Ottawa Archbishop to Catholic schools:

Make holiness the standard 

for speakers and partners

BY PATRICK B. CRAINE

As parents in the Ottawa Catholic School Board work to end a pattern of hosting events and speakers at the board that are hostile to the Catholic faith, Ottawa’s Archbishop has echoed the parents’ concerns, warning that if the schools are not “fully Catholic” they risk descending into “demonic worldliness.”

At the Archbishop’s Benefit Dinner on Oct. 16th, Archbishop Terrence Prendergast urged the schools to choose teachers, guest speakers, and partners who are models of holiness and who fully embrace the culture of life.

“In a labour market where there are many excellent, unemployed teachers who live lives of Christian virtue, they should be at the top of your hiring lists,” he said, according to prepared remarks the Archdiocese sent to LifeSiteNews. (Find the full talk here.)

“Guests and partners must give an authentic Catholic witness that will inspire and encourage, not a counter-witness that will discourage and confuse,” he added. “No matter how great their achievements in politics, business, sports, science, or the arts, we should not invite to our schools as guest speakers, or give awards to, those who provide a counter-witness to the Gospel.”

The archbishop’s comments come amidst a heated controversy over the board’s policy on guest speakers and external partnerships. In January, over a hundred parents packed a school board meeting urging the board to uphold Catholic teaching after a series of high profile scandals.

These included a civics trip in Nov. 2012 to campaign for the reelection of pro-abortion President Obama, cancelled after backlash; a talk by same-sex ‘marriage’ and abortion supporter Justin Trudeau, leader of Canada’s Liberal Party; a ‘social justice’ trip to El Salvador to visit groups that advocate for legalized abortion, legalized prostitution, the promotion of contraception, and the right to adoption for lesbian couples; and a co-op placement of a student at a homosexual activist group.

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