One Roman Catholic Layman's Research on Evolutionism

In the beginning
GOD
created heaven and earth
Genesis 1:1
A project of:
Catholic Apostolate for Creation
P.O. Box 997
Jordan, NY 13080

AN OPEN LETTER TO MOST REVEREND JAMES M. MOYNIHAN, BISHOP OF SYRACUSE

12 March 2001

240 East Onondaga Street
Syracuse, New York 13202

Excellency,
          Several years ago it was my privilege to be in the company of some of our brothers and sisters in the faith at a pro-life meeting in Rochester. One of the participants commented to me on how fortunate we were in the diocese of Syracuse to have a bishop who was militantly pro-life. My comment was, Indeed we are fortunate, but we have four bishops in Syracuse. Where are the other three?
          It was a joy to suffer the cold weather to be in your company in front of the Planned Parenthood murder mill as you lead us in the recitation of the 15 decades of the Most Holy Rosary. It was my privilege to be able to join you twice in Syracuse and once in Utica. Your defense of the 1968 Encyclical, Humanae Vitae, of Pope Paul VI, at a Friends for Life luncheon was a refreshing display of orthodoxy that is all too absent in the post-Vatican II Church. You made me proud to be one of your subjects. You were fulfilling your calling as a pastor of souls. You were one of my heroes.
          We are now embroiled in the scandal of the "Growing in Love" (so-called) sex education program. It is heart breaking for me to have to remove you from my list of heroes. You aren't the first, nor, in all likelihood, will you be the last. However, you are living in the local community. My other heroes are/were admired at a distance. You were in the company of some great men and women in the Church.
          My sons, educated in the public school system, are in their thirties. Of what possible concern could the diocesan sex education program be for me? My concern is not limited to my biological family. It encompasses the entire Faith community of the Roman Catholic Church. That concern puts me in the company of God Incarnate Himself:

          And he (Jesus) said to his disciples: It is impossible that scandals should not come. But woe to him through whom they come!
          It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should scandalize one of these little ones.

[THE HOLY GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE 17:1,2. Catholic Bible. A production of Catholic Software (c) 2000. Douay Rheims translation]
          How valid is my insistence that sex education scandalizes Jesus Christ's little ones? Pope Pius XI provided the validity reinforcing his own teaching with that of the Apostle to the gentiles:
          Another very grave danger is that naturalism which nowadays invades the field of education in that most delicate matter of purity of morals. Far too common is the error of those who with dangerous assurance and under an ugly term propagate a so-called sex-education, falsely imagining they can forearm youths against the dangers of sensuality by means purely natural, such as a foolhardy initiation and precautionary instruction for all indiscriminately, even in public; and, worse still, by exposing them at an early age to the occasions, in order to accustom them, so it is argued, and as it were to harden them against such dangers.
          Such persons grievously err in refusing to recognize the inborn weakness of human nature, and the law of which the Apostle speaks, fighting against the law of the mind; [43] and also in ignoring the experience of facts, from which it is clear that, particularly in young people, evil practices are the effect not so much of ignorance of intellect as of weakness of a will exposed to dangerous occasions, and unsupported by the means of grace.
[Pope Pius XI. DIVINI ILLIUS MAGISTRI (On Christian Education) Encyclical promulgated on 31 December 1929, sections 65-66. Electronic Copyright (c) 1999 EWTN All Rights Reserved. Provided Courtesy of: Eternal Word Television Network, 5817 Old Leeds Road Irondale, AL 35210]

[43] But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind and captivating me in the law of sin that is in my members.
[THE EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS 7:23. Catholic Bible. A production of Catholic Software (c) 2000. Douay Rheims translation]
          That would seem to me to settle the issue for anyone who would legitimately call himself Roman Catholic.
          How, it seems only fair to ask, does the Growing in Love sex education (?!) program, with its graphic descriptions of body parts and processes, combat "...the effects of original sin, the chief of which are weakness of will and disorderly inclinations."? [DIVINI ILLIUS MAGISTRI 58] How does it aid in the "...perfect control of appetite." [ibid.]
          How does GIL foster the teaching that, "...the mind must be enlightened and the will strengthened by supernatural truth and by the means of grace..."? [ibid. 59] Where, in GIL is there even the slightest hint of "...supernatural truth..."? Where is even so much as the mention of "...the means of grace..."? As one who is only too painfully aware of the sinful tendencies of human nature from personal experience, it would seem to me, GIL contains only material to foster precisely the opposite effect of that taught by Pope Pius XI.
          The Pope of my youth taught of the education of youth in his first encyclical (Pope Pius XII. SUMMI PONTIFICATUS 1939:29, 66-69). Pope Leo XIII wrote no less than four encyclicals that contain teachings regarding the education of youth (NOBILISSIMA 1884: 3, MILITANTIS ECCLESIAE 1897:15-19 and CARITATIS STUDIUM 1898:12). Typical of his teaching is the following:
---In this grave situation, We desire that in the public education of youth, that part be reserved to the Church which has been divinely assigned to it. All We can do is to exhort you to deal vigorously with this matter. Meanwhile continue to admonish fathers again and again not to permit their children to study and learn so as to threaten injury to their Catholic faith. At the same time see to it that the schools which are under your or the clergy's direction be commendable for their soundness of doctrine and the uprightness of their teachers. This is to be understood not only of primary schools, but also of those of higher learning.
[QUOD MULTUM 1886:8. Electronic Copyright (c) 1999 EWTN. All Rights Reserved. Provided Courtesy of: Eternal Word Television Network, 5817 Old Leeds Road, Irondale, AL 35210. www.ewtn.com]
          Mrs. Randy Engel, National Director, U.S. Coalition for Life, shared with me the letter dated February 22, 2001 from Sister Mary Anne Heenan, Diocesan Superintendent of Schools. The following quote from that letter would appear to be the official diocesan position:
Much media coverage has been given to a small group of parents who oppose the new text we have chosen for our Family Life program in the Catholic Schools. If I were a parent and heard or read the misinformation being circulated about the "Growing In Love" program in our schools. I would be very concerned about what this means for my child. Therefore, I write to share some true facts about this program and our implementation of it.
1. We have had a family life program in our schools for over 20 years. Last spring we made the decision to change the text used, from the Benziger "Family Life" to Harcourt Religion's "Growing In Love."
          While it may be a fact that the opposition to GIL is comprised of "...a small group of parents...," the implication would seem to be that those parents who do not oppose GIL must be right, by virtue of majority opinion. The four Gospel accounts are replete with examples attesting to the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was not interested in majority opinion, but rather, doctrinal Truth. It would seem to me only reasonable that part of the research involved in that "opinion poll" should include the number of those, not in opposition, who are practicing contraception. The admission that such a program has been in place in the diocesan schools for 20 years merely indicates to me that the bishops of Syracuse have been engaged in disobedience to the teaching magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church for 20 years.
          The following information from Planned Parenthood should provide a clarion call to those who seem to have lent approval to GIL:
Many companies and corporation match individual employee gifts to the charity of your choice. The following is a list of companies that currently match gifts for PPLM. Check to see if your company is on it. If not, talk to your Human Resources or Personnel Director about a matching gift program.
Proceed to Donation Area
Harcourt General Inc. Chestnut Hill MA
[(c) 2000, Planned Parenthood(r) League of Massachusetts, Inc. Website http://www.pplm.org/Help/m_employ_old.html]
          One excuse for "Catholic" sex education (?!) familiar to me is, "They'll hear about it on the street." My own youthful experience was indeed to hear about it on the street. However, in release time instruction we were taught that what we were hearing on the street was not the way to live our lives. We were taught Gospel values, not graphic descriptions of body parts and processes. The nuns who taught us were recognizable as nuns because they lived their vows of obedience by wearing their habits.
          My letter to you dated 17 February 2000 contained the admission that, given my financial status, it was beyond my comprehension how my Heritage Campaign pledge would be fulfilled. My financial status remains as it was then, but my attitude has changed. There is no way, in good conscience, for me to consider fulfilling that pledge. The scourge of sex education has rendered fulfillment impossible.

Yours in Christ and his beleagured Church,
Bill Crofut

Copy: Reverend Father Peter W. Gleba



          Judith Ammenheuser and Anne Polcha have done a service of tremendous value for the Church.
          Please go to the Mothers' Watch website for a chapter-by-chapter critique of the "Growing in Lust (uh, Love?!)" classroom sex education (?!) curriculum.

www.motherswatch.org

          Please also search your heart for a monetary contribution to this most worthy apostolate.

Yours in Christ and His beleagured Church,

Bill Crofut