CHASTITY TALK

HISTORY
PIUS XI

REDEMPTOR HOMINIS EDUCACIONIS

DECEMBER,

1921
(Education of the Redeemed Man)
"Prudent sex education be given to the children within the
family"
DECREE OF THE HOLY OFFICE

MARCH, 1931

"No approbation whatever can be given can be given to group

sex education and that precautions must be taken to see that young
people avoid all occasions of sins.
PIUS XII
"Only parents should give sex education"

SEPTEMBER,

1951
Reaffirmed decree
SACRA VIRGINITAS
"Condemned immoral sex education"
"Fight the writings which were even then flooding the world
concerning 'sex initiation', exaggerating the importance of
sex"(Address to Families)
PAUL VI
GAUDIUM ET SPES

December 7,

1965
(Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World)
"Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for
itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.
HUMANAE VITAE

JULY 25,1968

(On the Regulation of Birth)

"The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which
married people collaborate freely and responsible with God the
Creator." #1
"...to create an atmosphere favorable to the growth of chastity so
that true liberty may prevail over license and the norms of the moral
law may be fully safeguarded."# 22
SEPTEMBER, 1972
"... classed sex education along with erotic literature and
pornography as one of the evils of the day.
PERSONA HUMANA

DECEMBER,

1975
(Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual
Ethics)
"The human person is so profoundly affected by sexuality that it
must be considered as one of the factors which give to each
individual's life the principal traits that distinguish it. In fact, it is from
sex that the human person receives the characteristics which, on the
biological, psychological and spiritual levels, make that person a man
and a woman, and thereby largely condition his or her progress
towards maturity and insertion into society" #1
"In the present period, the corruption of morals has increased,
and one of the most serious indications of this corruption is the
unbridled exaltation of sex. Moreover, through the means of social
communication and through public entertainment, this corruption has
reached the point of invading the field of education and of infecting the
general mentality." # 1
The Church recommends the following for living a chaste life:
1. "Discipline of the senses and the mind
2. Watchfulness and prudence in avoiding occasions of sins

3. Observance of modesty
4. Moderation in recreation
5. Wholesome pursuits
6. Assiduous prayer
7. Frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist."
# XII
"..... and the moral sense of the faithful have declared without
hesitation that masturbation is an intrinsically and seriously disordered
act. The main reason is that, whatever the motive for acting this way,
the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal conjugal
relations especially contradicts the finality of the faculty. For it lacks
the sexual relationship called for by the moral order, namely the
relationship which realizes "the full sense of mutual self giving and
human procreation in the context of true love." # IX
The Christian doctrine consistently "states that every genital act
must be within the framework of marriage." # VII
"All deliberate exercise of sexuality to this regular relationship,
that is, the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in
the context of true love." # 9
JOHN PAUL II
FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO

November 22,

1981
(Apostolic Exhortation on the Role of the Christian Family in the
World)
The biblical principle of the equality of man and woman can be
achieved in all "its fullness by sincere self giving." # 22
"The moral criterion for the authenticity of conjugal and family
relationships consists in fostering the dignity and vocation of the
individual persons, who achieve their fullness by sincere self-giving."#
22

The daily experiences of happiness and sadness "are the most

concrete and effective pedagogy for the active, responsible and fruitful
inclusion of the children in the wider horizon of society." # 37
That is why, parents should be all the more diligent to train their
children in sexuality as "an enrichment of the whole person - body,
emotions and soul - and it manifests its innermost meaning in leading
the person to the gift of self in love."# 37
"In the spirit of subsidiarity, schools should take this task with
the parents seriously." # 37
"The Church is firmly opposed to an often widespread sex
information dissociated from the moral principles." # 37
It is imperative that "parents must trustingly and courageously
train their children in the essential values of human life."# 37
The 1997 Marriage and Family textbook mentions "the
indispensable premise for parents to give their children a clear an
delicate sex education." This is a "basic right and duty of parents
which must be carried out under their attentive guidance whether at
home or in educational centers chosen and controlled by them." #37

EDUCATIONAL GUIDANCE IN HUMAN LOVE November 1, 1983

(Outlines for sex Education)
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. Therefore, it is an
integral part of the development of the personality and its educative
process." # 4
Sexuality, oriented 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 manifests itself in unselfish love

and in the total gift of self." # 6
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." # 24
Oriented to unity and fecundity, the married man and woman
participate in the creative love of God, living in communion with Him
through the other."# 26
"In the Christian anthropological perspective, affective-sex
education must consider the totality of the person and insist therefore
on the integration of the biological, psycho-affective, social and
spiritual elements. This integration has become more difficult because
the believer also bears the consequences of sin from the beginning." #
35
"Contemporary pedagogy has full consciousness of the fact that
human life is characterized by a constant evolution and that personal
formation is a permanent process. This is also according to age true
for sexuality, which expresses itself with particular characteristics in
the different phases of life. it evidently brings riches and notable
difficulties at every stage of maturation."# 41
LETTER TO FAMILIES

February 2, 1994

"From these events, ancient and modern, inspiring and painful,

glorious and humiliating, it becomes clear how the family is an organic
part of the nation and the nation of the family." # 17
"The work women do within the family unit: that work should be
acknowledged and deeply appreciated." # 17

" A truly sovereign and spiritually vigorous nation is always made

up of strong families who are aware of their vocation and mission in
history." # 17
"The family is in the center of all these and if it plays its primary
and rightful role in society, a genuine development will be a reality. Cf.
#17
*CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
1994
"Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the
person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being.
#2337
A. Integrity of the person:
1. The chaste person maintains the integrity of the powers of life
and love placed in him.
2. Chastity includes the apprenticeship in self-mastery, which is a
training in human freedom.
3. Chastity comes under the cardinal virtue of temperance, which
seeks to permeate the passions and appetite of the senses with
reason.
4. Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages
marked by imperfection and sin.
5. Chastity represents an eminently personal task.
6. Chastity is a moral virtue. # 2337,2339, 2341, 2343, 2344,
2345
B. Integrality o the gift of self:
1. Chastity appears as a school of the gift of self.
2. The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. #2346, 2347
On the ninth commandment:

1. Purity of heart will enable us to see God and will enable us

even now to see things according to God but will require modesty
which is patience, decency and discretion.
2. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person.
Purification of the heart demands prayer, the practice of chastity,
purity of intention and of vision. # 2531-2533
THE TRUTH AND MEANING OF HUMAN SEXUALITY
December 8, 1995
In the past, even when the family did not provide specific sexual
education, the general culture was permeated b respect for
fundamental values and hence served to protect and maintain. In the
greater part of society, both in developed and developing countries,
the decline of traditional models has left children deprived of
consistent and positive guidance; parents find themselves unprepared
to provide adequate answers. #1
One of the most difficult tasks parents face in this contemporary
time is giving their children "an adequate preparation for adult life,
particularly with regard to education in the true meaning of sexuality."
#1
Though there are relevant and meaningful information on the
web, some facts are influenced by a " distorted individualistic concept
of freedom in an ambiance lacking the basic values of life, human love
and the family." # 1
It also aims to give back to the parents their confidence and
capability to carry out their unique and important role of educating
their children to be supplemented by the abstinence program in the
school. # 47
"In general, the first sexual information to be given to a child
does not deal with genital sexuality but rather with pregnancy and the
birth of a brother or a sister. The child's natural curiosity is stimulated,

for example, when it sees the signs of pregnancy in its mother and
experiences waiting for the baby. Parents can take advantage of this
happy experience in order to communicate some simple facts about
pregnancy, but always in the deepest context of wonder at the creative
work of God ho wants the new life He "has given to be cared for in the
mother's body, near her heart."# 76
"One cannot give what one does not possess. If the person is not
master of self- through the virtues and, in the concrete way, through
chastity - he or she lacks that self- possession which makes self-giving
possible. Chastity is the spiritual power which frees love from
selfishness and aggression. To the degree that a person weakens
chastity, his or her love becomes more and more selfish, that is,
satisfying a desire for pleasure and no longer self-giving." # 16
Four principles regarding information about sexuality:
1. Each child is unique and unrepeatable person and must
receive individualized formation.
2. The moral dimension must always be a part of their
explanation.
3. Formation in chastity and timely information regarding
sexuality must be provided in the broad context f education for love.
4. Parents should provide this information with great care, clarity
and propriety. # 65

THE THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

1997

Man can only do this if he has already achieved a mastery of

himself: "free interiorly from the constraints of their own bodies and
sex, free with the freedom of the gift, man and woman could enjoy the
whole truth, the whole evidence of man, just as God-Yahweh had
revealed these things to them in the mystery of creation." p.64

This truth of man's nakedness without shame affirms that the

only creature in the world that God created for his own sake is man and
that from the beginning, man can only discover his wholeness through
a generous gift of himself to another. Cf. p.64
Since love creates only the good, the goods are composed of
"original happiness, the beatifying beginning of man whom God
created 'male and female' and the nuptial significance of the body in
its original nakedness." p. 67
As a Creator's gift, original innocence refers specifically to the
"meaning of mutual donation of one to the other through masculinity
and femininity in this world." p. 68
This "is manifested as a tranquil testimony of conscience which
precedes any experience of good and evil. Yet this serene testimony of
conscience is something all the more beatifying" p. 69
This "corresponds to a threat inflicted on the gift in its personal
intimacy and bears witness to the interior collapse of innocence in the
mutual experience." p. 70
*CATECHISM FOR FILIPINO CATHOLICS

1997

.... different but complimentary nature of the sexuality of man

and woman "not only in their physical and biological being, but
reaching down to the depth of their moral and spiritual being."#1072
God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman, and thus the
capacity and responsibility of love and communion." # 1074 See also
FC # 11

Consequences of the fundamental truth of creation:

1. In creating the human race 'male and female', God gives man and
woman an equal personal dignity. (FC # 22)

2. With God's creative action is the distinctive sexuality of man and

woman with their differences and complementarity, not only in their
physical and biological being, but reaching down to the depth of their
moral and spiritual being. (CCC 2333)
3. Man and woman are called to mutual gift of self, to a reciprocity.
(EGHL #24)
4. Sexuality is for love - either married or celibate love. (NCDP #287)
2 Possible approaches of sexuality education:
1. Comprehensive - recognizes the wide socio-cultural milieu of the
complicated realities of life combined with the whole range of personal
factors hat involve the person.
2. Direct or "Abstinence-only" - is usually faith-based programs. They
place great importance on the moral framework of sexuality education
with emphasis on core ethical values and the development of character
and attitudes.
The teaching of the Church on sexuality education includes the
following salient points:
1. that it is not reducible to a set of teaching materials about human
organ systems and their biological functions (USCC p.75)
2. must consider the totality of the person and insist therefore on the
integration of the biological, psycho-affective, social and spiritual
elements
3. that personal formation including sexuality formation is a
'permanent process' characterized by constant evolution EGHL #35)
Valuable facts on sex education:
1. Fornication is a serious sin.
2. Any sexual activity outside marriage is seriously sinful.
3. Promiscuity has sad emotional and psychological repercussions.
4. Continence is absolutely the only way to avoid venereal diseases
and unplanned pregnancies.

PARENTS have the primary, fundamental and natural right and duty to
develop the character formation and nurturance of the moral values of
the children. In the family where the human trinity of the father,
mother and the child is, the symbiotic gift of self must be evident in all
the members. The family forms the individual members to be holistic
persons. Parents should be able to begin teaching chastity at an
appropriate age and preferably in a same sex communication. They
must also teach their children about the morality of human sexuality
but the readiness and maturity of the children for sex education must
also be considered.
CATHOLIC SEX EDUCATION must have a sense of sacredness,
conscience formation and moral and spiritual guidance.
CHASTITY is for Christians seeking God's assistance to make the right
decisions and be guided in their thoughts, words and deeds whenever
they are in a relationship. It is a lifestyle. For chastity to be relevant
and meaningful to the adolescents, the theories must be taught
alongside pragmatic, interesting and lively examples which will mirror
their lives. " The more a student's experiences and moral imagination
are allowed to interface

with

truthful sexual information, the more

comprehensive his/her approach to sexual matters will be." (Risch &

Lawler. Sexuality Education and the Catholic Teenager: A Report)
Today's adolescents are capable of living a chaste life through the
grace of God. "The goal of pre-marital chastity is marital chastity." Basil
Cole, O.P.
ABSTINENCE is simply saying NO to all sexual activities.