Theology of the body for

schools
PSHE course on love and
sexuality
By Robert Colquhoun
Robert543@gmail.com
Prayer
 O my God, teach me to love others
with purity. Help me to love with
generosity and goodness, to
respect myself and others in the
way I act and to reverence the way
that you have given us for the
creation of new life.
Deep and difficult questions
Is there a purpose to life? What is
the
purpose and meaning of the body?
 What exactly is love?

 Is it possible to be pure of heart?

What does the Church say about
love and marriage?

 Love is the vocation of every person

 Family is the school of love. Future of
humanity passes by way of family.
 The opposite of to love is to use (not hate)
 No one should use another person as a
means to an end (e.g. for utility or
pleasure)
 Body speaks a language: the gift of self.
Why save sex until marriage?
 Love without regret
 Among those who have already lost their
virginity, two-thirds of them wished they had
waited longer to have sex (77 percent of girls
and 60 percent of guys).

 National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, "America's Adults and Teens Sound Off
About Teen Pregnancy: An Annual National Survey," (December 16, 2003), 17.

 Source: Chastity.com
Why save sex until
marriage?
 Less likely to divorce
 When a man is married as a virgin, his
divorce rate is 63 percent lower than a
non-virgin. For women, it's 76 percent
lower.
 Edward O. Laumann, et al., The Social Organization of Sexuality:
Sexual Practices in the United States (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1994), 503.
 Source: chastity.com
Why save sex until
marriage?
 The younger a girl is when she
becomes sexually active, the more
likely she is to experience multiple
sexual partners, STDs, out of
wedlock pregnancies, depression,
abortion, and poverty.
 Heritage Foundation, "The Harmful Effects of Early Sexual Activity and
Multiple Sexual Partners Among Women: A Book of Charts."
What is love?
 We are all looking for love. Sometimes we
look for the right thing in the wrong places.
 Aquinas 'Love is willing the good of another
person.'
 Pope John Paul II: ‘love is not merely a feeling,
but an act of the will, preferring the good of
another to the good of oneself. Love is not
easy.’
How does love relate to
happiness?
 “Because true happiness, dear
friends, does not consist in the
pleasures of the world or in earthly
things, but in peace of conscience,
which we have only if we are pure
in heart and mind.”
 Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
What is the difference between love
and lust?
 Lust is a disordered desire for or
inordinate enjoyment of sexual
pleasure, sought for itself.
 Lust is the counterfeit of love.
Comparing love with lust
 Words to describe lust:
 Objectifying devious
 lifeless temporary
 Uses criticizes unattached
 Disloyal selfish manipulates
 Shallow insensitive impure
 Demanding blind intimidates
 Discards obsessed
Comparing love with lust
 Words to describe love
 gives personal honest
 waits life giving life long
 chooses sympathizes committed
 faithful generous communicates
 deep responsive pure
 understands kind appreciates
 kind accepts given talks adores
What is the difference between chastity
and abstinence?

 Some think saving sex until

marriage will either lead to
repression or indulgence.
 Abstinence is the lack of sexual
activity. In itself it is not a virtue,
but simply abstaining from action.
Chastity: a definition
 A positive virtue, to be thought only in
association with love.
 Is about living an integrated and well
balanced life.
 All Christians are called to chastity,
whether married, single or celibate.
How dangerous is
virginity?
 Some think that
virginity is something
dangerous and it might
in fact kill you.
 The gift of one’s virginity is
the most perfect present
that you can give your spouse
on your wedding day.
How important is the body for
Christians?
 We are made in the image of God
(Genesis 1:27).
 God became man, in order that
man might become God. (St. Athanasius, De
Incarnatione or On the Incarnation 54:3, PG 25:192B).

 God would rather die than live

without us. He sent his own son to
redeem the world.
How important is the body
for Christians?
 We believe in the resurrection of the
body.
 The body and desire are good in and
of themselves. The body is able to
make visible what is invisible.
 Glorify God with our body (1 Cor 6:13, Rm 12:1)
 Our body is the temple of the Holy
Spirit (1 Cor 6:18-20).
What are important
elements of marriage?
 Free - through personal consent.
 Faithful - a promise of exclusivity
 Total - holding nothing back
 Fruitful - open to the gift of new life
What about the message of ‘safe’
sex?
 Safe sex is an absolute joke.
 It is medically inaccurate and insulting to women.
 It generates a false sense of security encouraging
risky behaviour.
 Sex has more consequences than a condom could
ever protect against. There is no condom for the
heart or the soul.
 ‘Safe’ sex misleads people about the biological,
spiritual and emotional effects of sex.
‘Safe sex’ examined
 46% of teenage girls acquire HPV
from their first sexual relationship.
 Collins, et al., "High incidence of cervical human papillomavirus infection in
women during their first sexual relationship," BJOG : an international journal of
obstetrics and gynaecology 109:1 (January, 2002): 96-98.

 Doesn't matter where you have

been, or what you have done, it's
always possible to start again.
Oral contraceptive pill
 Pill can act as an abortifacient.
 "Physicians' Desk Reference, 2414, 2626, 2411.Physicians' Desk Reference,
1068; "Plan B® (Levonorgestrel) Prescribing Information, Duramed
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (August, 2006); Larimore, et al.,"Postfertilization Effects of
Oral Contraceptives and Their Relationship to Informed Consent," Archives of
Family Medicine 9 (2000): 126-133.

 Pill ages the cervix twice as quickly

 Research by Professor Erik Odeblad, Dept. of Medical Biophysics, University of Umeå, Sweden
Oral contraceptive pill
 The birth control pill increases a woman’s chance of having
breast cancer, cervical cancer and liver cancer.

 Birth control pills meddle with a woman’s immune system,

making her more likely to contract certain STDs.

 Because of its link to breast cancer, veterinarians stopped

prescribing Depo-Provera for dogs. However, it's still being
given to women.
Modesty
 There is a difference between dressing
attractively and dressing to attract.
 When women wear suggestive clothing,
men will finish the picture with their
imagination.
 Modesty is closely related to mystery and
helps to guard purity.
 Many believe that modesty in dress is far
more attractive, dignified and classy.
Women
 Pope John Paul said, "God has assigned as a duty
to every man the dignity of every woman."
 Ephesians 6 "Husbands love your brides as Christ
loved the Church."
 A man who looks at a woman lustfully commits
adultery with her in his heart.
 Purity is about wanting heaven for the women we
love. Woman are a gift to be received not a goal
to be conquered. Every woman is somebody's
daughter. Imagine your future bride.
A dump him list for girls
 You've had to tell him more than once to stop
 You feel the need to fix him
 He looks at pornography
 He hits you, pushes you, or does anything to
frighten you.
 He has a drinking or drug problem.
A dump him list for girls
 He doesn't care if you lie to your family.
 He puts you down with words, cheats, lies and flirts
with other girls.
 He uses guilt to get you to do what he wants.
 He always resents time you spend with your friends
and family.
 He behaves badly and then blames it on other people
or on things that happen to him.
 He can't stand on his own two feet without you.
 You can't stand on your own two feet and remain pure
with him.
 taken from a book called
 Pure Womanhood by Crystalina Evert
Pornography
 Trains the mind to want women to be
constantly sexually available and physically
flawless.
 Is a fantasy based on lies, manipulation and
profit. It destroys marriages, degrades
women, emasculates men and distorts the
emotional and spiritual dimensions of sex.
Top ten myths about sex
 1. Fertility is a disease.
 2. Refraining from sex is something that is going to kill you.
 3. Gender is a social construct.
 4. Natural family planning is ineffective.
 5. HIV is the most widespread sexually transmitted disease.
 6. Abortion is just a simple medical procedure.
 7. Sexual intercourse is dirty and bad.
 8. The best two ways to deal with sexual desire is repression or
indulgence.
 9. The pill has no negative side effects.
 10. Safe sex works.
Response to top ten myths
about sex
1. Fertility is a normal and natural part of a healthy, functioning body.
 2. Refraining from sex is possible and normal.
 3. We are given our sexual identity from the moment of conception.
 4. Natural Family planning can be 99% effective when used correctly.
 5. HPV is the most widespread sexually transmitted disease.
 6. Abortion can bring many mental, physical and psychological problems.
 7. Sexual intercourse was invented by God to be a blessing and gift for
mankind in the right context (marriage).
 8. A chaste lifestyle is the most healthy approach to sexual desire.
 9. The pill is a carcinogenic with many negative side effects.
 10. Safe sex is a joke.
Why live a pure life?
 Chastity is a sure way to happiness as it
sets you free to love rather than use. It
is a stable foundation for a happy
marriage. It brings integration, gratitude
and joy, preparing us in faithfulness that
brings us closer to God.
Why live a pure life?
 A source of self respect, clear
conscience, less pressure, the wisdom
of how to respect others, improved sex
in marriage, help in finding the right
mate, the development of virtues.
 Doesn't matter where you have
been, or what you have done, it's
always possible to start again.
A final exhortation
 Don't be afraid to be the saints of
the new millennium! Christ is
calling you. The Church needs you;
the Pope believes in you and he
expects great things of you.