Sir, - I must take issue with Carmel Wynne (Education and Living, January 26th), who writes that moral values change according to changing moral behaviour and attitudes. Really?
She states that "some parents are strongly in favour of Relationships and Sexuality Education [RSE] programmes that are faithful to the traditional core values and ethos of Catholic schools". She seems to find that fidelity to Christian ideals creates difficulties for "religion teachers, school chaplains and teachers involved in RSE" because of dual standards that are widely accepted.
I would expect Jewish or Buddhist teachers to teach according to their ethos. As an RSE teacher in Catholic schools, I find that parents and teachers expect me to present the objective moral ideals - however unpopular or difficult it may be to do so. The Church has a right to set its agenda and to expect its teachings to be taught in its schools. I have never had a complaint from a teacher or parent on this score.
Carmel Wynne is afraid of "giving offence" to students who come from single-parent families or where parents are unmarried.
There is an art in teaching the truth while still recognising the fact that we all fall short of ideals at times. There are ways of teaching morality without being judgmental of people. We must learn these teaching arts. Parents expect us to teach Christian values unambiguously and with love.
It is true that long ago we stigmatised unmarried mothers. Agreeing that such an attitude was un-Christian does not mean that we now fudge our lines and encourage young people to embark on a sexually active life. We must have the wisdom and courage to uphold the moral value while being sensibly compassionate and supportive of those who fall short of it. We have to stop the destructively permissive advocacy of individualism which says, "Do your own thing, darling", while the youngster walks over the cliff. - Yours, etc., Angela MacNamara,
Lower Kilmacud Road, Dublin 14.