The American mother miraculously healed of a potentially fatal haemorrhage by the intercession of Cardinal St John Henry Newman has spoken out against attacks on the consciences of children in Western societies.
Melissa Villalobos, a lawyer and mother-of-seven from Chicago, that Western culture is now so coarse that it was more important than ever to protect children from harmful media.
She said that unless Catholics made a determined effort to protect children from falsehoods and vice many children would “grow up without a conscience” and be left open to the manipulations of anti-Christian societies and states.
Speaking on the subject of St John Henry’s teachings on holiness, Mrs Villalobos said that the contemporary culture was “trying to attack our consciences and especially children’s”.
She said she felt that, as a mother, “I feel that I constantly have to protect my children from everything – I feel I can’t turn on the television, or the radio or even go to the grocery store with books and magazines – you have to be careful what’s out there.
“If we don’t do that, if you don’t protect the children and their consciences it will be hard for them to grow in holiness.
“I think the real danger is that people don’t have a sense of right and wrong or a sense of God guiding them in their lives. Of course, holiness is necessary. Growing your consciences, forming it, strengthening it, is like exercise for the body.”
Mrs Villalobos said she believed deliberate attempts were being made to destroy the family so that children were more open to manipulation and indoctrination.
“If you can destroy the family then you can make sure that these children grow up without a conscience and then they will be able to believe in anything they are told by the society,” she said.
She added that it was vital to protect the family so that children can grow up “knowing right from wrong, what is true and what is not, and live holy lives”.
Her comments were not directed at the cancelling of the book-signing visit to the John Fisher School by Simon James Green, although the Archdiocese of Southwark took action to prevent him attending because the content of his books openly contradict the moral and theological precepts of the Catholic Church.
The author was due to talk about his novel Noah Can’t Even, which is told through the eyes of a 16-year-old boy who discovers he is gay after he kisses another boy at a party.
But Southwark education director Dr Simon Hughes said: “From time to time materials or events emerge for consideration that fall outside the scope of what is permissible in a Catholic school.”
He said: “Our schools are required to deliver a programme of relationships and sex education that is compliant with the Equalities Act 2010 and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. While we do not endorse any particular programme of study or textbook, we encourage schools to use materials to support pupils’ learning in this crucial aspect of human development that have been tried and tested against these two important frameworks.
He added: “We have no alternative but to affirm our unequivocal and well-known theological and moral precepts and to act in accordance with them.”
The archdiocese also removed several governors from the school who were insistent that the visit went ahead on World Book Day in March.
Ofsted was called in and a subsequent monitoring report said the decision to cancel the author’s visit had “unnerved and upset many in the school community”.
This week staff at the school went on strike supported by two teaching unions and Mr Green praised them, saying they were “standing up for LGBT students”.
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