This decision was announced by Director of Education Roger Lawler at a board meeting Nov. 26, based on a recommendation by the board’s Family Life Advisory Committee.

Open Minds to Equality has been used by the board for about seven years, said superintendent of schools Bruce Rodrigues. The book is part of a kit which is only seen by teachers who use the material to create lessons.

While most of the 200-plus page book deals with issues such as racism and sexism, about 14 pages deal with homosexuality. A teacher who saw those pages contacted Jack Fonseca, who heads a group called Defend Traditional Marriage and Family, with some concerns. He took them to the board’s Family Life Advisory Committee.

In letters and presentations to the committee, he objected to an exercise in Open Minds that requires children to play the role of a gay grandfather writing a letter to his grandson.

Fonseca argued that the main issue is that teaching from the resource has the potential to normalize homosexual activity — possibly leading a student to adopt a homosexual lifestyle. Fonseca was unable to cite an example of this happening.

The complaint was brought before the committee, which oversees material used in the Religion and Family Life courses. Rodrigues said Fonseca “doesn’t understand how Religion and Family Life is taught. Teachers don’t just take resources independently and read from them.”

Teacher training and instructions with the resources ensure sexuality is taught from a Catholic perspective.

“We make it clear that teachers are catechists not theologians,” said Rodrigues.

Not a single report has been made about a teacher using Open Minds inappropriately, said Rodrigues, adding that Fonseca was not “able to cite a specific case.”

“We see it as a partial success. We wanted it removed completely,” said Fonseca.

He started his group during the same-sex marriage legislation debate after he became disappointed with what he saw as the Catholic Church’s non-response to the issue. The marketing and sales consultant started a group in his own parish which he said has a multi-denominational board of 11 and a mailing list of 1,800, of which 60 per cent are Roman Catholic.

The summer and fall were spent with Fonseca and Rodrigues exchanging letters, leading to Fonseca appearing before the committee. Both the presentation and correspondence raised other issues.

The first was the identity of the members of Defend Marriage’s executive. Board officials asked why Fonseca would not reveal the names of any other members of his group. Fonseca, reported The Record daily newspaper, alleged that Rodrigues’ “real motive is to get members’ names in the paper and set them up as ‘targets for personal intimidation.’ ”

Fonseca has since provided Rodrigues with the executive’s names.

The second issue was Fonseca’s allegation that 30 other board resources promote homosexuality. He had been sent some of these resources anonymously by teachers, others had been discovered by scrutinizing minutes of the board committee or searching the Catholic school board’s web site using the terms “gay and lesbian” or “homosexual,” he said.

“The issue isn’t one single book but a plethora of resources incompatible with Catholic teaching,” he said. These include brochures, books and referrals to “openly gay therapists.”

Rodrigues said that Fonseca could follow board processes to register complaints about the other material.

(White is a freelance writer in Guelph, Ont.)