A top Catholic school has been criticized for teaching pupils that gay sex is wrong and women were created to “receive” sex
The school known as St Mary’s Roman Catholic High School in Lugwardine, Herefordshire, UK, has introduced the controversial ‘A Fertile Heart’ syllabus into school lessons.
The new course opposes gay and lesbian marriage and states that men were “created to initiate sexual relationships” while women were “receiver-responders” of sex.
Parents have now come out to say they are against the course as it “teaches children to be homophobic”.
One dad, Graeme Walker, 45, said: “The school is incredibly good at getting children to fulfill their potential but I have a big problem with A Fertile Heart.
“Not only are pupils taught that an out-dated and frankly homophobic view when it comes to same sex relationships, it’s also unashamedly misogynistic.
“I have raised my concerns with the school but I fear my views have fallen on deaf ears. Success has made the school managers blind to any criticism.”
A mum who spoke anonymously to The Sun UK, said: “Parents know it’s a Catholic school, teaching Catholic beliefs.”
“I would say to people who do not approve of this programme to simply take your children out of the school.”
The course was reportedly approved by the Archdiocese of Cardiff and has been rolled out to 56 Catholic schools in Cardiff including St Mary’s School.
St Mary’s School, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2011, caters for 745 pupils aged 11-16 and is a centre of excellence for English and the arts.
It has also been ranked the best state school in Herefordshire for the last decade and received an ‘outstanding’ Ofsted rating in 2019.
Graeme Walker, Parent Herefordshire Council’s children and families cabinet member Felicity Norman, a member of Herefordshire Council’s children and families cabinet has criticised the syllabus and called for it to be scrapped.
She said: “It seems to be at odds with the essential role of a school to foster caring and cooperative relations between all children and staff, to respect differences and to support and encourage children as they negotiate the difficulties of adolescence.
“We are disturbed at the failure of the Archdiocese of Cardiff, responsible for directing its schools as to what it teaches, to respond to us over this or other matters concerning the safeguarding of children, in spite of attempts on our part to engage with them.
“The Local Authority has no power over what schools under the Archdiocese of Cardiff choose to teach within Herefordshire.”
Headteacher, Stuart Wetson defended adopting the course saying it provided pupils with a “broad and balanced debate” on sex.
He said: “In accordance with the Department for Education’s guidance on Relationships and Sex Education, we are committed to providing our pupils with opportunities for broad and balanced debate on a range of issues whilst teaching distinctive faith perspectives on relationships.
“We continue to review and evaluate our practice, sharing feedback from teachers, pupils and parents with the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the publishers of key resources.
“Please see our most recent Ofsted and Section 48 Inspection reports, which comment directly on our ‘Outstanding’ provision in all areas.”
A spokesman for the programme said: “The programme A Fertile Heart contains 115 lessons that have been written in line with Catholic values and everything that Pope Francis has taught us.
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