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<h1 class="gmail-art-title">Catholic school board blasphemously marks June as month of Sacred Heart and LGBT ‘pride’</h1>
<div class="gmail-art-subtitle">The Toronto Catholic District
School Board lent its support for homosexuality 'to ensure that our
schools are safe and welcoming places for all.'</div>
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<span class="gmail-art-date">Tue Jun 2, 2020 - 8:43 pm EST</span></div><div class="gmail-single-art-date"><span class="gmail-art-date"><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-school-board-blasphemously-marks-june-as-month-of-sacred-heart-and-lgbt-pride">https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-school-board-blasphemously-marks-june-as-month-of-sacred-heart-and-lgbt-pride</a></span>
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<span class="gmail-author-name gmail-author-name-lg">By Lianne Laurenc</span></div></div>
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<p>TORONTO, June 2, 2020 (<a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/">LifeSiteNews</a>)
— <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b><span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)">The Toronto Catholic District School Board released a statement
Monday acknowledging </span>June as<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"> the month devoted to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus </span>and also as a month that “manifests pride” for “those in our
community who identify as LGBTQ+.”</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(249,203,156)"><b>The Ottawa, Algonquin Lakeshore, and Waterloo Catholic school boards
</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>also issued statements noting June as "Pride Month", and Thunder Bay was
the first Ontario Catholic board to raise the pro-homosexual “Pride”
flag at its schools last year.</b></span></p>
<p>The TCDSB June 1 statement comes less than a <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/half-of-torontos-catholic-school-trustees-agree-to-consider-recognizing-pride-month">month</a>
after LGBT activist and Toronto Catholic elementary school teacher
Paolo De Buono asked the board to officially recognize June as “Pride
Month.” The motion to receive De Buono’s delegation lost on a tie vote.</p>
<p>The June 1 <a href="https://www.tcdsb.org/Board/BoardAdministration/DirectorofEducation/Documents/Message-of-Inclusion-June-1-2020.pdf">statement</a> is signed by TCDSB director Rory McGuckin and board chair Joseph Martino and posted on Facebook and Twitter.</p>
<p>“June is devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which for Catholics is
a sign and symbol of God’s boundless and passionate love for all
humanity. We would also like to acknowledge that the month of June is of
particular importance and manifests pride for those within our
community who identify as LGBTQ+,” reads the statement.</p>
<p>The TCDSB, Canada’s largest publicly funded Catholic school board, is
committed to equity and inclusion as the foundation of a multi-year
strategy, McGuckin and Martino state.</p></div></div></div><p>“It is incumbent upon us to ensure that our schools are safe and
welcoming places for all. We must also acknowledge that there is always
more to do,” they write.</p>
<p>“We must continue to identify and eliminate discriminatory practices,
systemic barriers, and biases. We must recognize that students who
identify as LGBTQ+ may experience discrimination and judgment,” they
add.</p>
<p>“As Catholics, we believe that we are wonderfully made in the image
and likeness of a God who created us and loves us unconditionally — just
as we are. We are called to love and celebrate one another, just as God
loves and celebrates each one of us. We honour the inherent dignity in
each other by treating one another with care, compassion, and respect.”</p>
<p>Jeff Gunnarson of Campaign Life Coalition, Canada’s national pro-life, pro-family lobbying group, blasted the TCDSB statement.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>“It’s utterly blasphemous for </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>a Catholic </b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>school board to speak about </b></span>
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus</b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b> while affirming homosexuality,”</b></span> he
said.</p>
<p>The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus reminds Catholics of God’s
love, but also that<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b> Our Lord’s heart<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> </span></b></span><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>was pierced by our sins,</b></span> added
Gunnarson.</p>
<p>“The Catholic faith following Bible teaching makes it clear that
homosexual acts are a sin that cry out to God for vengeance. Pride is
also a sin. It is considered by many to be the sin that resulted in Adam
and Eve losing their relationship with God. Sin should never be
celebrated by anyone, especially a school board that calls itself
Catholic,” he told LifeSiteNews.</p>
<p>“It’s true that God is love. Sin, however, finds no place in God or
in his kingdom that he has prepared for those who love him in return.
God loves us so much that he gives us laws and standards to keep us on
the straight and narrow road to his loving heart,” he said.</p>
<p>The Catholic Catechism teaches that while “unjust” discrimination
against LGBT individuals is never justified, homosexual acts are
intrinsically disordered and gravely depraved and that the same-sex
inclination is itself an objective disorder. The Church teaches that
gender ideology contradicts God’s plan for human sexuality.</p>
<p>The TCDSB statement was similar to those of other Catholic boards noting “Pride Month.”</p>
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<p>The Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board tweeted:
“The month of June is designated as Pride Month. This month, and every
month, our Catholic schools are committed to nurturing safe and
inclusive learning environments where every student & every member
of our community is welcomed, valued & respected.”</p>
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<p>The Ottawa Catholic School Board tweeted: “June is Pride Month! We
continue to honour the dignity of every person, embracing diversity and
creating welcoming places for all. We are all wonderfully made. We love
because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19).”</p>
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<p>Notably, the words in the OCSB’s tweet — “We are all wonderfully
made” — and the quotation from 1 John 4:19 — “We love because he first
loved us” — appear on the “Catholic” version of the “Pride” flag that
Waterloo Catholic District School Board announced it would fly over all
its schools to recognize “Pride Month.”</p>
<p>The so-called Catholic version of a Pride flag depicts Jesus with his
arms outstretched over an array of rainbow-colored figures. It was one
of a number of options designed by the Institute of Catholic Education,
according to <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/catholic-school-board-wont-fly-jesus-pro-gay-pride-flag-after-severe-backlash">WCDSB’s</a> director of education, Loretta Notten.</p>
<p>The WCDSB decided not to fly any flag for “Pride Month” after
backlash from pro-family groups and concerned Catholics, as well as from
LGBT activists, with the latter upset that the board was not raising
the rainbow “Pride” flag.</p>
<p>However, WCDSB schools will display the “Catholic” version of the
“Pride” flag in their vestibules this year, while the board “consults
with the LGBTQ community on next steps leading to Pride Month 2021,” the
board announced in a press release.</p>
<p>It also posted a statement on <a href="https://www.wcdsb.ca/we-are-all-wonderfully-made/">its website</a> similar to that of the Toronto, Ottawa, and Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic school boards.</p>
<p>“The month of June is designated as Pride Month across the province
of Ontario, and indeed much of Canada and the globe,” wrote the WCDSB.
“This month, and each and every month, our Catholic schools are
committed to nurturing safe and inclusive learning environments where
every student and every member of the community is welcomed, valued, and
respected.”</p>
<p>LifeSiteNews contacted these Catholic boards to ask if the statements
meant they were formally recognizing “Pride Month,” and if so, how
could this be compatible with Catholic teaching? None responded to
clarify their position.</p>
<p>The dire consequences of such statements cannot be overemphasised, Gunnarson said.</p>
<p>“For Catholic school boards to recognize or acknowledge ‘Pride Month’
in any way is completely misguided, and is affirming confused children
on a path to hell, and those who are doing this are putting themselves
on the same path,” he said.</p>
<p>“It’s not too late to get off that path, and back to the straight and narrow road.”</p>
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