In Ontario, Catholic schools are welcome; Catholic education is not

Catholic Culture ^ | 4/8/2014 | Phil Lawler

[markomalley]

Catholic schools are free to operate in Ontario, as long as they don’t provide religious education. That’s the message that seems to be coming from the Ontario Superior Court, which has ruled that Catholic high schools cannot require students to attend Mass.

In its immediate impact, the court’s decision seems to affect only non-Catholic students, who are already excused from religious-education classes. But look carefully at the reasoning of Justice Ted Matlow, who concludes that school rules compelling students to attend Mass and other religious functions “have as their central purpose the provision of religious experiences and education to the students who attend them.”

Well, yes; indeed they do. Yet Catholic schools have the same central purpose. If they’re not providing religious experiences and education to students, what are they doing? But if they are providing religious experiences and education to students, it seems only a matter of time before they will rule afoul of Ontario laws once again.

It’s becoming a familiar story: The Church might run the schools, but the state will dictate what happens in those schools. Or to put it differently, the state will allow Catholic schools to continue functioning, as long as they don’t function as Catholic schools.

[Friendofgeorge]

I wonder if the court will soon rule that forcing a child to clean up his room is unconstitutional

[Oldexpat]

I guess if the govt is funding the Catholic schools..they get to make up the rules.

[Morgana]

This is true. So stop taking gov. funds and bring on Sister Jane.

[NYer]

(Canada) Catholic schools can't force student to attend mass, court rules

[gusty]

Take the government's money, dance the government's tune. I guess some time back the Catholic Church in Ontario looked jealously to the east at Quebec and demanded they be treated the same. You see in Quebec the Church is part of the Francophone culture, so the Catholic schools were funded by the government, since most Quebecois attended Catholic schools, plus the Protestant Anglophones were also forced to pay for them. The Church in majority Protestant Ontario probably demanded that the Ontario government pay for their schools too. Hey if Quebec does, why shouldn't Ontario. Politicians being politicians probably caved, and now the law of unattended consequences kicks in.

[Petrosius]

I guess if the govt is funding the Catholic schools..they get to make up the rules.

Except it is the Catholics, along with non-Catholics, who are funding the government. If the government insists that their funded schools must be secular then don't take money from Catholics to pay for them.