The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Catholic Church softens stance

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Thursday, Jul 03, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Catholic Church softens stance

Sangeeth Kurian

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Concerned over the growing image of being a ‘rebel’ entity, the Catholic Church has decided to soften its stance on introducing a textbook series on sexuality education for high school students in the State. The decision to go slow on the textbook series, originally slated to hit schools by April-end, was taken at a meeting of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council last week.

“There was much discussion about the proposed textbook series and also on the projected image of the Catholic Church by a section of the media as some sort of a rebel group that opposes all governmental policies,” said Jose Kottayil, KCBC’s family commission secretary, who heads an expert panel consisting of theologians, doctors, lawyers, teachers and psychologists that prepares the proposed books for high school students. The books were originally intended as a response to the Centrally initiated Adolescent Education Programme which kicked up much heat and dust in the State last year over its ‘controversial sections.’ The watered down version of the texts were proposed to be introduced in over 700 institutions controlled by the church, covering over 70,000 students. Though the church is yet to call off the project, there are indications that the focus will now be shifted to promoting Christian values within the confines of individual dioceses coming under the Church.

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