Archdiocese of Boston and Harcourt Press Provide Cover for “Talking About Touching.”

Harcourt Press, publishers of many of the controversial sex ed materials taught throughout Catholic schools in the U.S., has joined the fray in the “safe environments” controversy that has been roiling many dioceses across the country.

In an e-mail and letter sent by Claudia Glaze from the Committee for Children, (the nonprofit publishers of the Talking About Touching program), to instructors using TAT in order to comply with the U.S. Bishops’ mandate for “safe environments” training for all Catholic school and religious ed children, she states that the Committee for Children has “collaborated” with Harcourt Religion Publishers and “religious educators from the Boston Archdiocese” to publish a “Call to Faith – Talking About Touching Correlation Guide.” She goes on to state that correlation guide, “is a wonderful breakthrough for Catholic educators who are teaching the Talking About Touching program within a religious-education context.” In other words, we will now be able to wrap TAT in Catholicism. However, for those who oppose the use of TAT and other like programs in our Catholic schools, this “Correlation Guide” will not quiet the outcry to remove these programs from our Catholic schools and religious education programs.

Given that 95+% of Catholic school children in the U.S. were already enrolled in some sort of “safe environment” program prior to the start of the ’06 – ’07 school year, why would Harcourt Press and the Archdiocese of Boston only now come out with a guide book that places “Talking About Touching” in context of Catholic teaching? Harcourt must expect a good return from this kind investment. Someone believes these “safe environments” programs and “Talking About Touching” will be around for a long time to come in our Catholic schools.