The following comes from an Oct. 29 story on Catholic World News.
Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, a project of the United Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services, has updated and expanded its training to workers in federally-funded refugee resettlement programs, in part to “address the needs of particularly vulnerable groups of children, including youth who may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.”
The training is intended for those who work with youth in the custody of the US Department of Health and Human Services’ office of refugee resettlement / division of children’s services. The revised Tier One Training Manual – copyrighted by the United Conference of Catholic Bishops, and published with the assistance of a Department of Health and Human Services grant – notes that “it is important to be alert for homophobic remarks among the staff. If any are made, discuss in a non-judgmental way how these kinds of remarks may make a young gay resident feel.” If a “boy teases another boy, saying that he is gay, standing too close to him, and so forth, it would be a form of sexual harassment.”
“Exploring Complexities” – the new Tier Two Training Manual, also copyrighted by the United Conference of Catholic Bishops, and published with the assistance of a Department of Health and Human Services grant – presents a scenario in which two male minors are “rubbing each other with their feet on the other’s genital areas.” The training advises:
After allowing the staff to discuss this, you can suggest that the young men should learn not to engage in sexual contact in the residence, and they should develop a stronger sense of sexual boundaries – to keep sexual activities private, even after leaving the residence
You can mention that young people engage in sexual behaviors for all kinds of reasons, including to relieve tension or boredom, for the thrill of breaking rules and doing something prohibited, because they are lonely and want to connect with another person and sexual activity is one way to establish a connection, and simply because they are easily stimulated at that age.
In another scenario, three young men have reported that another minor male resident has been exposing himself to them on different occasions. The training advises:
Presuming these reports are true, why would Telmo engage in these kinds of behaviors? It is possible that he has simply never been taught appropriate sexual boundaries … While Telmo needs to understand that he should not expose himself to others and should keep from touching other residents inappropriately, he should not be shamed or humiliated for his actions. If Telmo continues to engage in these kinds of behaviors he may need to be transferred to a more restrictive setting.
The Bridging Refugee manual makes no reference to moral law or the practice of virtue.
To read the entire story, click here.
Addendum
The following was sent to Cal Catholic by a reader on Oct. 29:
Chairman:
Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Members:
Most Reverend Gustavo Garcia-Siller
Most Reverend Thomas Wenski
Most Reverend Kevin Vann
Most Reverend Nicholas DiMarzio
Most Reverend Anthony Taylor
Most Reverend John Manz
Most Reverend Luis Zarama
Most Reverend Eduardo Nevares
Consultants:
His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony
His Eminence Theodore Cardinal McCarrick
His Eminence Sean O’Malley, OFM Cap
His Eminence Cardinal Justin Rigali
Most Reverend Martin Holley
Most Reverend John Wester
Most Reverend James Tamayo
Most Reverend Ricardo Ramirez
Most Reverend Daniel Flores
Most Reverend Richard Garcia
Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C.
Mr. Loc Nguyen, Director
Sister Raymonda Duvall
Sister Gaye Moorhead
Mr. Allen Sanchez
Mr. Ken Hackett
Ms. Maria Odom
No matter what ANYONE says – when in doubt what the Catholic Church teaches, read the “CATECHISM of the CATHOLIC CHURCH, Second Edition” for TRUTH.
Regarding homosexuals and homosexual acts: CCC 2357, 2358, 2359, and 2396.
All must be read in entirety.
*
Bible: Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10.
*
” The Church never takes faith for granted, but knows that this gift of God needs to be nourished and reinforced so that it can continue to guide her pilgrim way.”
and
” Read in this light, the prophetic text leads to one conclusion: we need knowledge, we need truth, because without these we cannot stand firm, we cannot move forward. Faith without truth does not save, it does not provide a sure footing.”
and
” These, then, are the four elements which comprise the storehouse of memory which the Church hands down: the profession of faith, the celebration of the sacraments, the path of the ten commandments, and prayer. The Church’s catechesis has traditionally been structured around these four elements;
this includes the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which is a fundamental aid for that unitary act with which the Church communicates the entire content of her faith: “all that she herself is, and all that she believes”. ” – Pope Francis (Encyclical Letter LUMEN FIDEI, 2013)
Cardinal Mahony and Cardinal McCarrick as consultants?
R u kidding me?
The list of Committee on Migration members who deal with Migration and Refugee shows only 11% women, while 89 % are men.
If 50% of refugees/migrants are women and children, don’t we think that the percentage of women representative should match it, I mean , it should be 50% too?
Jenny: Good sense, honesty, and morality are not gender-conditioned. It should make zero difference whether the committee members are men or women. They are just plain and objectively WRONG! No point starting a gender war over it!
This is a joke, right? But, looking at the list of names that follow, I guess it isn’t. We need to pray… See More
Why is Cardinal Mahoney on a Church committee? He has shown poor judgment in the past. Does he have any special knowledge or experience with gay people? He was disgraced and demoted at one time, but now that seems to be forgotten. Shame on the people who invited him to be on the committee.
Do we need any other reason to never give to the USCCB again? Maybe a note in the collection box, or a copy of this article would suffice the next time they ask for money at our parish level. We can contribute locally to Catholic organizations that follow the teachings of the Catholic church. The St. Vincent de Paul Society helps the poor locally, and that is where our contributions should start. My prayer is that our beloved Pope Francis will continue to clean house and put in place bishops who will follow Christ faithfully.
Well this has about did it for me……I will have to discern and to be honest, how can I trust some of these in leadership, I can not again…..I will have to set my eye’s high only on my Lord, whom reminds us in Psalm 118:8 “It is good to confide in the Lord, rather than to have confidence in man.” and in Psalm 146:3 “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.”
No human love is perfect…but only our Lord loves us so perfectly that He would not stray others into any sinfulness. How can we ever look into our Lord’s eye’s and say that His sheep were fed properly? When our church leadership fails to do what is honorable in the eye’s of our Loving saving Lord, we are all sinking. We feel the agony and the pain that comes we fail to carry out the real mission in which Christ has commanded His church to spread. “SHOW ME JESUS”….Yes show us Jesus but how when the blind see Jesus more than the man who has perfect vision. Give us Jesus…how can they when they prefer to not overcome their flaws…..Jesus how much we are failing you, so much that once we use to hear your voice, know your will but now, confusion and pride has inflicted this church because of its lack of holiness and obedience, it’s lack of love and fear to offend, it’s just a routine for them now, it’s now longer their personal relationship with your blood and body but now its their flesh and pride that does not allow them to see you or hear you.
What is wrong with telling people how to take care of situations where gay kids are acting out?
Oh I get it now. It is because they are not telling them to not do it at all. I bet the bishops don’t even know about this.
The USCCB and the Department of Health and Human Services? What do they have in common? Both are constituted of card-carrying members of the Democratic Party. Face it, dear fellow Catholics, our shepherds have abandoned us to the wolves.
So we are “protecting” the tender sensibilities of our youth in addressing “the needs of particularly vulnerable groups of children, including youth who may be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.”
The actual truth is that there is no such thing! They are created by a society that makes is attractive to be labeled as such. The truth is that young people even up the mid 20s are not yet able to make a declaration regarding any of these things, but can be influenced to believe they are in one of these categories if it is presented to them over and over again in a manner that encourages this kind of “investigation”.
So now the USCCB is in business of “meeting the needs” of kids who have been perverted at a tender age into thinking they must be gay or transgendered? What absolute garbage pseudo-science they are ingesting and then spewing out on the faithful!
I can think of a few better ways to deal with the behaviors described, but it would not include “feelings” or a list of reasons why children think they should participate in any sexual activity.
All of our youth should be treated with charity and respect, but not supported in erroneous thinking and lifestyles at are poison to their souls.
alice, Most kids know whether they are bi, gay, or straight by the time they are into puberty. That is what real science teaches.
WRONG! That is what “popular science” may be saying catering as usual to the “progressivist” agenda folks in the universities and in the media and politics. The truth is that the development of a person’s sexual preference is a much more fluid, multi-factorial process which can continue to undergo formation well into a person’s early 20’s. You’d never guess that that is the truth until you got people saying as they did a couple of decades ago that people are “born gay.” Again YFC, wrong information you have. Typical of the type of junk science and pop culture/science in which many people inhabit these days, sadly.
Jon, you have written some excellent posts on this website to the one who calls himself “Your Fellow Catholic”. You have far more patience with him than I do. I gave up on him a long time ago.
YFC is correct. Upon reflection, most homosexuals can attest to being aware of the first signs of being attracted to the same sex by the first or second grade. It was in the first grade for me… and then by the time puberty hit — let’s just say that when my heterosexual male friends started noticing girls, I started noticing them notice girls… with no help from any other homosexuals along the way. So yes. We’re born this way. Nothing new under the sun. The bishops got this one right.
Peter, there is NO DATA that supports a biological basis for homosexuality in human beings. If you have such data or studies, please share with us and the rest of the scientific community.
Yes, Sue. My life experience and the life experience of every other homosexual to ever exist supports a biological basis for homosexuality in human beings. Now, while the scientific community acknowledges that biology is likely not the sole contributing factor, it is none-the-less abundantly evident that it plays a significant role.
YFC, when “real” scientist disagree, then what? When God, the Creator of scientists disagrees, then what?
What does the bible say about God’s ability to take constructive criticism?
What happened to the mission and prime responsibility of Bishops (and the USCCB) – “Saving Souls”?
Are they all selling out for the almighty dollar by trying to appease the federal government?
Why don’t they follow the example of Jesus?
CCC: “1759 “An evil action cannot be justified by reference to a good intention” (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, Dec. praec. 6).
The end does not justify the means.”
When there are special collections for USCCB organizations – withhold all donations until they get the message.
Be sure to donate to the poor in other ways.
That is true OSCAR, I feel for these Bishops, its disappointing, to say the least. Especially since they are suppose to know the faith better and bring Jesus to others. This is an injustice done on our youth today.
If one is lost, we would hope that God fearing people would honor God’s commandments and show the lost the way……we are to follow Christ’s good example not sell our morals to the secular. This is cheap…..how many coins did it take to buy them out…..its too bad just because someone is Catholic it does not mean that they have a personal relationship with Christ…..
Good grief! so the child who calls another student “gay” is assumed to be sexually harassing the other student without anyone asking him why he called him that in the first place. I agree that students should not be calling other students names, but what if the child that was called “gay” had put his hands, etc., improperly on the student who called him “gay”, and the child who called him “gay” for doing it was appalled by him touching him improperly. This clearly seems to be all one sided. I think any child has the right to slap another child who touches them improperly. Clearly any student who touches another child improperly should be told to keep his hands to himself. Period! Anyone who touches my body improperly is going to get slapped very hard at the very least.
Of course, most boys would shove or hit the offender and not slap as most girls would.
A clarification to my other posts. Of course the children should be taught to tell the teacher first if another child touches them improperly and try not to have to hit, but they certainly have the right to protect their own body and virtue if another child touches them improperly. Parents beware! You must tell your own children what to do if another student touches them improperly as not all teachers have the wisdom to do the right thing it seems.
Anne T., these are training instructions for people who staff homes where children who enter our country alone, without their parents or other adult are housed. The emphasis is on safety for everyone. It is pointed out that these are teenagers who live in an environment where it is all-boys or all-girls and they may act out differently (just goofing around because of boredom or other reasons) and they may not be gay. It seems one-sided because the author of the articles picked certain examples out of the materials. If you click the link, there is another link to the training materials. The complaint here is that it does not contain the moral dimension to the issues.
Annonymous, thank you for the further explanation, and I will read the rest later. I read it rather rapidly. My point was that one should always gets the facts as to why a child calls anyone a name as is mentioned in one of the situations above. The name calling has to stop and young children, and even teens, should not be labeled, but the other child might have caused the name calling by having done something worse to the one who called him a name.
I understand, too, that the lack of teaching virtuous behavior is lacking in the above article, and virtuous behavior should be taught according to age level. There are just some things that very young children are not capable of understanding. Young children do experiment with each other quite often at that age, but although they should not be labeled and shamed excessively, they should be told in no uncertain terms to keep their hands off of the private areas of other children’s bodies, and they should not be told it is all right to do it again in privacy.
Some things should be just left unsaid to extremely young children. Trying to explain to a very young child why some other child might touch them inappropriately is just too much for them to understand, and they really do not need to know — just that it is unacceptable. When children are too “sexual” at an early age, quite often it is a sign that they have been sexually abused by an adult.
Beauuuuutiful… right up ol’ Cdl Rog Mahony’s alley… consulting on the “preciousness” of homosexual orientation/ideation. Funny how Bishop Sheen talked about the edifying mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa and the Upper Room… what has happened to my Church?
what has happened to my Church?… a diabolic disorientation Mr. R.I.NG…..
Not only do Archbishop Gomez and Bishop Vann collaborate on this committee, but now it’s apparent why Cardinal Mahoney’s Religious Education Congress continues in existence.