The truth about sex

n Last year I received a phone call from a mother in Alabama who was upset because of the sex education classes her two daughters were required to attend in the local Catholic school. She tried to have her daughters exempted from the classes but the school would not allow it. So what did she do? She withdrew her children from the Catholic school and sent them to the local public school which honors the beliefs of the parents and allows children to be exempt from the sex-ed classes. This is a strange twist: the public school honors the rights of parents in the delicate matter of sex education while the Catholic school does not. I wonder how often such situations arise.

My reason for mentioning this here is to call your attention to the December 8, 1995 document from Rome, from the Pontifical Council for the Family. The title is: "The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education within the Family." The document was in preparation for five years and deals with the delicate matter of training children in human sexuality.

It seems that the Pontifical Council has been deluged with requests from parents, especially in first world countries, for guidance in the matter of "sex education" of their children. The Vatican document does not offer anything new that goes beyond traditional teaching with regard to the virtue of chastity. The emphasis, however, in this document is on training in the family, as is indicated by the subtitle.

The document opens with a description of the present phenomenon of pan-sexualism in modern society, especially in the media. It then treats the nature of true love and the virtue of chastity; it points out that all are called by God to live a life of holiness and strive for perfection-in every state of life. It stresses that the parents have the primary and inalienable right and duty to educate their children, especially in the matter of sexuality. The intimate details of sexuality should be transmitted to children in the home by the father and mother-it should not be done by schools or other persons, except in cases where the parents are not able or willing to do it. The document says repeatedly that the moral dimension of sexuality must always be a part of the instruction of children (#62). Next it deals with the learning stages of childhood, puberty, adolescence and young adulthood. Some guidelines and principles are given that summarize traditional Catholic moral teaching on sexuality.

The modern notion of sex education is purely secular in origin and intent. The purpose is to teach children all about genital activity, both natural and unnatural; often it uses erotic pictures and word-images to stimulate the imagination of children. Currently it is obsessed with condoms and the so-called "safe sex" as a way to avoid disease, especially AIDS. As such it is often instruction in immorality and is done with little or no moral guidance.

The Vatican document totally rejects this approach. Msgr. John F. McCarthy puts it well in his Newsletter, Living Tradition: "While 'sex-education' in the sense of the cultivation in students of growth towards chaste manhood and womanhood through instruction in the moral teaching of the Church remains, as always, a function of Catholic classrooms, the new document virtually excludes classroom 'sex-education' in the sense of the presentation of intimate details and aspects of genital behavior or of any material that is apt to raise erotic images in the minds of the students."

The document calls on bishops conferences to help parents teach their children at home (#147). Now that is really something new. Will it happen? Don't hold your breath. You can order the document for $5 from: Origins, 3211 Fourth St. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20017; or for $5 from the Wanderer, 201 Ohio St., St. Paul, Minn. 55107.

Kenneth Baker, S.J., Editor