CLC Blog

As Maya Angelou says, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” 

The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB)’s Equity Department and 2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee are wolves in sheep’s clothing that's frayed and two sizes too small. We see through it. The gig is up—hide yo’ kids! 

Allow me to review some of the alarming events and material from the past year, with an eye towards mounting a resistance in 2025.   

April 8, 2024 Professional Development Day on LGBTQ+ 

For the first time, on April 8, the TCDSB’s equity team provided staff professional development around LGBTQ+.  

In the video component from this day, staff are introduced to a number of people who identify as transgender—including a couple of little boys being treated as little girls. They all intone “This is who I am” into the camera.  

Roy Fernandes, TCDSB’s Superintendent of Indigenous Education and Equity, quotes the Diocese of Hamilton: “We don’t need to agree or fully understand or have all the answers. We just need to truly hear (people).” He declares: “We’re not asking everyone to necessarily agree or to fully understand; we’re asking you to accept and that shouldn’t be difficult.” (In other words, if you don’t like it—too bad! Keep it to yourself.)  

He asks, “If we’re going to speak Catholicity in our Catholic schools, how do we not accept every person the way that Jesus did?”  

Isn’t that twisted? Those who oppose transgenderism do accept everyone as God made them. When someone rejects their sexual nature as male or female, they’re the ones not accepting themselves.  

Fernandes then asserts that students can use whichever washrooms they’d like.  

Later on, a trailer of Roseneath Theatre’s play “Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls” is shown. This play was already previewed to some educators a month prior. It revolves around 9-year-old Fiona who decides she’s now “Fin.” The express hope is that “schools bring [the play] within their communities”—maybe this coming year.   

So, this is what they were doing behind-the-scenes—normalizing the transitioning of very young children—but what’s their front-facing message?  

TCDSB 2SLGBTQ+ Learning Session for Parents/Guardians & Community 

Back in June, the Toronto Catholic District School Board hosted a “parent/community learning session” on “2SLGBTQ+ inclusion." Every parent and ratepayer should watch it.  

This is not your grandfather’s TCDSB. It’s not even your TCDSB. It’s not even Catholic.  

While the video is rife with heresy, I’ll pull some highlights for you.   

At the beginning, Fernandes quotes, “If we’re so sure that we’re right, how can we ever learn anything new?”   

Immediately afterwards, however, he says, “We’re not looking to have a debate. We’re not looking to kind of show different scientific studies where one person will show one and someone else will show another. Instead, we just want to go back to, again, to what’s our mission, what’s our main goal. It’s always been to make sure that the students within our school system are safe, are welcomed, and loved.”  

What happened to “trusting the science?” Does he know, perhaps, that the studies are showing that transitioning is decidedly unsafe for minors, and that’s why many European countries are reversing course?  

He says he hopes those listening have an “open heart” and an “open mind.”  

I’m impressed by his gall—that he can essentially announce his own mind is closed, and then say that while he’s not interested in hearing different opinions, he wants viewers to be.  

How can Truth possibly penetrate stone?  

We at CLC actually share the same goal as Fernandes and the TCDSB. What we disagree about is whether affirming “2SLGBTQ+” identities is actually safe and loving.  

To add to this impression that perspectives critical of LGBTQ ideology are not welcome, Aileen Santiago, an Equity Resource Teacher for the board, spoke about “positionality,” essentially privileging the opinions of those who identify as 2SLGBTQ+ above others, because they “may see things that others may not.” Santiago herself uses they/them pronouns and identifies as a non-binary “queer trans Catholic educator.”  

So, these lay Catholics, who happen to be in positions of influence within the TCDSB, are very confused. What else is new? Well, it’s not just lay Catholics. 

Fr. Mike Lehman, of the TCDSB’s Nurturing Our Catholic Community (NCC) team at the Catholic Teacher Centre, is the first Catholic priest I’ve seen specify that he uses he/him pronouns. That move in itself tells you all you need to know. 

While Fr. Lehman acknowledges that Genesis 1:27 indicates that God made us male and female, he adds that, “In 2024, as a post-Resurrection, New Testament people, we can move beyond, and include something other in that particular dimension of our sexuality, our gender...” 

Again, he flatly says, “…even though scripture tells us that Jesus creates humankind male and female, we need to move beyond that…” 

At least this “learning session” serves to expose the extent of the indoctrination within the TCDSB and the decaying moral character of some clergy within the Toronto Archdiocese, but I digress... 

Fernandes states that while Policy/Program Memorandum 162 does allow parents to opt their children out of instruction on Human Development and Sexual Health in strand D of The Ontario Curriculum: Health and Physical Education, Grades 1–8, “teachable moments happen all the time.” 

In other words, kids won’t necessarily be spared from LGBTQ propaganda. They will still hear about the Pride flag, and as Karen Enns, the Health & Physical Education Resource Teacher for the TCDSB indicates, students may hear about “homophobia” (grade 5) and “transphobia” (grade 7) during instruction on Personal Safety and Injury Prevention, “and that would fall out of the scope of PPM 162.” Grade 8 students are expected to learn about “gender non-conforming bullying & harassment.” 

Fernandes says that in the grade 2 Social Studies curriculum, they’re supposed to show “different lived experiences of families,” including same-sex relationships. He provides the example of Princess Pru and the Ogre on the Hill as a book that might be read to students, because it references Princess Pru’s two dads.

He uses the metaphors of “mirrors” (meant to “affirm students”), “windows” (meant to “provide insight”) and “sliding doors” (meant to “expand worldviews”) to explain how teachers might select books for their students.

 

In this way, we see how the TCDSB tries to get around Church teaching on homosexuality and gender ideology—they’re not condoning same-sex relationships or transgenderism per se, just “reflecting” these choices.   

Fr. Lehman returns to chime in on the question: “How are students who seek to transition supported at the TCDSB? Are clergy involved?” He answers that “they absolutely should” be involved, but “to get to transition, and to get to transgenderism, we have a lot of work to cover before we get to that point.” He also says, “I like to make sure and help people understand that individuals, whatever their age is, that want to transition or are interested in transgenderism, that this is not a decision that they are making—that it is who they are as individuals.”  

That statement is terrifying. So if a 5-year-old boy believes himself to be a girl, Fr. Lehman seems to be saying that he is a girl. In all charity, anyone who subscribes to this madness ought to be rebuked and repent, but especially a Catholic priest charged with shepherding young people. And if he will not accept correction, he must be laicized.  

As if that’s not enough, Fr. Lehman addresses the question “Will the Church somehow or other get to the point where we can celebrate same-sex marriages?” Instead of explaining why that’s an impossibility, he says, “That may well be down the road…” He acknowldges that people who experience same-sex attraction are (rightly) welcome in the Church, but he says “that is not to say that we can readily accept any expressions of that kind of attraction; that’s another step the Church is going to need to take.”  

Ironically enough, Fr. Lehman recognizes: “…If the Church changes its mind every time the wind changes direction, we would have no credibility.”  

But for some reason, he also claims: “…No one gets to run the show. The wisdom is always in the group.” (No, it’s not.)  

What’s frustrating is that this “learning session” does contain grains of truth—they’re just interspersed amidst lies.  

Both Fernandes and Santiago represented the TCDSB at the Pride Parade later that month, accompanied by School Board Trustee for Ward 9, Kevin Morrison, despite the fact that this event is well-known for permitting nudity, simulated sex acts, and other forms of sexual degeneracy.

“Fantastic Forever” 

Recently, Fernandes and Santiago were also on Episode 3, “It’s Between You and God,” of the TVO podcast Queries.  

Santiago was reportedly able to review an early draft of the Institute for Catholic Education (ICE)’s new Family Life curriculum that’s meant to replace the “Fully Alive” program. While there’s at least no “overt queer and trans representation” within the Grade 1 “Blessed and Beloved” textbook, the curriculum limits the discussion of marriage to its sacramental understanding, and the discussion of male and female bodies to reproduction. Santiago sees an opportunity for teachers to talk about civil marriages and “male and femaleness in other contexts.”  

Still, the TCDSB’s 2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee was unhappy not to have been consulted in the curriculum’s development.  

Fernandes reassured them that the Toronto Catholic Equity Department is developing a new resource to “supplement” the ICE curriculum and bridge the purported gap between it and the Ministry of Education’s expectations. In early 2025, “Fantastic Forever” is supposed to be pitched as a pilot project. It will use stories to “show representation throughout all the different groups,” including “queer” students, and will also direct teachers to “alternate resources.” 

These other resources are a concern because the TCDSB was already in hot water for removing and then reinstating a link to YouthLine on a resource list on its website. YouthLine is a “sex and sex work positive” organization that “offer[s] space for youth to have respectful and affirmational conversations about sex, asexuality, sex work, polyamory, consent, sexual violence, and any other topics that youth tell [them] are relevant to their sexual experiences.” 

Is this the sort of resource “Fantastic Forever” will recommend?  

In Conclusion 

Kyle Iannuzzi, one of the members of the TCDSB’s 2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee, made a very interesting remark on one of the earlier episodes of Queries. He said, “I don’t think you can interpret queer inclusion, especially for trans folks, through a Catholic lens.”  

His contention raises the question of why he’s even on this committee then, but he’s right to highlight the inherent tension here.  

Just as LGBTQ advocates must ignore the complementarity of the sexes, so the TCDSB is trying to force two things together that just don’t fit. They can try to pretend that LGBTQ ideology and Catholic doctrine are compatible, but they are inherently contradictory, and will never click.  

The minutes from the April 2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee Meeting note that Fernandes “advised they have made the intentional point of addressing the idea of ICE: ‘While transgender is a definition not agreed upon by all Catholics; it is a perspective that is recognized in law or HRC and should be acknowledged.’ This is a line that is being used at every opportunity.”

Below is the real quotation from ICE. Note the discrepancies.  

The TCDSB can continue to find unfortunately muddying quotations like this one and the one from the Diocese of Hamilton and milk them for all they’re worth; they can manipulate other quotations and even scripture to suit their purposes; they can even recruit clergy to do their dirty work. At the end of the day, though, they are just grasping at straws.  

That’s not to say that they aren’t doing any damage, though. They are sowing much confusion and leading many astray.  

We must take very seriously Matthew 18:6: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”  

If you are a TCDSB ratepayer, please take a moment to respectfully email your trustee to ask them: What in God’s name (literally) is happening in the board? Request that they reject “Fantastic Forever,” overhaul the entire Equity Department, and get rid of the 2SLGBTQ+ Advisory Committee. You can find trustee ratings and their contact information here.  

Please also reach out to His Eminence, Frank Cardinal Leo, to ask for his intervention. Send a letter to 1155 Yonge St, Toronto, ON, M4T 1W2 or email [email protected]. 

Finally, please spend some time praying and fasting, not only for the students in the TCDSB at the mercy of these wolves, but also for repentance and true conversion amongst decision-makers, because we care about their souls too.