have done. But she has chosen to stay pregnant. From Catholics, who proclaim the pro-life message, she deserves every support in that decision.
ReplyDeleteThis happening can't be a good thing, but I for one am glad she is keeping the baby. May we not stand in judgment but stand in love and caring for this person as Jesus. Let's not stone her so soon!
ReplyDeleteI trust no one read any condemnation of the younger Ms. Spears in my post - that certainly wasn't my intention. My concern here is how a parish community helps to educate and form its young people in the Christian moral life against a cultural backdrop which sends a very different set of messages.
ReplyDeleteEven though terminating this pregnancy would have seriously exacerbated the problems here, I'm not easily persuaded that the decision to have the child makes of Jaime Lynn a model for young people. Yes, the decision to have the child is the right one but it's the circumstances that led to the pregnancy that we need to address.
No... you didn't condemn her. But that has happened in the "Catholic" blogosphere generally.
ReplyDelete"The consensus around the table was that it was unrealistic to think that 16-year olds would not have sex, and that someone should have talked to Ms. Spears about contraception." The age of first having sex seems to be getting younger and younger. All the more reason to have an open, honest discussion with the young people of our parish. It is unrealistic in my view to think that young people will not have sex until they are married (marriage seems to be at a later age than it once was.) Therefore, young people need to know the ramifications (physical and emotional) of having sex. It is not an easy topic to discuss. It never has been. In the past, often it wasn't discussed, which left individuals to find out as best they could what the heck it was all about! I think today's approach is far better than that.
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