This is wonderful to see. A priest actually publicly confronting the issues of the day head on. Imagine that.
This is from Fr. Joseph Byerley of Holy Angels Parish in New Jersey. Kudos to him and keep him in your prayers because our culture does not treat brave priests well.
Please note: A day or so after I wrote this, Governor Murphy stated that there is going to be a
“review” of the new standards he just sighed into law. I am presuming that, thanks be to God,
enough of this curriculum is becoming public and causing alarm among parents and begun to receive
pushback. I expect this to be only a temporary pause in the attempted indoctrination of our children.
Please be vigilant!
I have written about this before, but recent “updates” to the NJ state education curriculum standards,
signed just recently be Governor Murphy, bears further comment. Starting in first grade…yes first
grade, planned sex education lessons will include discussions on “gender identity” or perhaps a better
term, “gender ideology”.
For instance, a 30-minute suggested lesson called “Pink, Blue and Purple” aims to teach the
6-year-olds (6-year-olds!!!) to define “gender, gender identity and gender role stereotypes.”
It includes instructions for teachers to tell students that their gender identity is up to them.
“You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are
‘girl’ parts,” the lesson plan says. “You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that
some people might tell you are ‘boy’ parts. And you might not feel like you’re a boy or a girl, but
you’re a little bit of both. No matter how you feel, you’re perfectly normal!” For 6-year olds?
Really? They don’t even know their right hand from their left yet, but they can “know” their gender
identity?
A suggested lesson plan for second-graders, titled “Understanding Our Bodies,” includes an
illustrated discussion of human genitals so kids as young as 7 can use “medically accurate names”
for their private parts. Is this something we want the state to be teaching our barely out of infancy
children? It is the God given right and duty of the parents to morally and spiritually form their own
children, not a state surrogate forcing ideas that are often contrary to the Gospel of Christ onto the
innocent and impressionable minds and hearts of children.
These two examples are part of a broader, K-12 health and sex education curriculum adopted by the
New Jersey Board of Education in 2020 (“updated” just recently to include gender identity
indoctrination) that goes into effect in September. So that means from first grade through twelfth
grade (apparently kindergarteners are reasonably safe), your children are leaning about human
sexuality from their public school teachers who must follow a curriculum that is often explicitly
opposed to what God has revealed in Sacred Scripture.
The purported purpose of this curriculum is to help students understand that all individuals should feel
welcome and included, regardless of their gender, gender expression or sexual orientation. That is a
legitimate goal and should be taught. But that can be done without an eleven-year indoctrination
curriculum which essentially teaches that Christian values regarding human sexuality are bigoted and
hateful and evil. That is unacceptable. Where is the room for someone who believes what God has
revealed to also feel “welcome and included”? And while there is the possibility of parents opting the
child out of this class, one would expect that the child would be looked at by his or her peers in a
different manner for being absent, opening the child up to possible bullying or harassment.
It is abuse to destroy the innocence of children through this and a violation of the founding principles
of our country to rob parents of their right to raise their children according to the religious teachings
of their chosen faith. It’s so distressing to me that our state government is forcing such a radical
anti-Christian curriculum on our children, and sadly ironic that it is funded by our tax money.
While Catholic schools offer real protection and a great alternative from this madness, they can be too
costly for some families. But the sacrifice seems more and more worth it with each new state
“update”. But for those whom private schools are out of reach…what about them? That is why
parents need to know what their children are being taught in our public schools, and must speak up in
defense of their children’s innocence and the wellbeing of their souls.
God bless you,
Father Joseph Byerley
