The U.S. Catholic Conference has just published a strange 118-page booklet called “Education in Human Sexuality for Christians: Guidelines for Discussion and Planning.” Unfortunately, many will mistakenly assume that it was published with the approval of the U.S. Catholic Bishops or the Catholic Church, which it was not. It was produced by the ultra-liberal Education Department of the U.S.C.C. in Washington, D.C.
The book is decorated with some very bad photography réproduced in a garish lavender-purple color. The prose is even more purple. The Guidelines ought to be subtitled:
“How school classrooms can start children thinking about their sexuality at age 6 and then keep their minds occupied with the subject of genital activity throughout their elementary and secondary school education.”
The Guidelines are clearly designed to encourage youngsters to think positively about engaging in sex acts and to develop “behavioral skill goals.” The Guidelines are silent about the horrendous spiritual, psychological, physical, pregnancy, and disease consequences of immoral behavior.
The Guidelines strongly urge that sex classes be coeducational. This, of course, will condition the girls to abandon their natural modesty about sexual subjects so that they can discuss private parts of the body and techniques of sexual intercourse with boys just as openly as they discuss basketball or history.
The Guidelines start classroom instruction at the age of 6, although they reluctantly admit that, at ages 6 to 8, “not a great deal of interest is expressed in sexuality.” However, the 6-to-8-year-old child must be taught to “appreciate the role played by sexuality.” The sex-ed teacher must teach that “mature Christian sexuality, in whatever state of life, demands a life-enriching commitment to other persons and the community.”
With this type of training for the 6-to-8-year-olds, it is not surprising what the Guidelines say about 9-to-11-year-olds: “By the time the child reaches the final year of this stage (6th grade in school), sex is becoming an important preoccupation.” The objectives for formal instruction of 9-to-11-year-olds include understanding “physical attraction and responses, nature of sexual intercourse, etc.,” and “physical sexual differences and their complementary role in sexual intercourse if this has not been done at an earlier age.”
By the time the child reaches ages 12-to-14, the Guidelines tell the classroom teacher to “discuss topics which are preoccupying the students’ thoughts, such as … sexual intercourse, the meaning, manifestation, and basic goodness of the sex drive…” The objectives of classroom instruction for 12-to-14-year-olds are to “learn how to deal with … sexual impulses without guilt,” to get “basic information regarding homosexuality, contraception, family planning, transvestism, masturbation, the psycho-emotional and physical processes of intercourse, and harmful sex role stereotyping, … (and) physical and emotional responses in intercourse.”
Another objective of classroom instruction of the 12-to-14-year-olds is to enable them to “appreciate Christ as a role model — a being sexed and relating to others, although in a way which did not involve genital activity.” It is unlikely that a 12-to-14-year-old would ever speculate about whether Christ was or was not involved in “genital activity” in the absence of such an offensive discussion being initiated.
The 12-to-14-year-olds, according to the Guidelines, should be “introduced to the scientific data regarding all methods of family planning and the Church’s teaching on the subject,” (emphasis in original) and be made to “realize that both natural and induced abortions occur.” To describe a miscarriage as a “natural abortion” is to elevate the word abortion to normal and acceptable behavior.
The objectives for classroom instruction of the 15-t0-18-year-olds are to “know about all major aberrations of sexual development expression and venereal disease; examine Christian values related to the goodness of human 1ife in view of such issues as abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment … poverty, sexual discrimination, unemployment and racism … the role of sexual expression and intercourse in the love relationship … the meaning of responsible love in relation to premarital sex, self- control, concern for another, contraception, family planning.”
Thus, at the tender age of 15, after 9 years of coed classroom discussion of every variety of sex act, without any warning of harmful consequences, the child is
ready to engage in “responsible love in relation to premarital sex.” What do you think teenagers wil _conclude is “responsible” premarital sex? Any sex acts, so long as you use contraceptives, and, if you make a mistake, have an abortion?
