One day after Ash Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, Thursday's CBS This Morning decided to make a resolved two-month old controversy at a San Francisco Catholic school a national news story. Co-host Norah O'Donnell teased the segment: "Controversy at American Catholic archdiocese. Elementary school students are given pamphlets with some blunt language on sex. It's just one of several disputes that's creating a new divide."
Introducing the report minutes later, O'Donnell proclaimed "This morning the archdiocese of San Francisco faces a rebellion in a Catholic elementary school. The issue is a pamphlet on morality....some parents say it was immoral for the school to distribute the handout."
Correspondent Omar Villafranca explained: "Ryan Brooks and his wife Christy of San Francisco say they got a shocking and unexpected lesson when their 11-year-old son Riley recently came home from his Catholic elementary school....The words came from a pamphlet given to the young students by the parish, an "Examination of Conscience" meant to prepare them to confess their sins."
Parent Christy Brooks described some of the graphic adult language featured in the pamphlet that was mistakenly handed out to students in December: "'Did I participate in or approve of a mercy killing? Did I perform impure acts on myself,' the examples being, 'masturbation or another (adultery, fornication or sodomy)?'"
Villafranca noted: "Father Joseph Illo is the pastor of the Star of the Sea parish....He says when he realized the adult content of the pamphlets in December he halted their distribution."
At that point, Villafranca acknowledged the real reason for reporting the months-old story:
Father Illo believes there's a reason this issue – which he says was resolved months ago – is once again making headlines....Those concerns were evident in a student-led prayer protest Wednesday. San Francisco's Archbishop said earlier this month he intends to have teachers working in his schools adhere to a strict morality code. If they voice support for contraception or same-sex marriage, they could face dismissal.
A soundbite played of one parent protesting the policy: "We need our teachers to be beacons of integrity, of critical thinking!"
Villafranca touted another grievance: "Meanwhile, Pastor Illo says only boys will be trained as altar servers, meaning girls will no longer be part of the training program."
While CBS was eager to jump on a corrected mistake at a Catholic school, the broadcast network failed to pick up a recent story about a San Francisco-area public school district being forced to abandon sex education curriculum because it was so controversial.
In August of 2014, local CBS affiliate KPIX reported on parents of students in the Fremont United School District being outraged by a health text book that "includes information on bondage, orgasms, vibrators, along with explicit drawings and diagrams" and "addresses masturbation, binge-drinking and shows sex organs in various stages of arousal."
The school district pulled the book a week later.
The Catholic school pamphlet was a unintentional mistake that was quickly corrected – and defined the graphic sexual acts described as immoral. By contrast, the public school text book was a conscious effort to teach students about such sex acts. However, since the Catholic Church objects to gay marriage and contraception, that's the local controversy to which CBS devoted national coverage.
Here is a full transcript of the February 19 CBS This Morning segment:
7:31 AM ET TEASE:
NORAH O'DONNELL: Plus, controversy at American Catholic archdiocese. Elementary school students are given pamphlets with some blunt language on sex. It's just one of several disputes that's creating a new divide. We'll have that story ahead.
7:43 AM ET SEGMENT:
O'DONNELL: This morning the archdiocese of San Francisco faces a rebellion in a Catholic elementary school. The issue is a pamphlet on morality, they call it, given to young students. As Omar Villafranca reports, some parents say it was immoral for the school to distribute the handout.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Moral Outrage; CA Parents Furious Over Catholic School Pamphlets]
OMAR VILLAFRANCA: Ryan Brooks and his wife Christy of San Francisco say they got a shocking and unexpected lesson when their 11-year-old son Riley recently came home from his Catholic elementary school.
CHRISTY BROOKS: I was really stunned to hear words coming out of his mouth that I know he didn't know the meaning of.
VILLAFRANCA: The words came from a pamphlet given to the young students by the parish, an "Examination of Conscience" meant to prepare them to confess their sins. While the pamphlets were quickly discarded, Christy Brooks found a nearly identical one online. Among the dozens of questions –
CHRISTY BROOKS: "Did I participate in or approve of a mercy killing? Did I perform impure acts on myself," the examples being, "masturbation or another (adultery, fornication or sodomy)?" I mean, this is not content that's appropriate for anybody, you know, in the K through eighth grade realm.
VILLAFRANCA: Father Joseph Illo is the pastor of the Star of the Sea parish, joining Catholic Churches around the world in observing Ash Wednesday yesterday. He says when he realized the adult content of the pamphlets in December he halted their distribution.
FATHER JOSEPH ILLO: We didn't scrutinize them very closely and we should have. And that was an oversight on our part.
VILLAFRANCA: Father Illo believes there's a reason this issue – which he says was resolved months ago – is once again making headlines.
ILLO: This story is just a consequence, perhaps, an offshoot of other deeper concerns.
VILLAFRANCA: Those concerns were evident in a student-led prayer protest Wednesday. San Francisco's Archbishop said earlier this month he intends to have teachers working in his schools adhere to a strict morality code. If they voice support for contraception or same-sex marriage, they could face dismissal.
KATHY CURRAN [PROTESTER]: We need our teachers to be beacons of integrity, of critical thinking!
VILLAFRANCA: Meanwhile, Pastor Illo says only boys will be trained as altar servers, meaning girls will no longer be part of the training program. And he says, that while he regrets sending out the "Examination of Conscience" pamphlets –
ILLO: I don't have any regrets on the big picture here, but I think God will use even our mistakes to bring about good.
VILLAFRANCA: For CBS This Morning, Omar Villafranca.
O'DONNELL: Interesting story.
GAYLE KING: Yeah, that's the best way to look at it. They made a mistake and hopefully everybody learns from it. It's called proofreading.
