Catholic teachings on sexual morality

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Catholic teachings on sexual morality draw from natural law, Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition and are promulgated authoritatively by the Magisterium. Sexual morality evaluates the goodness of sexual behavior, and often provides general principles by which one is able to evaluate the morality of specific actions.

The Catholic Church teaches that human life and human sexuality are both inseparable and sacred. ^[1] The Church teaches that Manichaeism, the belief that the spirit is good while the flesh is evil, is a heresy. Therefore, the Church does not teach that sex is sinful or an impairment to a grace-filled life. Because Catholics believe God created human beings in his own image and likeness and that he found everything he created to be "very good,"^[2], the Catholic Church teaches that human body and sex must likewise be good. The Catechism teaches that "the flesh is the hinge of salvation."^[3] The Church considers the expression of love between husband and wife to be a most elevated form of human activity, joining as it does, husband and wife in complete mutual self-giving, and opening their relationship to new life. “The sexual activity, in which husband and wife are intimately and chastely united with one another, through which human life is transmitted, is, as the recent Council recalled, ‘noble and worthy.’”^[4] It is in cases in which sexual expression is sought outside sacramental marriage, or in which the procreative function of sexual expression within marriage is deliberately frustrated, that the Catholic Church expresses her grave moral concern.

The Church teaches that sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful because it violates the purpose of human sexuality to participate in the "conjugal act" before one is actually married. The conjugal act "aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul" (Catechism 1643) since the marriage bond is to be a sign of the love between God and humanity.^[5]

The Church requires members to eschew masturbation, fornication, adultery, pornography, prostitution, rape, homosexual acts,^[6] and contraception as sins.^[7] Besides being considered a grave sin, the procurement or assistance in abortion can carry the penalty of excommunication.^[8]

Contents 1 Sources of Catholic sexual morality 1.1 Natural law 1.2 Sacred scripture 1.3 Fathers of the church 1.4 Medieval theologians 1.5 Recent magisterial teachings 2 The Catholic teaching on specific subjects 2.1 Chastity 2.2 Lust 2.3 Masturbation 2.4 Fornication 2.5 Pornography 2.6 Prophylactic condom use 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Sources of Catholic sexual morality

[edit] Natural law

Natural law (Latin: lex naturalis) is an ethical theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere.^[9] Despite pagan associations with natural law theory, a number (though not all) of the early Church Fathers sought to incorporate it into Christianity (the suspect devotion of the Stoics to pagan worship no doubt aided in this adoption).

In an influential passage of the Summa Theologia, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote,

the rational creature is subject to Divine providence in the most excellent way, in so far as it partakes of a share of providence, by being provident both for itself and for others. Wherefore it has a share of the Eternal Reason, whereby it has a natural inclination to its proper act and end: and this participation of the eternal law in the rational creature is called the natural law.^[10]

Natural law is a basic source for Catholic teachings on sexual morality.

[edit] Sacred scripture

The creation stories in Genesis 1-3 provide insights into anthropology that inform Catholic sexual morality. The following verses are frequently cited in Catholic studies of sexual morality:

• "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it'" (Gen 1:27)
• "the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed." (Gen 2:21-25)
• "To the woman he said, 'I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.'" (Gen 3:16)

The story of Onan in Genesis 38 is sometimes cited in discussions of masturbation and contraception: "when [Onan] went in to his brother's wife he spilled the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. And what he did was displeasing in the sight of the LORD, and he slew him also." (Gen 38:9-10)

Two of the Ten Commandments directly address sexual morality, forbidding adultery and coveting a neighbor's wife. See Exodus 20:14, 17; Deuteronomy 5:18, 21.

Jesus comments on these commandments in Matthew 5:27-28: "You have heard that it was said, `You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Jesus makes reference to the passages from Genesis in his teachings on marriage in Matthew 19: "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, `For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder."

[edit] Fathers of the church

Saint Augustine wrote movingly of his conversion to Christianity in his Confessions, including aspects of conversion related to sexual behavior. The following passage from his autobiography describes a critical turning point in his appropriation of Catholic sexual morality:

So quickly I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I put down the volume of the apostles, when I rose thence. I grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph on which my eyes first fell: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." [Romans 13:13-14] No further would I read, nor did I need... ^[11]

[edit] Medieval theologians

Saint Thomas Aquinas dealt with sexual morality as an aspect of the virtue of temperance, and incorporates Scripture throughout his account. In his Summa Theologiae he writes about chastity:

The word "chastity" is employed in two ways. First, properly; and thus it is a special virtue having a special matter, namely the concupiscences relating to venereal pleasures. Secondly, the word "chastity" is employed metaphorically: for just as a mingling of bodies conduces to venereal pleasure which is the proper matter of chastity and of lust its contrary vice, so too the spiritual union of the mind with certain things conduces to a pleasure which is the matter of a spiritual chastity metaphorically speaking, as well as of a spiritual fornication likewise metaphorically so called. For if the human mind delight in the spiritual union with that to which it behooves it to be united, namely God, and refrains from delighting in union with other things against the requirements of the order established by God, this may be called a spiritual chastity, according to 2 Cor. 11:2, "I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." If, on the other hand, the mind be united to any other things whatsoever, against the prescription of the Divine order, it will be called spiritual fornication, according to Jer. 3:1, "But thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers." Taking chastity in this sense, it is a general virtue, because every virtue withdraws the human mind from delighting in a union with unlawful things. Nevertheless, the essence of this chastity consists principally in charity and the other theological virtues, whereby the human mind is united to God.^[12]

[edit] Recent magisterial teachings

• Casti connubii (1932) by Pope Pius XI

Main article: Casti Connubii

• • Casti connubii was written in part as a response to the decision of the Anglican Lambeth Conference in 1930 that taught the legitimacy of the use of contraception in some circumstances.
  • "any use whatsoever of matrimony exercised in such a way that the act is deliberately frustrated in its natural power to generate life is an offense against the law of God and of nature, and those who indulge in such are branded with the guilt of a grave sin."

• Humanae vitae (1968) by Pope Paul VI
• Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II
• Evangelium vitae (1995) by Pope John Paul II
• Donum vitae (1987) by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Veritatis splendor (1993) by Pope John Paul II
• Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)

[edit] The Catholic teaching on specific subjects

[edit] Chastity

Catholicism defines chastity as the virtue that moderates the sexual appetite.^[13] Unmarried Catholics express chastity through sexual abstinence. Sexual intercourse within marriage is considered chaste when it retains the twofold significance of union and procreation.^[14] Pope John Paul II wrote,

At the center of the spirituality of marriage, therefore, there lies chastity not only as a moral virtue (formed by love), but likewise as a virtue connected with the gifts of the Holy Spirit—above all, the gift of respect for what comes from God (donum pietatis). This gift is in the mind of the author of the Ephesians when he exhorts married couples to "defer to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Eph 5:21). So the interior order of married life, which enables the manifestations of affection to develop according to their right proportion and meaning, is a fruit not only of the virtue which the couple practice, but also of the gifts of the Holy Spirit with which they cooperate. ^[15]

Because sex is considered chaste only within context of marriage it has come to be called the nuptial act in Catholic passages. Among Catholics, the nuptial act is considered to be the conjoining of two human beings through sexual intercourse, considered an act of love between two married persons, and is considered in this way, a gift from God.

[edit] Lust

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2351):

Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes.

Traditionally, lust is considered one of the seven deadly sins.

[edit] Masturbation

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2352):

Masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action. The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.

[edit] Fornication

St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that "The fornicator is said to sin against his own body, not merely because the pleasure of fornication is consummated in the flesh, which is also the case in gluttony, but also because he acts against the good of his own body by an undue resolution and defilement thereof, and an undue association with another. Nor does it follow from this that fornication is the most grievous sin, because in man reason is of greater value than the body, wherefore if there be a sin more opposed to reason, it will be more grievous."^[16]

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2353)

Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young.

[edit] Pornography

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2354),

Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.

Recognizing its widespread use, Catholic bishops in the United States have written pastoral letters on the dangers of pornography. In 2007, Bishop Loverde of Arlington wrote | Bought with a Price and Bishop Finn of Kansas City - St. Joseph wrote | Blessed Are The Pure In Heart. Both documents draw heavily on Scripture and the writings of Pope John Paul II, especially his Theology of the Body.

[edit] Prophylactic condom use

Use of a condom to prevent pregnancy, just as with any other method of contraception, is a grave sin according to Catholic teaching. This is derived from the teachings of the culture of life and the 'openness to fertility' as discussed in the catechism: "By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory." ^[17] However, there is currently no official teaching on the morality of condom use to prevent disease.

A number of arguments have been presented by theologians on both sides of the issue. The standard position of church leaders is that officially permitting condom use as a method of preventing disease could be interpreted as permitting fornication, which degrades and debases sex. Additionally, because sex is to be used for the purpose of creating life, married couples who do not intend to have children should not be engaging in sexual activity at all (those who are unmarried and do not wish to have children should remain celibate). Part of the problem with addressing condom use as opposed to other methods methods of birth control (such as hormonal pills) is that condoms only have utility for protecting from disease when used in a sexual context. Birth control pills prevent complications regardless of whether there is sexual activity or not, while condoms are useful only in a sexual sense.

On the other hand, ^[18] supporters of condom promotion by the catholic church invoke the principle of 'added evil'. In short, any sin is a single act, and is not necessarily made worse by lesser 'evil acts' "Sins within the same species are distinguished numerically according to the number of complete acts of the will in regard to total objects. A total object is one which, either in itself or by the intention of the sinner, forms a complete whole and is not referred to another action as a part of the whole." ^[19] Based on this position, fornication, already a grave sin, would not be made a worse by the use of condoms. ^[20] This only deals with sinful fornication however, and does not apply to married couples, which invokes a second set of theological arguments.

At root of the controversy over whether condoms would be permissible to protect one married partner from disease is a question over the fundamental nature of sex within marriage. Traditional catholic teaching holds that sex within marriage serves two purposes, as an expression of love and commitment between the man and woman, and for the purpose of having children. ^[21] Since sex is not forbidden between a man and a woman should they be unable to have children (if, for example, the man were to be rendered infertile by testicular cancer). Per the official church catechism, "Spouses to whom God has not granted children can nevertheless have a conjugal life full of meaning, in both human and Christian terms. Their marriage can radiate a fruitfulness of charity, of hospitality, and of sacrifice." ^[22] Within this framework, sex within marriage and procreation are not one and the same, and viewing condoms as a disease-protective measure of one spouse first, and an impediment to conception second, would be a way to justify the use of condoms within marriage in some cases.

[edit] See also

• Christian views on contraception
• Homosexuality and Catholicism
• Sexual Ethics
• Moral Theology

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "Sex & the Early Church" by Sam Torode
• "Christianity and Sex" from the Applied Ethics section of Religious Studies Online