First response...

Further to my post yesterday about the importance of a correct response to the developing CES Scandal, I am sorry to note that the first public responses of the CES have not been too encouraging. On the one hand, the director, Paul Barber, apparently wrote an email entitled Breach of Confidentiality:

It has come to our attention that the contents of DSC Letter 58.17, sent out on Tuesday of this week, have been sent by a diocese to social media. I should therefore like to take the opportunity to remind you all of the contents of DSC Letter 16.15 (attached) about the status of these communications.
DSC and DRE Letters are the principal way in which we inform dioceses about national educational matters, many of which are of a sensitive nature.
They are issued solely to enable you to carry out your education functions on behalf of your diocesan bishop, and for no other purpose. It is of vital importance that we have a secure and confidential means with which to keep you updated, and therefore ask you all to respect the private nature of these communications.

The second thing they have done in the public arena is release a statement to the Catholic Herald. The Herald quotes the following passage; I don't know if the statement said anything further:

How schools tackle homophobic bullying is something to which Ofsted is now paying specific attention. As such, both schools and dioceses have asked for guidance on this and how can be approached within a Catholic context. 

It may well be that appropriate internal investigations are taking place, but neither of these statements offer much hope. 

The second statement completely fails to address any one of the many concerns raised by concerned parents. It is pure PR designed solely to protect the CES' reputation. An understandable, but wholly inadequate response.

The email from Paul Barber makes one wonder: what has the CES got to hide? This was a document being sent out to all dioceses and potentially all schools, for the teaching of all our children. Not only does that put it in the public domain, it means that it should be in the public domain. Parents have the right to know what schools are teaching their children, and if the CES prefer darkness, that is very telling. 

Or was it the timing of the leak that was problematic? Once the document was out there and being used, as a fait accompli, perhaps they hoped it would be impossible to retract it; whereas at present, it is quite possible. But if that is the reason for the ire, that is unworthy indeed.

Or perhaps it is the potentially explosive fact that the CES has been paid to distribute this thinly-veiled LGBT propaganda in our schools that they blush to find in the public domain. A lot depends on who is paying; and if the CES is shy of admitting that, then we are in very murky waters. 'A donor who has asked to remain anonymous' simply won't wash, unless there are clear statements that the donor does not have a vested interest: eg is not Stonewall, nor any other LGBT activist.

It is also worrying that the statement includes 'sent by a diocese;' that suggessts that, as I feared, the response is to try to blame someone for the leak, rathar than the more serious business of admitting they got it wrong, and working out what happened, why, and how they will ensure that it never happens again.

We deserve an apology, an explanation, and an assurance that this will never happen again; not a witch hunt and a white wash.