C.

Fully Human in Sexuality

Sexuality is a fundamental component of personality, one of its modes of being, of manifestation, of

communicating with others, of feeling, of expressing and of living human love. It is an integral part of the
development of the personality and of its educative process.

"It is, in fact, from sex that the human person receives the characteristics which, on the biological,
psychological and spiritual levels, make that person a man or a woman, and thereby largely condition his
or her progress towards maturity and insertion into society.” –CCE, Educational Guidance in Human Love:
Outlines for Sex Education, November 1, 1983, #4

 God’s Design for Human Sexuality

According to John Paul II, God created the body as a 'sign' of his own divine mystery.

God designed human beings as sexual beings. He created both male and female as two distinct
but complementary sexes. Foundational to a stable life is understanding, accepting and affirming
our own gender. This is God's basic design for us.

Because God Himself is the source of the complementarity of the sexes, when He created man in
the image of Himself. They were then directed to "be fruitful and multiply" by becoming "one
flesh." This was the original vocation of man and woman, to unite their bodies and produce life,
but to do so in the "image of God" which means it must bear the following characteristics: it must
be free, total, faithful and fruitful.

 The Creation of Man and for Him, Women

God made only two kinds of sexual beings, male and female. He knows there are only two kinds
of sexual beings.
"And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female
He created them." Genesis 1:27

Our sexuality goes beyond our sexual organs. Our sexual identity has a lot to do with our roles
and purposes in life. God chose our sexual identify for us along with all the ramifications it has for
our lives. God in His wisdom and love chose each of our sex to be either male or female.

Our sexual identities are precious parts of our person and to be highly esteemed. Others might
look down on us because we are male or female, but not God. God wrapped up our being with
our sexual identify here on earth. When we fuss about our sexual identity or someone else's, we
are stepping onto holy ground. In such a case we are rebelling against God Himself and denying
His wisdom and kindness.

 Nuptial meaning of the Body

 The very design of our body orients us toward a marital (nuptial) relationship. The man is
obviously meant for the woman, and the woman for the man. And in this complementary
relationship that we call marriage, there is the fruitfulness of children. This image of marriage is
also an image for the spiritual life wherein God speaks of his relationship to his people in marital
that is “nuptial” imagery. In the Old Testament Israel was frequently described as God’s bride,
and his relationship to her is marital. In the New Testament, Jesus is the Groom and his Church, is
his bride.

To speak, therefore, of the “nuptial meaning” of the body, is to insist that our sexual distinctions
of male and female are not merely arbitrary physical aspects. Rather, they behold deeper,
spiritual realities that we must learn to appreciate, and respect. Men and women are different,
and manifest different aspects of God’s relationship to these people. Women, manifest the glory
of the Church Bride. Men manifest the glory of Christ as Groom.

Even celibate men and women, priests and religious, manifest by their lives the nuptial meaning
of the human person in relation to God. “As a priest, I am not a bachelor, I am not single. I have
a bride, and she is the Church.” Religious Sisters also manifest a marital relationship, where Jesus
is the groom and they manifest a relationship to him as spouse, as bride.

D. Christian Meaning of Human Sexuality

 CHRIST : THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD

o The uniqueness of Christian Sexual Behavior and its Social Import

 The Church continues to insist that the entire area of sexual attitudes and
behavior is of utmost importance.
 For Christ has given us both understanding and power concerning chastity that
the world not only does not accept, but frequently cannot accept
 Though human sexuality, like that of brute animals, exists for the sake of
procreation and the bonding biologically necessary for raising the young, it has
social aspects far wider than anything found among beasts.
 The nature of the Church itself was called into question as soon as sex was
thought to. be a private matter, to be dealt with solely by the consciences of
individual couples.

o What we are looking for

 At times what prevents this conviction is that we fear our sexuality because of its
violence and the ease with which it can get out of control; we sense its connection
with original sin and our own actual sins.
  We despise our sexual powers because they seem gross or dirty or, more subtly,
because we find pleasure in them but no sense of true meaning, significance, or
human worth.
 We forget, when we despise it, that it is God who has made our bodies to function
in these ways, that it is He who has made us sexual beings and has filled the entire
world with sexual beings. Yet, He intends for us to live in this world in a healthy,
positive, holy, and Christian manner.

o The Light of Christ

 Putting on the mind of Christ requires that we proceed in the light of faith,
thinking of what God has revealed to us about Himself and about us. We wish to
see what faith, our faith in Christ, implies for our behavior.
 What, then, does faith teach about sexuality? Most obviously, that God created
man male and female. But in that same passage there is something more
pertinent and more fundamental: Man was created in the image and according
to the likeness of God.

 GOD’S GOOD CREATION : CHRISTIAN SYMBOLS

o God and Matter

 So God waits before saying that man is either good or bad, Because He has given
man the great gift of freedom, in likeness to Himself, He waits to see what man is
going to do with his freedom. God has left man unfinished so that he can become
like God even in His act of creation, creating himself by the gift of God's grace,
through his own free actions.
 This bodily glorification of Christ is the seed and root of our salvation and our
glorification. We are called by Christ to do in our bodies as He did in His body: to
suffer, to die, and to rise in glory in our own flesh, made glorious by the power of
His Spirit. This is the reason why He gives us His body as nourishment when we
receive Him in Communion.

o Symbols in Revelation

 Since symbolic communication is part of our nature, God's Good Creation:

Christian Symbols especially at the deepest levels, God has used symbolism to
communicate with us, to reveal Himself to us, and to teach us more about
ourselves.
 The mere fact that He has done so sharpens our awareness that man is a symbol-
making animal, a creature that lives his life in the power of symbols. God, having
created us this way, speaks to us in the language that is best suited to us-and this
is often the language of symbols.
  SEXUAL INTERCOURSE : THE NATURAL WORD OF LOVE
o The meaning of Body

 Consider a man's body. His genitals are external, hanging loosely from his body.
On arousal, they point away from him and, at climax, expel his seed from him. He
responds quickly to visual stimuli. The mere sight of a woman, especially if he
senses that she is interested in him, can arouse him at once sexually. His sexual
response is quick and strong; his whole body reacts rapidly.
 A woman's body is very different. Her genitals are interior, hidden. Her response
is largely tactile. Mere seeing does little to arouse her; touch does a great deal. A
woman's response is much slower than a man's. She is not only slower to be
aroused, she is slower in subsiding; and many a marital problem comes from the
fact that the husband, having subsided quickly from his sexual excitement, turns
away and pays no further attention to his wife though she is still fully aroused.

o The meaning of Intercourse

 The act of intercourse is a symbol not merely of marriage in a static sense but of
marriage as progress and as growth.
 The most obvious aspect of sexual union is the pleasure it gives. But even this
physical delight, though so strongly and intensely felt in the flesh, symbolizes
something beyond itself. For the pleasure one receives, as also the pleasure that
one gives, is a pleasure that comes from, though, and by another person.
 This physical act of union, however, remains always the symbolic expression of
the desire for an ever deeper emotional and spiritual oneness with each other. At
the same moment, as a union which parents make possible but do not control, it
signifies their subordination of themselves as parents to the growth and
development of the child.

E. Value Formation in Human Sexuality

The complementarity between man and woman is the ground with consequences. Mainly, man and
woman are called to mutual gift of self, to a reciprocity. By and through our sexuality, we are called to live
in a positive complementary relationship with one another. The partnership of man and woman
constitutes the first form of communion between persons and constitutes the basic form of our co-
humanity. Concretely, then, our sexuality is a relational power through which we can show understanding,
warmth, openness and compassion to others. Moreover, it is simply that sexuality is for love—either
married or celibate love. Sexuality orients every man and woman toward interpersonal dialogue, and
contributes to their integral maturation by opening them up to the gift of self in love.

1. Contribute to integral maturation of the person

Sexuality, oriented, elevated, and integrated by love, acquires truly human quality.
Prepared by biological and psychological development, it grows harmoniously and is achieved in
the full sense only with the realization of affective maturity which affects itself in unselfish love
 and in the total gift of self. It is a fundamental component of personality, one of its modes of
being, of manifestation, of communicating with others, of feeling, of expressing and of living
human love. Therefore it is an integral part of the development of the personality and of its
educative process: " It is, in fact, from sex that the human person receives the characteristics
which, on the biological, psychological and spiritual levels, make that person a man or a woman,
and thereby largely condition his or her progress towards maturity and insertion into society ".

2. For healthy interpersonal relations

The human person, through his or her intimate nature, exists in relation to others,
implying a reciprocity of love. The sexes are complementary: similar and dissimilar at the same
time; not identical, the same, though, in dignity of person; they are peers so that they may
mutually understand each other, diverse in their reciprocal completion.
The body, in as much as it is sexual, expresses the vocation of man and woman to
reciprocity, which is to love and to the mutual gift of self. The body, in short, calls man and woman
to the constitutive vocation to fecundity as one of the fundamental meanings of their being
sexual.
Love and fecundity are meanings and values of sexuality which include and summons each
other in turn, and cannot therefore be considered as either alternatives or opposites.

3. Foster healthy acceptance of one’s sexuality

We must also remember how adolescents in industrialized societies are preoccupied and
at times disturbed not only by the problems of self-identity, discovering their plan in life and
difficulties in successfully integrating sexuality in a mature and well-oriented personality. They
also have problems in accepting themselves and their bodies. In this regard, out-patient and
specialized centres for adolescents have now sprung up, often characterized by purely hedonistic
purposes. On the other hand, a healthy culture of the body leads to accepting oneself as a gift and
as an incarnated spirit, called to be open to God and society. A healthy culture of the body should
accompany formation in this very constructive period, which is also not without its risks.

4. Comfortability with one’s body

The body is a sacred gift. Parents and guardians should help children be comfortable with
their bodies. At the early childhood stage, it is important to teach children proper names for body
parts, instruct children to respect and care for their own bodies, including proper hygiene, good
eating habits, exercise and sleep, teach children to respect other people’s bodies, and explain the
difference between appropriate and inappropriate touch

5. Motivates genuine efforts to develop one’s manhood or womanhood

Manhood makes a man. It's an achievement. It turns a carefree boy with little sense of
commitment to anything or anyone into a man who is eager to take on responsibilities for others.
He becomes someone who produces, sacrifices, and commits himself to the good of others. He
becomes dependable and protective. He develops manners and self-control. Others become
better people by knowing and being influenced by him. He becomes someone who helps
 strengthen rather than drain the community. He produces more than he consumes and takes
responsibility for his actions.

In today’s world, modern womanhood has become a path with ever-increasing obstacles
and confusion. As advocates of various agendas voice their opinions on what women should be
like and how they should act, they fail to seek God’s judgment in the matter—and usually, they
ridicule the thought of even considering God’s judgment. Modern women try to implement these
various ideas, only to find themselves frustrated and unfulfilled. Seeking God first is foundational
to Christian womanhood. To truly pursue Christian womanhood, women of God must value and
develop humility.

F. Education for Chastity Begins at Home

The Church has consistently taught that parents are the principal and first educators of their children
(Catechism, no. 1653). According to natural law and the Church's moral teachings, schools must be
subservient to parents, particularly in the area of sex education.

As the Church has always taught, chastity education can be provided in the context of the Sixth and Ninth
Commandments within existing religion classes at appropriate ages. Such a catechesis on the Church's
moral teachings is especially needed today, and countless religious educators are meeting this need, often
without the full support in word and action of the students' families.

Always in close collaboration with parents, classes should separate boys and girls for basic, non-intimate
discussions regarding modesty, avoiding occasions of sin, respecting others, and similar topics. Many
Catholic educators are sincere in their desire to promote chastity, but this must always be done in a way
consistent with the mind of the Church and in a way that treats the parents as the "primary educators"
and not as outsiders.

Family Circle

The "normal and fundamental method" of providing chastity education is "personal

dialogue between parents and their children, that is, individual formation within the family circle"
(no. 129). This dialogue respects the child's individuality and his or her stage of development.

Pope John Paul II adds that when it comes to upholding the parents' right to closely
supervise their children's chastity education, "the Church reaffirms the law of subsidiarity, which
the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in sex education, by entering into the same
spirit that animates the parents" (Familiaris Consortio, no. 37).
G. The role of the Church and Society in preserving the Sacredness of the Human Person

The Life and Dignity of the Human Person.

What is the Church’s official teaching on the life and dignity of the human person?

According to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the Church teaches that “As a gift from God,
every human life is sacred from conception to natural death. The life and dignity of every person must be
respected and protected at every stage and in every condition. The right to life is the first and most
fundamental principle of human rights that leads Catholics to actively work for a world of greater respect
for human life and greater commitment to justice and peace.”
The Catholic Church believes that “human life is sacred and that the dignity of the human person is the
foundation of a moral vision for society. This belief is the foundation of all the principles of our social
teaching. We believe that every person is precious, that people are more important than things, and that
the measure of every institution is whether it threatens or enhances the life and dignity of the human
person.”

Catholic social teaching concerning the dignity of the human person leads to involvement in a broad range
of issues including:

 preventing abortion and euthanasia

 ending the death penalty
 fair treatment for those with disabilities
 promoting civil rights and equality for those of different races, genders, ages, quality of health
and income level
 ending the cycle of poverty
 working to avoid war by preventing conflicts or resolving them by peaceful means
 preventing cloning and embryonic stem cell research