CHAPTER NINE

Respect for the

Gift of Sexuality
The Goodness of Sex
God created us as sexual beings.
Sex is derived from the Latin word
secare which means “to separate.”
Both created in God’s image, men
and women are complementary beings
who are equal in dignity.
According to Genesis, sex was
intended to be very good.
The Goodness of Sex
Our sexuality involves our
emotional and spiritual makeup.
Sexual activity involves respect:
looking at ourselves as creations of
God and looking at others as persons
and not objects to be used.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.

These commandments serve as

safeguards of God’s intention for
human sexuality.
They warn against the disrespectful
and harmful actions involving sex.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Sexual Intercourse is for Marriage

God intended sexual intercourse and all

actions leading up to it to be shared
exclusively by a man and a woman in the
union of marriage.
Marital faithfulness between
husbands and wives that requires
fidelity reserving all sexual activity and
affection for each other and also
asks couples to be loyal to each
other through good times and
bad.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Two Purposes of Sex in Marriage

The
sharing Transmission
of love Purposes
between
of life
the of Sex
spouses
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Two Purposes of Sex in Marriage
Moral means of birth regulation must be in
harmony with the two ends of marriage: openness
to life and sharing of love.
Periodic abstinence and Natural Family Planning
methods are effective, natural ways of regulating
birth.
It is wrong to use immoral means to conceive a
child. Any procedure that separates sexual love
making from the act of procreation is disordered.
The Sixth and Ninth
Commandments
Offenses Against Marriage:
Adultery – sexual relations with someone other than
one’s spouse or an unmarried person with a married
person
Polygamy – having more than one spouse
Incest – sexual intimacy between relatives or in-laws
within a degree that prohibits marriage
Free unions – extended relationships where couples
refuse to have their commitment formalized or sanctioned
by law.
Chastity, Purity, and Modesty
The virtue that helps us control our
chastity sexual desires and use them
according to our situation in life.

The virtue of temperance, related to

modesty the virtue of purity, applies to how a
person speaks, dresses, and
conducts himself or herself.
Protects the intimate center of a
person by refusing to unveil what
should remain hidden.

Allowing our sexual thoughts

and desires to control us. lust
Offenses Against The Sixth
and Ninth Commandments
Fornication – sexual intercourse
engaged in by an unmarried male and
female
Pornography – media that’s motivation
is to depict sex acts in a way that causes
sexual arousal
The people involved in the pictures,
performances, films, etc. as well as the
viewer can be exploited and harmed
Offenses Against The Sixth
and Ninth Commandments
Prostitution – engaging in sexual
intercourse or other sexual activity for
money or some other advantage
Rape – forcing another to have sex ; a
crime of power that uses sex; freedom
and respect are removed
 Homosexuality
There is a difference between
homosexual orientation and
homosexual activity.
Those with homosexual orientation are
people who are attracted to the same
gender
The medical community since the 1970s
does not consider homosexual orientation
to be a mental disorder
 Issues: There is a difference between
homosexual orientation and
homosexual activity.
Homosexual orientation is not a choice;
The Church is informed by the medical
community
Homosexual activity is a choice; it does
not fit the Church’s definition of marriage
•The Church is consistent in its teaching
about sex outside of marriage: for
heterosexual as well as homosexual
people
•Any sex outside of marriage is not
acceptable because it does not meet the
purpose of sex
 Issues: There is a difference between
homosexual orientation and
homosexual activity.
Those with homosexual orientation are
not morally guilty for who they are.
Prejudice against someone who has a
homosexual orientation is wrong. We
must accept persons of homosexual
orientation as our brothers and sisters.
Vocabulary
Fidelity Chastity
Fecundity Modesty
Infertility Lust
Adultery Fornication
Divorce Pornography
Polygamy Prostitution
Incest Rape
Free unions