Open Letter to James Ryan - OECTA President

[Background - At its convention in March of 2014, the Catholic Teacher Union (OECTA) delegates voted to march in the World Pride Parade which will be held at the end of June this year. OECTA is to have a float in the section of the parade that has different labour unions.]  

An OPEN Letter to 
James Ryan, President,
Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association 
65 St. Clair Ave. E., SUITE 400, 
Toronto, Ontario
M4T 2Y8

By FAX: 416 925 7764

April 3, 2014

Dear Mr. Ryan,
My name is Fr. Larry Léger, and I am Pastor of Holy Family Parish, in Bolton.  As a priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto, I am delighted to work with families and the Catholic Schools in the parish. My concerns are with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association's decision to participate in this year’s World Pride Parade in Toronto.  

I write to you because so many of the practicing Catholic Teachers within our own parish have concerns about how this appears to be an activist decision - of which they had little or no knowledge beforehand. One of those teachers has also written you - prompted by the tweet of Pope Francis on March 25:

“We cannot be tepid disciples. The Church needs our courage in order to give witness to truth.”  

Perhaps those who were delegates at the OECTA Convention during the March break voted to ratify the motion to participate in the World Pride Parade did so because of paragraph 2358 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. That states:

 “...men and women who have homosexual tendencies…must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.” 

The rationale given by OECTA as to their decision to participate in the parade seems, on the face of it, to answer our call as Christians to respond with compassion to those who are LGBTTQ by being a “symbol of solidarity with one of the most marginalized groups in the Catholic community”.  Yet the parade, from its own website, also aims to celebrate the diversity within the LGBTTQ “with provocative, racy, and outrageous events.”  My concern is the mixed, even misleading, message that OECTA’s participation in the parade itself will send. Why does no one ever speak of the importance of standing in Solidarity with our Bishops?  At what point will our "Catholic Schools" cease to be Catholic?

I urge you and the executive to reconsider OECTA’s involvement in the World Pride Parade to be held in June. Perhaps organizing a completely different event that promotes inclusion of, and compassion for, students who are LGBTTQ within our Catholic schools would be more appropriate. There is no doubt we have members of these groups in all areas and levels within our schools and our parishes. This fact we cannot, nor should not, ignore. What unites us all as Catholics, is that we are each called to Holiness! Maybe in living this challenging call to holiness, which John Paul II proclaimed, is the way we will celebrate his Canonization! 
Peace
Fr. Larry Léger, Pastor
Holy Family Parish, Bolton, Ontario