As shepherds of the faithful, we are keenly aware of our duty to
offer guidance and counsel to our people regarding Christian faith and
morality. Over the years many Catholic parents and guardians have
indicated a need for specific moral guidance concerning programs of
education in human sexuality, proposed or offered in public and
nonpublic schools throughout the state.
We remind all parents and guardians in our Commonwealth that they do
have the primary right and duty to provide for the education of their
children. Because children are entitled to and in need of an education,
parents have a corresponding responsibility. This obligation of parents
to their children is a grave one before God. We earnestly implore all
Catholic parents to exercise this fundamental right and to fulfill
conscientiously their grave responsibility to provide adequately for
every aspect of their children's education.
Bishops Urge Instruction
The National Catechetical Directory expands upon the
injunction of the Bishops of the Second Vatican Council:
"As they [children and young people] advance in years, they
should be given positive and prudent sexual education." Education
in sexuality includes all dimensions of the topic: moral, spiritual,
psychological, emotional, and physical . . . Sexuality is an important
element of human personality, an integral part of one's overall
consciousness. It is both a central aspect of one's self-understanding
(i.e., as male of female) and a crucial factor in one's relationships
with others. (1)
Accordingly, we remind Catholic parents of our counsel to them in our
1989 reflections on the gift of sexuality, "To Love and To Be
Loved":
"You are the primary and most important teachers your children
will ever have. It is through your example that they receive values
which will orient their lives. Your marital relationship can show them a
living definition of what committed love and intimacy mean. Be sure of
what your own Catholic-Christian values are regarding human sexuality.
Talk about these values with your children." (2)
Although parents and guardians have the primary responsibility for
their children's education concerning human sexuality, it is quite
acceptable that they have qualified teachers or other professionals to
assist them in this delicate and urgent educational undertaking. In
seeking or accepting this assistance, however, parents and guardians are
in no way relieved of personal responsibility. They must of necessity
have a continuing and genuine concern about the kind of program being
presented to their children, as well as the qualifications of those who
present it. (3)
Purpose of Education in Human Sexuality
The purpose of any program of education in human sexuality, whether
conducted by the parents/guardians or with the assistance of the school,
is to develop in young persons a proper regard for the mystery of life
and to promote in them a mature acceptance of self and of their fellow
men and women. A proper understanding of human sexuality will focus on
the dignity of the person, marriage and the family. The mere
presentation of biological and reproductive data is in no way
sufficient. An acceptable program of education in human sexuality
requires both the broader context and the development of morally
acceptable standards of conduct.
Pope John Paul II presented the premise which adequately undergirds
such and approach: "Education in love as self-giving is also the
indispensable premise for parents called to give their children a clear
and delicate sex education." Pointing out that contemporary culture
"largely reduces human sexuality to the level of something
commonplace," he notes that culture "interprets and lives it
in a reductive and impoverished way by linking it solely with the body
and with selfish pleasure."
Consequently, he indicates, ". . . the educational service of
parents must aim firmly at a training in the area of sex that is truly
and fully personal: for sexuality is an enrichment of the whole person
— body, emotions and soul — and it manifests its inmost meaning in
leading the person to the fits of self in love." (4)
Education in human sexuality, which has always been an important
factor in the proper growth and development of youth, is especially
important today. Secularism, materialism, and sensualism exert
disastrous influence. School-based health clinics, the AIDS epidemic ad
resultant mandate to include AIDS education in the curriculum in all
schools of the Commonwealth necessitate provision of instruction based
on Christian values. Modern society challenges Christian Moral
principles and routinely downgrades the dignity and sacredness of human
sexuality. Our young people need good moral guidance in the area of
sexuality for their overall growth as persons even as they need food for
their physical growth.
Parental Involvement Essential
In some programs of education in human sexuality that have been
initiated in various dioceses and public school districts across the
nation, a special effort has been made to work with parents. We
encourage this collaborative approach. We also urgently remind all
school administrators that parents should be involved in the earliest
stages of planning. We heartily endorse the guideline of the State Board
of Education in Pennsylvania stating the "school officials should
make every effort to inform and involve parents, clergy, physicians, and
all interested community people in advance of proposed programs in sex
education." (5)
We urge parents/guardians to seek involvement in the planning stages
of such educational programs. This is both a parent's right and a
parent's duty. Through such involvement, the preferences and concerns of
parents can be expressed and hopefully heeded — indeed, perhaps with
the grateful appreciation of all involved. They can give necessary
support to a program that is sound in attitude, morally acceptable, and
presented by a properly qualified staff.
Although we cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of parental
involvement in the planning stages of programs in human sexuality,
nonetheless we also state that such involvement does not necessarily
imply approval of the final version of that program. The rights of both
parents and children must be vigorously safeguarded. One of those rights
concerns the religious convictions of both. If a program violated this
right, parents are bound in conscience to express opposition. Parents
may be forced at time to express this opposition by withdrawing their
children from unacceptable programs.
Within Catholic Philosophy
Ideally, Catholic parents should seek a program that presents human
sexuality in the context of a Catholic philosophy of education. Within
this framework, proper attitudes and ideals can be formed and developed
by reference to those spiritual and moral principles which must guide
the youth entrusted to our care. We address these principles in our
recent statement to youth, "To Love and To Be Loved," and we
expect programs initiated in our Catholic schools to encompass them. For
those parents whose children attend other schools with programs
otherwise unobjectionable, we offer a special caution. The spiritual and
moral values must be supplied by the parents, not simply by their good
example, but by their instruction. Parish religious education programs
should be a source of reliable assistance to parents.
In summary, we recommend to Catholic parents the following guidelines
relevant to programs of education in human sexuality:
- Parents have the primary responsibility for the education of their
children. They should be involved, along with school administrators,
clergy, health care professionals, and interested community
personnel, in the planning that must occur before a school can
initiate a program in human sexuality.
- The purpose of an educational program in human sexuality should be
the development in the child of an understanding of human sexuality
and family life and proper attitudes about them rather than a mere
imparting of reproductive data. Whenever possible the program should
be presented within the proper religious, spiritual, and moral
context so that the child will be able to make proper judgments and
formulate proper ideals.
- The rights and religious convictions of students and parents must
be carefully safeguarded in planning and developing a program in
human sexuality.
- Because of their primary responsibility for their children's
education, parents retain the right to withdraw their children from
a human sexuality program that violates their moral and religious
convictions.
- Education in human sexuality should not be an isolated or
fragmented facet of education; rather it should be integrated into
appropriate areas of the total school program where it can be taught
by properly prepared and motivated faculty members.
- In our Catholic schools this program is to be presented within a
spiritual and moral context. In other schools, where this cannot be
done, and children are provided with programs otherwise acceptable,
parents have a special responsibility to see that the spiritual and
moral dimension is supplied.
In conclusion, we emphasize that education in human sexuality is an
extremely delicate aspect of the total education of our youth. We urge
parents and school administrators to approach this responsibility with
thoughtful and prudent preparation.
NOTES
(1) Sharing the Light of Faith, National Catechetical
Director, par. 191.
(2) To Love and To Be Loved: the Pennsylvania Catholic Bishops
Speak to Youth on the Gift of Sexuality, 1989, p. 9.
(3) William Cardinal Baum, Educational Guidance in Human Love;
Outlines for Sex Education, Sacred Congregation for Catholic
Education, Rome, 1983, p. 7. "The Holy Father immediately goes on
to speak of the school, which is responsible fro this education in
service of and in harmony with parents. 'Sex education, which is a basic
right and duty of parents, must also be carried out under their
attentive guidance, whether at home or in educational centers, chosen
and controlled by them. In this regard, the Church reaffirms the law of
subsidiarity, which the school is bound to observe when it cooperates in
sex education, by entering in the same spirit that animates the
parents.'"
(4) Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, Apostolic
Exhortation, Rome, 1981, p. 73
(5) Guidelines for Sex Education in Public Schools of Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania Department of Education, 1969.
Revised by the Catholic Bishops of Pennsylvania
November 1990
Used with permission of the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference
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