Cardinal Makes Six Demands on Sex Education Proposals
Sept 11, 2004
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland yesterday demanded six assurances from the Scottish Executive on its sexual health strategy.
(September 10 2004) The demand by Cardinal Keith O'Brien reignited the controversy sparked last month when he warned of a campaign against the new sex education proposals for schools.
The cardinal told a meeting of Catholic youth officers in Ayr that while he accepted assurances from Jack McConnell on the proposals, he still required "urgent clarification" on six issues.
One of these including a pledge that the morning-after pill will not be made available to youngsters without parental consent, either in or out of school, and another was for the executive to consider new guidelines for health workers on confidentiality when dealing with minors.
But the cardinal's call was attacked by a Holyrood MSP for putting fresh pressure on the executive over sex education. Patrick Harvie, of the Greens, accused the churchman of "ill-informed comments" and demanded an apology from him.
But Mr Harvie, MSP for Glasgow region, said: "It would be outrageous for the executive to deny young people the right to confidentiality. Of course parental involvement is important, but there are bad parents out there as well as good ones."
Mr Harvie, a former youth worker, said he had helped youngsters who were "bullied, beaten and made homeless" by their parents all because their confidentiality was breached.
"The cardinal has shown a complete lack of understanding of sexual health. His ill-informed comments have skewed the public debate and undermined health workers," he said.
"Now he wants 'clarification' when what is really needed is a public apology from him for the damage he has caused."
An executive spokeswoman said: "Ministers are working to finalise the national sexual health strategy. These issues will be considered as ministers finalise the strategy."
The cardinal warned in a recent newspaper article of a looming sex education row that could be bigger than the Section 28 controversy, claiming that young children could be provided with "graphic and intimate" sexual instruction.
Mr McConnell rejected some of the cardinal's claims, saying it was untrue there would be sex education for the youngest children in primary and nursery schools, or that the morning-after pill was to be handed out in schools. There was a furious backlash against the cardinal's initial comments.
A consultation by the executive on sex education is about to end, and a sexual health strategy is to be issued later this year.
In his speech yesterday, the cardinal argued his article triggered a much-needed public debate and welcomed Mr McConnell's assurances.
But he went on: "The wider debate, however, concerning as it does the future health, physical and moral, of the young people of Scotland, must continue. Again, I ask the Scottish Executive to urgently consider alternative approaches to sexual health which set sexual activity within a moral context and provide young people with negotiating skills to resist peer pressure and support to enhance their self-esteem."
Assurances sought by the cardinal include: Confirmation there will be no "suggestive role-playing, graphic imagery or intimate questioning" in pre-school or primaries, confirmation that the morning-after pill will not be made available without parental consent, clarification that parents will be involved in discussions on values being taught their children, and clarification on the right of denominational schools to require those working in them to uphold the moral teaching of the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Makes Six Demands on Sex Education Proposals