About Us

Background

We are are group of Catholic parents from Norwood, MA and nearby towns with children in Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Boston.  We began this group soon after attending a parent information meeting held at St. Catherine of Siena School (in Norwood) in mid-March 2003.  At that meeting we were presented with the content of the new "personal safety" curriculum called Talking About Touching (TAT).  Some of the material and implementation procedures raised red flags with some parents.

One of the parents, John Bettinelli, soon called the parish pastor to voice these concerns, and the pastor, knowing little about the program, acted quickly to temporarily suspend the program.  Soon after, the pastor asked John to convene with other concerned parents to formulate a collective response because the program was being mandated not by him but by the Archdiocese of Boston.

A second parent meeting was then held on April 15, 2003, where we had the opportunity to express our viewpoints and ask more questions.  It was attended by about 110 parents, as well as Deacon Anthony Rizzuto, the head of this program in the Boston Archdiocese.  It was an emotionally-charged discussion among parents, educators, and administrators, but ultimately it yielded no material changes, and the program started at St. Catherine's the last week of April 2003.

Those of us with concerns exercised our option to remove our children from this program, but we were told soon afterwards that would no longer be an option--we would have to send our children to the TAT program.  We then began pursuing the process to reverse this decision--to regain the right opt-out.  In late 2003 we succeeded in this effort.

After that small victory we were told that Cardinal O'Malley would establish a commission to review the appropriateness of the TAT program for Catholic education.  In 2004, that commission, headed by Bishop Malone, essentially endorsed the TAT program and its implementation continues today, but not all parishes have complied with it.  Reportedly, as of April 2008, there are 16 parishes which are not in compliance with it. 

Our Goals

1. To educate parents about the exact content of the TAT program and how it is being implemented in the Archdiocese of Boston.
2. To regain the right to opt out of the TAT program
3. To replace the TAT curriculum with one based on authentic Catholic teaching

While we intend to persist until we have reached each goal, we do not consider ourselves a permanent, established group.  Once our goals are met, we can move on to new pastures to which Our Good Shepherd leads us.

Our Guiding Principles

We are motivated by our conscience and our duty to protect our children from harmful influences, which we believe the TAT program does. Our approach to addressing these concerns is rooted in our commitment to being faithful to Jesus Christ and to the teaching Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.  We proceed first by prayer, then sacrifice, then action.  We wish to cause no further division or strife in our Archdiocese.  As we proceed with our actions, we do so in a sprit of cooperation, respect, and persistence.