Mr. Salter
Morality
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God created man and woman with natural,
complementary sexual differences.
◦ Sexuality is a psychological, spiritual, and physical reality, it
is not just about “body parts”
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The two Creation stories contain these truths:
1. Marriage is a blessing from God
2. Man and women together image God’ likeness
3. Man and woman are created to form a social unit
(marriage)
4. Man & woman are united in marriage, in biblical
language, it will form “one flesh” and has a procreative
end, “be fruitful and multiply”
The ‘dark side’ of sexuality is that it can be used selfishly,
and can exploit those who are vulnerable
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Two primary goods of marriage: unity and
procreation
Unity
◦ Joining together as one and creating a family
◦ The unique gift of “union” can be received in its proper sense only
as a result of it first being given to the other in marriage
◦ The first sex act causes an extremely powerful emotional
attachment (an “adhesive property)
Procreation
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◦ All sexual unions are meant to remain open to new life
◦ Contraception – against conception – has the goal of preventing
the creation of human life
So marriage is meant to be a lifelong, permanent commitment until
death claims one or the other.
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Contraception causes love to be no longer authentic (as
sexual love was created to be)
◦ Not accepting procreation as part of a “marital act”, diminishes
the total self-giving of the relationship
 Contraception has led to considerable moral chaos by contributing
to promiscuity, unwed pregnancy, abortion, single parenthood, and
divorce
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Contraception as birth control, limiting procreation
◦ The Birth control pill works to prevent pregnancy through the
manipulation of hormone levels to “trick” a woman’s body that
it is pregnant; the ovaries do not develop and release eggs
◦ It separates the sexual act from procreation
 Methods: condoms, birth control pill, tubal ligation, and vasectomy
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Abortifacients
◦ Allow fertilization (a life to begin at conception), but prevent
implantation; thus killing the new life
 Examples - IUD and the morning-after pills
Natural Family Planning (NFP)
 The Catholic Church endorses a responsible
family planning method – NFP
◦ This method monitors a woman’s natural awareness of
her menstrual cycles of fertility and infertility
 The couple monitors subtle temperature changes and other
body changes to know when ovulation takes place
 Divorce rate among NFP practitioners is 2%
◦ Pregnancy
 A woman is normally fertile for about four days per month
 Ovum (egg) life after ovulation is estimated to be a maximum
of 24 hours
 Sperm life in a favorable vaginal environment is up to 4 days
Two Properties of Marriage: Exclusivity and Indissolubility
◦ Since the marriage act is procreative, Catholic morality teaches that the
only permissible use of genital sex should take place within marriage
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Exclusivity
 Since marriage involves a total self-giving from each spouse,
it follows that this gift cannot be shared with a third party, in
which case it would be incomplete.
 Polygamy (multiple partners within a marriage) violates the
nature of matrimony
Indissolubility
◦ Marriage obviously demands stability, too create healthy family
life
 Natural morality and Christian revelation strongly state that this
stability is to be permanent; to give oneself totally to a
spouse, that totality is not complete if it is not lifelong.
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Divorce
◦ Jesus speaks of the indissolubility of marriage
 He said: “…the two will become one flesh, so they are no
longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined
together, let not man put asunder” (cf. Mk 10:2-9).
 For this reason, Jesus and the Church do not recognize
divorce for those who are sacramentally married (since it is
impossible to break the sacramental union of a man and
woman)
 In itself, divorce may not be sinful.
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Annulments
◦ The Church does permit annulments
 The recognition that no true marriage existed from the
beginning due to certain obstacles or impediments present
at the time of the marriage making it null and void; e.g. a
lack of full, free, and voluntary consent, an existing prior
marriage, or a being married before a judge
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Moral Behavior
◦ Chastity is responsible use of our sexual powers
 Single, married, a priest or religious, all have the
responsibility to live chastely according to our particular
state in life
 By living a chaste life, wholesome men balance
appreciating a woman’s “full beauty” (physical,
emotional &spiritual), as opposed to seeing her only as
an object to be used selfishly
 However, merely abstaining from sexual activity does not
mean that a person is living a chaste life
 Jesus also teaches “[E]very one who looks at a woman
lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his
heart.”
 Practicing chastity requires self-mastery (patience and grace)
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Violations of Chastity condemned in the Old
Testament:
◦ Adultery - having sexual relations with a married
person not your spouse
◦ Fornication - pre-marital sex
◦ Prostitution is prohibited because it uses a person
for sexual pleasure.
◦ Incest - sexual activity among relatives
◦ Homosexual sexual activity is condemned because
it is contrary to the nature of man and contrary to
the sex act itself.
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Pornography
violates chastity by perverting the gift of sexuality
with impure thoughts and looks for the sole motivation of sexual
arousal
 Depersonalizes a person; uses them as an object of selfish desire
 Trains man to respond to wife for her sexual value, nothing else: she
should be physically flawless and constantly sexually accessible;
fosters the false mentality that casual, uncommitted sex is the most
enjoyable sex
 Porn sex is carefree; provides unrestrained pleasure independent of
reality; escapes the reality of unmarried sex (pregnancy, STDs, guilt,
fear, remorse, embarrassment, distrust)
◦ Wouldn’t it infuriate you if a guy looked at your daughter or wife in
the same way one looks at porn – an object of fornication or adultery?
◦ JP II, stated, “The problems with pornography isn’t that it
shows to much of a women, but that it shows too little. A
duty of every man is to protect the dignity of every woman.”
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Responding to sexual urges
◦ Romance without Regret
video with Jason and Christalina Evert
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REj1rhc4RUk
◦ Life on the Rock , Model for Chastity
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Rape
w’ Leah Darrow
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtasO-21E2U
◦ When sex becomes violent
 Date rape
 Acquaintance rape
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Homosexuality – Heterosexuality
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Jesus’ law of love always was His priority
 Gay marriage
 Domestic sexual partners
◦ “You are forgiven, go and sin no more.”
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Words defined in Chapter 12:
abortion
divorce
masturbation
abortifacients
date rape
lust
adultery
emotional-relationship sex Natural Family Planning
almost-committed sex fecundity
polygamy
Annulments
fornication
prostitution
acquaintance rape
heterosexuality
recreational sex
chastity
homosexuality
sinful
concupiscence
incest
Venereal
contraception
indissolubility
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Jean Donovan
(St. Jean the Playful)
◦ Chastity calls for recognizing the fullness of
meaning regarding our sexuality
◦ Ms. Donovan raised in a middle-class family in
Connecticut
 After college, was a business woman who drove her
motorcycle to work
 Described as “happy-go-lucky
 Went to El Salvador to serve the poor, in spite of
wanting to get married and have a family; but felt
God’s call to help the poor
◦ Died at age 27 from a death squad in El Salvador
 Jean integrated spirituality into every aspect of her life