Source: Carlos Beltramo, Ph.D. via PRI European Office.
Reprinted with permission.
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WARSAW, Poland — The Catholic Faith is flourishing in Poland. Right now, in Advent, throngs of children bearing candles process at 6:00 a.m. into the dark church before Mass begins. The pews are crowded and parents tell me that the children love it – in fact, they’re unhappy if they can’t be part of the procession.
These children and these candles are the hope, and the light, of Europe.
When it comes to family, Poland gets serious. “Education For Family Life” is a required course in the standard curriculum of primary education. The course’s primary objective teaches Polish children to value the family in their personal lives (first objective), to learn about the changes in the human body during the prenatal period, and to have a respectful view of sexuality (fifth objective).
All of these subjects are taught bearing in mind the innocence of the child, without violating the primary rights of parents in the moral and spiritual education of their children.
The curriculum is unapologetic regarding its support of the family. As students grow older, they are taught gradually to acquire the habits of maturity that prepare them for marriage and for raising their future family. The curriculum’s chapter on sexuality articulates the principles involved: love, marriage, fatherhood, responsibility, lasting bonds, and the natural complementarity of men and women are introduced as a harmonious foundation for their future lives.
The curriculum also treats the very practical side of sex quite seriously, explaining with concrete examples why students should wait until marriage to start their sexual life. An entire chapter, “Life As A Fundamental Value,” urges students to develop a care for life from conception until natural death. It even talks about promoting naprotechnology – that is, natural family planning!
The European Union Is Not A Happy Family
In 21st century Europe, an official curriculum teaching these principles seems like a fantasy. But it is real – so real that those principles are one of the major targets in the attacks on Poland constantly launched by EU bureaucrats. For example, in the most recent battle in the war against the heroic Polish people, the European Commission attempted to impose the legalization of surrogate motherhood and adoption by homosexual couples on all member countries. The Commission insisted that, if one country accepts the practice, then all are required to do so.
Poland rejected the proposal, adding that its refusal would abide so long as the current government is in place.
Scandalously, the same EU that attacks the Polish government has several Members of Parliament in prison for participating in an influence and money-laundering operation with Qatar and Morocco. What are the grounds of that attack? Alleged problems with Poland’s Supreme Court. But meanwhile, the Socialist government of Pedro Sanchez is shamelessly attempting to manipulate Spain’s Supreme Court, but that’s fine with the EU.
Why the silence? Perhaps it’s due to the Spanish Parliament’s passage last December of a “new” abortion law that allows 16-year-old girls to receive abortions without their parents’ knowledge. Those same girls, according to Spanish law, cannot go on an excursion to a museum without their parents’ permission, but today they abort their unborn child and no one can stop them.
Spain and Poland: A Stark Contrast
Why are Poland and Spain not treated equally in the EU? Is it because of their policies regarding life, marriage, abortion? Spain’s government is clearly anti-family, espousing principles opposite to those in Poland. The government’s Minister of Education recently told parents that “your children belong to the State,” and imposed a sex education law promoting contraceptives and abortion as alternatives to family planning in government schools. Moreover, parents are not allowed to withdraw their children from these classes – so much for the primacy of parental rights in their children’s education.
Spain’s anti-family policies are the polar opposites to those in Poland. Not only is Polish education centered on the values of life, love and freedom, but the law also explicitly states that parents are the in charge of their children’s education, and can decide whether or not their children attend those classes.
And the results are clear. Consider: Spain has increasingly fewer marriages, more marital breakups, higher abortion rates and a birth rate of demographic suicide. In some areas there are already more pets than children in Spanish homes. In contrast, in Poland these demographic figures are improving, and in some cases are being reversed.
The contrast could not be sharper: Children in Poland are being educated in the love of life while in Spain the government schools sow confusion and secular indifference to wholesome principles of life, family, and children.
Header image: Kevin Gent via unsplash.com
