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The Proper Role of the Catholic School
In Education for Chaste Love Rough handling spoils the fair lily and causes it to wither,
so the man who lives chastely suffers from indiscriminate
intercourse with those around him. ,
The Catechism Explained, Fr. Francis Spirago, 1889
Alice Ann Grayson, M. Ed.
Introduction Pope Pius XI in his 1929 encyclical, Divini Illius Magistri, Christian Education of Youth, placed a ban on all classroom sex education, even calling it an ugly term. This ban has never been rescinded, nor can it be as it pertains to the Natural Law. Subsequent Vatican documents dating from the 1931 Decree of The Holy Office through the 1995 letter from the Pontifical Council for the Family by order of The Holy See,Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education within the Family , affirm the truth that formation in chaste love belongs fundamentally and primarily to the family, the school of humanity. As to be expected, each Papal teaching enunciates certain ethical and theological truths, and gives practical advice, responding to relevant issues of the times. (Thre is a selected list of Church documents at the end of this article.) What emerges from these teachings is a Catholic aversion to numerous sex education programs which are hurting our children in both public and private schools - inclusive of our Catholic institutions. All of the harmful elements of these courses are identified. The Pontiffs have warned the faithful against naturalism, moral relativism, Palagianism, and dualism. They point out the intrusive pedagogy which distorts the truth about the sacrament of marriage, the mystery of chaste love, and the needs of the individual child. What also emerges from these documents is that parents should not feel abandoned in their sacred mission of educating and bringing up their children. They may rightfully seek out help, most especially with regard to the Church School, whose very mission is to be of assistance to parents in their sacred task, which includes formation in chaste love. Regarding this issue, the present situation is very sad. Numerous authors have created what they call chastity programs or family life values, and the like. They claim that their programs are suited for forming children in chaste love. Many of these programs have the approval of local bishops. Other groups, representing parents, such as Mother's Watch (Maryland), National Council of Clergy and Laity (Pennsylvania), Our Lady's Crusaders for Life (Massachusetts), The Family Life Center (Florida), and Veil of Innocence (Minnesota) assert that these programs are at stark variance with formation in chaste love. Parental groups object that: The child is exposed to information that focuses on and stimulates the sexual function - while at the same time he is being told to be chaste, i.e. pure in thought, word, or deed. his causes a tremendous psychological and moral conflict in the young, especially considering that such stimulation, which is cumulative, seeks a way to express itself. (NCCL Brochure) William Marra, Jr. speaks well for parents when he writes that even the more objective chastity programs manifest: ...the pitfalls of trying to preserve part of Church teaching, without understanding the context and underpinning that every other aspect of the Church provided which is in support of that teaching. In this case I claim that the `plant' of chastity is advocated, or some part thereof, without the `garden' of modesty and holiness that nourishes it. The plant cannot grow outside the garden. There are several fundamental flaws in the approach taken by the authors, and these have resulted from a classic case of trying to defend a value or system of values without fully understanding the value in the first place - and also without fully understanding the enemies of the value. It is rather like a homeowner believing that his valuable estate is well-protected and invulnerable because he has recently placed a thick deadbolt on the front door, with no regard for the windows, basement, etc. ...the entire arena of sexual morality has been reduced to external physical activity, and some of its consequences. ...the implication is that if we keep to this minimal prescription, we have satisfied our duty towards the virtue of purity. This is what I called earlier the `plant' of chastity. The problem is that an entire area of sexual morality has been ignored altogether - the arena of the mind, where most sexual sins are born in the first place. This is the `garden' of modesty and holiness in the earlier analogy. Between the immodest fashions of our day and the complete lack of formation of our youth, the worst sins most young people may be exposed to do not even involve getting near another person. Their environment has been poisoned, and their virtue will be stunted or killed off soon after. The authors are simply not taking seriously enough the counsel of Christ when He stated that the man who looks lustfully at a woman has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28) (William Marra, Jr., Our Power to Love - A Critique, July 1996) Parental groups agree with the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds: It is the position of the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds that sex resides as much in the affective as in the cognitive domain: that adult sexuality is a personal response, not merely an intellectual function; that a child learns about sex primarily by responding affectively to his parent's affective behavior; and therefore that healthy sexuality cannot be taught in the classroom, it cannot be taught by strangers, it cannot be taught apart from the family. When parents fail in their responsibility to their children, it is they who must be educated for, for better or for worse, it is they who will educate their children in these matters. (National Federation of Catholic Physicians Guild) Indeed, parental groups have published critiques that identify the serious errors in the so-called chastity programs. They identify them as sex education, which has been consistently and constantly forbidden by the Magisterium because sex education present a danger to the soul. These organizations assist parents, empowering them to object to the programs and to protect the innocence of their own children. Sadly little real communication takes place between the chastity educators and parents. This is mostly so because of the uncompromising nature of the root material, that is, the distinction between sex education and formation in chaste love. This situation is further distressed because, for the most part, the episcopal offices of Catholic dioceses have not been responsive to the criticisms of parents nor to those groups that represent them in the endeavor to protect the children from sexualization in the classroom. If the bishops and chastity educators would really listen to parents, they would come to appreciate the privacy/sacred/Faith issues in a new light. Then perhaps parents would be more willing to work collaboratively with educators. Then our children could receive a single message: at school, at church, and at home. Together they could resist the actions of Planned Parenthood, and the like. The Veil of Innocence is a group dedicated to helping parents with the problems of classroom sex education programs. It offers to parents and teachers, as well as to bishops and chastity educators the following Charter. The Charter appreciates the role of those who assist parents while it preserves parental rights and respects the true nature of human sexuality based on the Church's documents. The Veil of Innocence believes that this framework allows the use of some very good educational material while excluding elements at odds with the Teachings of Faith.
Charter of the Veil of Innocence My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you. (Gal. 4:19) The proper and immediate end of Christian Education is to cooperate with Divine Grace in forming the true and perfect Christian, that is, to form Christ, Himself, in those regenerated by Baptism according to the emphatic expression of the Apostle: `My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you.'
(Gal. 4:19) (Pope Pius XI, Christian Education of Youth, 1929, paragraph 95)
Today's parents recognize that they are raising their children in a cultural environment hostile to Gospel values. They appropriately look to the Catholic school to be a community that fosters education and maturation in The Catholic Faith for their children. In 1931, a Decree of The Holy Office exhorted, the first place is to be given to the full sound and continuous instruction in religion of both sexes. Esteem, desire, and love of the angelic virtue must be instilled into their minds and hearts.
The angelic virtue is that of purity, and parents expect their schools to reflect the same reverence for this virtue as is manifested at home. For the schools to omit education in the delicate matter of purity of morals would be a serious neglect, especially in our present culture of death milieu.
Children could easily perceive silence in the area of sexual morality as indicating something of unimportance - for the students to figure out by themselves - what's right, what's wrong, and what it all means.
Moreover, those who propose the culture of death are only too present and too willing to teach our children the wrong meanings. One has only to read a newspaper, turn on a TV, or attend a National Education Association meeting, to see that this is so.
In the classroom setting, if we are to think in harmony with the mind of the Church, the virtue of chastity must be recognized as that fragile virtue which keeps the sexual secret hidden as a dominion whose disposition lies in the hand of God.
(Dietrich von Hildebrand, Purity - the Mystery of Christian Sexuality, 1970, Part 3, Chapter 2)
In fostering a love for purity, any classroom discussion of sexual morality must reflect that God's gift of sexuality is a person's private secret, his innocence, which should be safeguarded by brevity, delicacy, and reverence - a respect for the mystery of sacrament and grace.
Never must such a discussion neglect the traditional cautions of modesty, such as custody of the eyes, avoidance of indecent conversations and other occasions of sin, inclusive of improper dress.
They (pupils) must be made fully alive to the necessity of constant prayer, and assiduous frequenting of the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist; they must be directed to foster a filial devotion to the Blessed Virgin as Mother of Holy Purity, to whose protection they must entirely commit themselves.
(Decree of the Holy Office, 1931)
Purity is a frail and delicate virtue that cannot be preserved unless it be protected by other virtues, requiring patience, temperance, devotion to duties of state, humility, and a love for God which fills our hearts.
(The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology, Fr. A. Tanquerey, 1930)
It requires a modesty which protects the mystery of persons and their love.
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, October, 1992, page 2522)
St. Augustine advises, Be thou subject to God, and thy flesh subject to thee. Do thou serve Him who made thee, so that which was made for thee, may serve thee. (Enarrat. in Ps. 143, as appears in Casti Cannubii, Pope Pius XI) These topics can be the matter of classroom instruction provided parents approve of such instruction for their own children.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent instructs pastors on the proper matter and method of public instruction in sexual morality. In the explanation of the sixth commandment, ...the pastor has need of great caution and prudence, and should treat with great delicacy a subject which requires brevity rather than copiousness of exposition. For it is to be feared that if he explained in too great a detail or at length the ways in which this commandment is violated, he might intentionally speak of subjects which instead of extinguishing, usually serve to inflame corrupt passion.
(Catechism of the Council of Trent by order of Pope St. Pius V, Tan Books, Edition 1982)
When parents seek the assistance of the Catholic school in the education and formation of their children, it is, by definition, a collaborative effort based on the principle of subsidiarity.
Parents can choose to seek the help of good teachers, who possess the intellectual and moral qualifications required by their office; who cherish a pure and holy love for the youths confided to them, because they love Jesus Christ and His Church...
Pope Pius XI, Christian Education of Youth, 1929, paragraph 89)
Good teachers need to learn from parents the particular need, and personalities of their individual students. They always teach first by being role models, and by personal conversation and only secondly by formal instruction.
Only in the environment described above, can the true meaning of human sexuality be addressed in the Catholic classroom setting. No course or program can be limited to the subject of chastity alone. That would be an imbalanced focus on one virtue, which can only be understood in the context of all the virtues, and the dogmas of Faith. In the full context of Faith and doctrine, sexual ethics should be handled briefly and delicately.
The classroom curriculum relating to these matters is only the intellectual dimension of a much broader formation process. For children, religious formation is fulfilled in the mission of the home, the school of humanity permeated by love, and that of the sacramental and liturgical life of the Church.
The above reflections are submitted to offer a structural framework for parents when, and if, they choose to seek proper assistance from the Church through the Catholic school. In the correct environment, the Church and the Catholic school function as wonderful assistants to parents in the education and formation of children regarding sexual morality. Their common goal is to encourage children to respond to the gift of grace by making themselves a gift to others and to God.
His Holiness, John Paul II
stated that the Catholic school is: ...first and foremost, a place and a special community for the education and maturation of faith. ... A Catholic school ... would no longer deserve this title if, no matter how much it shone for its high level of teaching in non-religious matters, there were justification for reproaching it for negligence or deviation in strictly religious education. Let it not be said that such education will always be given implicitly and indirectly. The special character of the Catholic school, the underlying reason for it, the reason why Catholic parents should prefer it, is precisely the quality of the religious instruction integrated into the education of the pupils.
(Catechesi Tradendae [69]) ...And this religious teaching must be entire in its content, because every disciple of Christ has the right to receive the word of faith in a form that is not mutilated, not distorted, not reduced, but complete and whole, in all its rigor and vigor.
(The Whole Truth About Man, Pope John Paul II, 1981, pp. 109-110)
Practical Implications If Catholic bishops and Catholic schools would agree to the concepts discussed in the introduction and charter, most particularly, respecting the repeated teachings of the Roman Pontiffs, real dialogue is possible in examining religious curricula in Catholic schools. In addition, this refocus will encourage both students and teachers to spend more time in prayer. Given our permissive culture, parents would welcome some solid help, but sexual ethics cannot dominate the religious curriculum. There are other sacraments than marriage, other virtues than purity, and other commandments than the sixth and ninth. These must not be neglected. Nonetheless, it remains true that the academic curriculum can and should teach the sacrament of marriage, the virtue of purity, and the sixth and ninth commandments. Teachers can, with parental approval, study the quotations in scripture pertaining to chaste love. They can read the papal encyclicals and letters like Divini Illius Magistri, Casti Connubii, Humanae Vitae, Familiaris Consortio. Additional excellent classroom material is the latest document from the Pontifical Council for the Family by Cardinal Trujillo. This quotes heavily from the Holy Father and reflects insights from documents of The Second Vatican Council. Students can also digest the writings of the great councils, early Church Fathers, and the lives of the saints. With parental blessings, at the right maturational age, with a proper knowledge of the psychological make-up of a group, a teacher can draw on the disciplines of psychology, sociology, literature, and history. Students can reflect on the difference between love and infatuation, the distinction between self-commitment and self-surrender, and the differences of male and female psyche. Teenagers are appreciative of practical advice on social virtues, some suited for group commentary, some individually - but always as the need arises. With older adolescents and young adults, a practical analysis of the effects of contraception on our society, as predicted by Pope Paul VI, could be very effective in formation for marriage. Contraception is intrinsically selfish and evil. It leads to infidelity and divorce. Dietrich von Hildebrand states, When two people sin together, they create a chasm between them. Most parents want the Catholic school to explain the evils of abortion, but not in gory detail. This instruction should be given at the proper age. Giving a twelve year old child a tiny fetal model of six to eight weeks gestation, teaches - with great respect and without words - that there is human life in the womb. However some twelve year olds are not ready for this presentation, or even the discussion of abortion. One can see how necessary it is that parents and teachers are in close communication. In reality, in the teaching of sexual ethics, the application of principles is most often too concrete or sensual to become a matter of class discussion. Several pontiffs have made repeated warnings about delicacy, caution, and brevity. Teachers should include only what is necessary for the situation. Pope Pius XI's instruction to the faithful manifests a deep and profound insight into our human condition: Such is our misery and inclination to sin, that often in the very things considered to be remedies against sin, we find occasions for and inducements to sin itself. Hence, it is of the highest importance that a good father, while discussing with his son a matter so delicate, should be well on his guard and not descend to details, nor refer to the various ways in which this infernal hydra destroys with its poison so large a portion of the world; otherwise it may happen that instead of extinguishing this fire, he unwittingly stirs or kindles it in the simple and tender heart of the child. Speaking generally, during the period of childhood, it suffices to employ those remedies which produce the double effect of opening the door to the virtue of purity and closing the door upon vice. (Encyclical, Christian Education of Youth, promulgated by Pope Pius XI, December 31, 1929.) The classroom is not the place where the child should first hear about sexual morality and sexual sin. If a parent has not prepared the child interpersonally, gradually, and lovingly at home, the child has been undeniably neglected every bit as much as if he had not been fed or clothed. The timing and manner of this teaching/spiritual formation are unique and unrepeatable, woven in the fabric of life. The intimacy of the parent-child relationship provides an atmosphere of safety and love. If the child first hears of these mysteries outside of the home, in a strange environment, it constitutes an immoral invasion into the private life of the child. Trauma results. In the case of suspected neglect, or absent parents, a caring loving parent substitute (a priest, an aunt or uncle, an older sibling, a grandparent, a special teacher) can determine the need and offer help. In ordinary cases, however, the parent takes care of these ethical teachings pertaining to sex in an orderly, peaceful way. After an understanding with the child's teacher or priest, wonderful reinforcement can take place at school and at church. This reinforcement would consist of personal example, disciplined behavior, and in creating an atmosphere that is favorable to modesty. The intellectual component is secondary. This insight is clearly seen by Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio. The task of giving education is rooted in the primary vocation of married couples to participate in God's creative activity. By begetting in love and for love a new person who has within himself or herself the vocation to growth and development, parents by that very fact take on the task of helping that person effectively to live a fully human life. As the Second Vatican Council recalled, `Since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it. For it devolves on parents to create a family atmosphere so animated with love and reverence for God and others that a well-rounded personal and social development will be fostered among the children. Hence, the family is the first school of those social virtues, which every society needs.' The right and duty of parents to give education is essential, since it is connected with the transmission of human life; it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others, on account of the uniqueness of the loving relationship between parents and children; and it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others. In addition to these characteristics, it cannot be forgotten that the most basic element, so basic that it qualifies the educational role of parents, is parental love, which finds fulfillment in the task of education as it completes and perfects its service of life: as well as being a source, the parents' love is also the animating principle and therefore the norm inspiring and guiding all concrete educational activity, enriching it with the values of kindness, constancy, goodness, service, disinterestedness and self-sacrifice that are the most precious fruit of love.
(Familiaris Consortio, Pope John Paul II, Article 36, November 22, 1991) Before citing examples of appropriateness in the classroom, it is worthwhile reviewing the parameters of classroom with regard to sexual ethics: • Parents need to teach the subject first, so that the classroom functions as reinforcement, and deeper understanding. • Caution, delicacy, abstractness, brevity, and relevance are the watch words. Particular situations dictate pedagogy and subject appropriateness. The subject is catechetics, not chastity programs. • The setting must always proceed from the recognition that human nature has been weakened by Original Sin, and that the Catholic Church, established by Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is the means of salvation. (i.e. hence, the need for grace, sacraments, and the security of freedom from error). Examples 1. Innocence This is a true story. A well-meaning, holy, religious educator was teaching her fifth grade class about the Ten Commandments. She read the Sixth Commandment aloud. A little ten year old girl innocently asked, “What's adultery?” Before the teacher could back-peddle to something very abstract, like “a husband should always love and protect his wife,” a boy, far more street wise, and a bully at that, blurted out a graphic verbal description of the sexual act. It caused the little girl to cry. This lesson was not presented properly. The teacher should have known from the parents if she could allude to a sexual ethic when discussing the Sixth Commandment. Perhaps she should have just spoken of love and fidelity. Next, a teacher should know that older experienced children will almost always pick on the innocent ones if given any opportunity. With the absence of the bully, the presence of a more homogeneous group, and parent approval, a teacher could have spoken of the same topic with impunity and success. 2. Divorce An indiscriminate discussion of the Church's teachings on divorce can catapult children of divorced parents into tears. This topic cannot be discussed until the teacher knows her children's individual needs, and the parents are informed of and welcome the re-enforcement. 3. Contraceptives There is no reason for students to learn in class how contraceptives work. Children are keen observers and poor interpreters (Fr. Peterson). Therefore children exposed to contraceptive methodology in the classroom would ponder, “Why is the teacher explaining how contraceptives work, unless he believes that I will need to use them?” Do we teach children the tools necessary to rob a bank? No! We simply don't expect them to do it. It is so important for adults to hold high expectations for children. A classroom explanation of the mechanisms of contraceptives is sexually graphic and attacks intimacy. It is based on a naturalism defying the sacred, sacramental, mysterious character of sexual union. 4. Aberrations The timely teaching about sexual aberrations presents an enormous challenge. Sections called Learning Stages and Practical Implications in Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality caution: 102 Furthermore, parents should be capable of giving their children, when necessary, a positive and serene explanation of the solid points of Christian morality such as, for example, the indissolubility of marriage and the relationship between love and procreation, as well as the immorality of premarital relations, abortion, contraception and masturbation. 124 Only information proportionate to each phase of their individual development should be presented to children and young people. 125.b Homosexuality should not be discussed before adolescence unless a specific serious problem has arisen in a particular situation. This subject must be presented only in terms of chastity, health and `the truth about human sexuality in its relationship to the family as taught by the church.' 125.c Sexual perversions that are relatively rare should not be dealt with except through individual counseling as the parents' response to genuine problems. 126 No material of an erotic nature should be presented to children or young people of any age, individually or in a group. Pertinent to these points, William Marra, Jr. presents this sage advice: One cannot correctly understand the threats to a virtue, until one has correctly understood the virtue in the first place. Our children are hopelessly unformed rather than uninformed. When one grows up surrounded by modesty in action, dress, language, etc., this is already a good stating point. Secondly, when the parent (or guardian) sees that a son or daughter is at a particular point and age, they should carefully address the issue without undue detail but obviously enough to accomplish the mission. Remember that generosity and all morality is observed and absorbed rather than taught. Only when the child has a basic moral commonsense, can the child understand the issues of perversion. I get worried when one tries to enshrine any schedule or formula. One could very well introduce what one is trying to avoid. The individual circumstance which occasions the discussion is critical as well. My advice is that, in the classroom, less is best. The classic French translation of the Sixth Commandment (You shall not seek the work of the flesh outside of marriage.) is specific enough to cover the broad range of sexual ethics and preserve the innocence of those unaware of perversion practices. Students should then be urged to take up individual questions after class, or with confessors or parents. But remember all this effort is useless until first the student has embraced a love of virtue which leads to generosity. There is, of course, more specific instructional material delicately describing what is sinful, which a teacher, a confessor or parent can provide. For instance, a religious teacher could instruct that, sexual pleasure, directly willed, is sinful for unmarried persons. However, in the context of married love, sexual pleasure is sanctified. Circumstances dictate the form of teaching and even the kind of private reading reinforcement. There are particular pedagogical applications, but only one rule - not to violate the innocence and privacy of the child and the sacred, intimate nature of the sexual act. As the above examples show, classroom teaching and re-enforcing of sexual ethics is a formidable task. Chastity programs operate apart from religious education and isolate the angelic virtue from faith and life. The sensuality associated with sexualized religious education is no answer. Both scenarios distort sex and violate the child. In His generosity, God will never abandon the child who, falling on his knees, asks for the grace to be pure through the intercession of our Blessed Mother. Inculcating the habits of modesty, the rosary, the scapular, and frequent reception of the sacraments is the path to purity. In the sexual sphere, simplicity and generosity rule. This is what children need to hear. The Catechism of the Council of Trent speaks exactly to this point: If the occasions of sin which we have just enumerated be carefully avoided, almost every excitement to lust will be removed. But the most efficacious means for subduing its violence . . . are frequent use of confession and Communion, as also unceasing and devout prayer to God, . . . accompanied by fasting and almsdeeds. Chastity is a gift of God. (I Cor. 7.7). To those who ask it aright He does not deny it; nor does He suffer us to be tempted beyond our strength (I Cor. 10.13). (Catechism of the Council of Trent by the order of Pope St. Pius V) Our Lady's Crusaders for Life Newsletter reports that the language of Chastity Education is filled with crass language. Chastity educator, Molly Kelly, exposes our children to these words and concepts: doing it, having sex, being sexually active, sexual encounters. How many Saints talked like this? These phrases inevitably focus the children's minds on sexual intercourse, creating an occasion of sin, and only serve to desensitize them to the beauty and mystery of procreation. In contrast, traditional catechesis steers the child to the fountains of grace and away from the physical aspect. (see Pope Pius XI). Our recommendation is to focus on vocations as the indicator of a successful catechetical program. We must strive to create a classroom environment in which a St. Maria could blossom. This, however, requires that there be no sex-talk, nothing which could destroy innocence and shift attention from the spiritual onto the physical. The curriculum must be designed to protect the most pure child, the child being called to the highest vocation. Doing so will please Jesus and Mary very much, and we will be blessed with vocations and holy families. (Our Lady's Crusaders from the Newsletter, Vol. VI, No. 3,1996) The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: I thought that continence arose from one's own powers, which I did not recognize in myself. I was foolish enough not to know . . . that no one can be continent unless You grant it. For You would surely have granted it if my inner groaning had reached your ears and I with firm faith had cast my cares on you. (Saint Augustine, Confessions 611, 20 ß2520) Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity. (ß2521) Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It encourages patience and moderation in loving relationships; it requires that the conditions for the definitive giving and commitment of man and woman to one another be fulfilled. Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet. (ß2522) When God created man, he wrote His laws deep in our hearts. Through grace and careful nurturing parents, educators, and religious can help children to live the truths written within their hearts. But we must be very careful. Fr. Spirago warns: Rough handling spoils the fair lily and causes it to wither, while the man who lives chastely suffers from indiscriminate intercourse with those around him. The lily grows upright, straight and slender; so the man who lives chastely must ever look upwards and tend towards heaven. The lily fills the whole house with its fragrance; so the man who lives chastely edifies all with whom he associates by his good example.
(Fr. Frances Spirago, The Catechism Explained, 1899, reprinted by Tan Books, p. 500, 1993)
A Selected List of Documents Expressing The Teaching of the Roman Pontiffs Regarding Sex Education Issues Catechism of the Council of Trent - published by Decree of Pope St. Pius V, edited under St. Charles Borromeo. Catechism Explained by Fr. Francis Spirago, edited by Richard F. Clarke, S.J., ©1899, English Translation. Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, December 31, 1929 Pope Pius XI, Casti Cannubii, December 31, 1930. Decree of the Holy Office, 1931. Pope Pius XII, Address to French Fathers and Families, September 18, 1951. Pope Pius XII, Papal Address, April 13, 1953. Pope Pius XII, Papal Letter to Cardinal of Milenes, 1955. Documents of Second Vatican Council, 1963 - 1965. Pope Paul VI, discusses sexual matters in an address to married couples, 1970. Pope Paul VI, Condemns sex education programs in an address, September 13, 1972. Pope John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae, October 16, 1979. Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, November 22, 1981. Pope John Paul II, Love and Responsibility, New York, 1981. Pope John Paul II, The Whole Truth About Man, 1981. Catechism of The Catholic Church, October 11, 1992. Pope John Paul II, Gratissimam Sane, February 2, 1994. Cardinal Trujillo, Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines Within the Family,
Pontifical Council for the Family, December 8, 1995.
Alice Ann Grayson Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 15, 1942, Alice Ann McLaughlin Grayson received her Bachelor's degree from Newton College of the Sacred Heart in 1964, and her Masters in Education from Tufts University in 1965. She worked in the Boston Public School system as both a first grade teacher and guidance counselor. She and her husband, Edward Davis Grayson, have four children and two grandchildren. In 1973 she founded the greater Boston Chapter of Birthright International. In 1979 she founded Pregnancy Help. Mrs. Grayson also helped to establish a chapter of an outreach ministry to struggling marriages called Retrouvaille. Both of these are currently programs of the Archdiocese of Boston. By the mid-eighties, Alice Ann Grayson became alarmed at the increasing number of sex education programs instituted in both public and private schools. Adopting Doctors Dietrich and Alice von Hildebrand as her mentors, Mrs. Grayson became a parents' advocate - educating parents and working to eliminate the invasive school programs. Preaching the need for reverence when approaching the sexual sphere, in 1992-93, Alice Ann Grayson authored a series of letters to Cardinal Law of Boston, called Catholic Classroom Sex Education is an Oxymoron. In 1995, she founded a parents' group called Veil of Innocence. Veil of Innocence has recently established a web site: veil-of-innocence.org. It offers excellent Catholic resources, as well as practical help for parents. Alice Ann Grayson is the recipient of the Boston College Alumni's Award of Excellence in Public Service in 1977. She also received the Pope Pius XI Award from National Coalition of Clergy and Laity in 1997. She is a Lady of The Equestrian Order of The Holy Sepulchre and also serves as acting president of the St. Sharbel Icon Foundation.
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