Buenos Aires, Argentina, Oct 10, 2006 / 22:00 pm
Bishop Luis Lona of San Luis has criticized the recent law on sexual education passed by the Argentinean Senate and said the country’s leaders should clarify what he called “an ambiguous legal norm” and the uncertainty as to how it would be applied.
Bishop Lona said in passing the sexual education law, which forces private and public schools to teach sex-ed courses, congress failed to outline a basic criteria for the subject matter.
The lack of clarity, the bishop said, prevents many parents from having a say in the sexual education of their children. “This norm divides Argentineans into two categories: those who will be able to provide their children with an education in accord with their convictions by sending them to private schools that respect their beliefs, and those who cannot and will be forced to subject themselves to the dictates of a simple majority in state-run schools,” the bishop said.
Bishop Lona said the failure to clearly define the application of certain laws affects Argentinean families the most, who in recent years are suffering from a crisis of incalculable consequences.
“This crisis is due in large measure to the anti-sexual education we have received in the last twenty years. It is the anti-education of a hedonistic and egocentric culture that is promoted by the modern communications media, and that is increasingly supported by worldwide political majority,” he added.
True sexual education, Bishop Lona underscored, points to God as the creator of man in His image and likeness, to give him freedom and raise him up to the communion of love. “It is education in trusting in one’s own freedom and exercising it authentically. It is education for marriage, which allows the child and the young person to mature in love,” he said in conclusion.