A CONTEXT OF THE MEANING AND MORALITY OF SEXUALITY

-At best people think that religion says physical sexuality is permissible under very specific
conditions, and at worst, sexuality is demonic
-Sex was presented as a regrettable necessity, and sexual sins were considered the
worst kind
-Christianity seems to have changed from a religion of love into a religion of chastity
-Exalt chastity over all other virtues
-It is in the area of sexuality that an individual first uncovers and confronts the terror and the
task of establishing his or her self-identity and integrity
-Adolescence: become aware of our own desires, needs, etc. and of others as well
-Sexual expression must be for the Christian an externalization of love; it must be love-in-
action
-But not the only way to express love

Historical Influences:
-St. Augustine = Gnosticism aka Manicheism (founder: Manes)
-Reality has 2 principles that are always in conflict:
-Lightness (spiritual reality/immaterial) and Darkness (material and physical aka body)
-Genital activity and pleasure only to spouses - tolerable, acceptable, and only because of
their connection with procreation, which should always be intended when sex occurs
-Passionate sexual abandonment is lust and concupiscence
-Wants us to be "in control" all the time
-Genitals of human beings should always be "at their command" and "under their control"
-You have to will sexual arousal when you want to procreate
-Sexual desires, urges never occurred at unexpected times
-The desire for such pleasure, before the fall of Adam and Eve, never seduced humans to
seek intercourse again
Summary:
-Sex = procreation
-No appreciation for passionate and spontaneous kind of mutual presence that arises from
the joining of human hearts

-Thomas Aquinas = Aristotelianism and Thomism

-Human is an embodied spirit, an ensouled body
-Both body and soul are essential to a person
-Reduces sex to biological or physical dimension
-Goal of sex: procreation = natural order of things
-If procreation is goal, there must be deposition of semen into vagina
-Marriage is the only proper context for genital sexual expression
-Engaging in sex not for procreation is a "violation" of the natural law of things
-Natural law: common to humans and animals
-2 sins:
-Sins AGAINST nature = (semen into vagina does not happen) masturbation, sodomy,
fellatio, cunnilingus, contraception, and bestiality
-Violates primary purpose: procreation; natural order
-Sins ACCORDING to nature = (semen does enter vagina, but an aspect of sexuality is
violated) fornication, adultery, rape, incest
-Violates secondary purpose
-Fornication is a sin because both parents are needed to provide for the proper education
and upbringing of the child who might be born as a result of such an act
!!-Secondary purpose of sex: education of kids, expression of love and mutual support
-Sperm: discovered by Leeuwenhoek
-Thought that the "seed" only had to be planted in a fertile sport provided by the female
-Thought that the semen contained the new human being in miniature form (homunculus)
Criticism:
1. The natural law sees sexuality too exclusively in terms of physical processes involved and
not too much on the psychological aspect
2. Sex is seen too much in isolation from the person who places the act
3. Too close a connection is predicated between every sex act and procreation
We should...
-See the sexual act in the context of a person
-Vatican II ended the ranking of purposes of sex

Human Sexuality as a Language:

-Marriage = seen as the only suitable environment for birth and nurturing of offspring
-Procreation in marriage is the most complete expression of human sexual love
-Sexuality is a language
-Learning this language involves making mistakes
-Sexual language has to be learned gradually and dramatizing the imperfections and
mistakes of childhood and adolescence leads to alienation of sexuality
-What needs to be avoided is over-dramatization of mistakes
-Sexuality’s meaning is derived from the very meaning of our lives as human beings
-We have been loved into being
-We live because God loved us, and insofar as we live with God's life inside us, we are
enabled to love even as God has first loved us
-Christian living is an extension of the incarnation
-Our lives are a continuation of Christ's embodiment of God's love for us
-Human sexuality is both the physiological and psychological grounding of our capacity to
love
-Sexuality is a basic way in which we profess both our incompleteness and our relatedness
-God's ingenious way of calling us into communion with others
-Sexuality is essential to our becoming fully human and to our human becoming
- Sexuality expresses concretely God's intention that we find our authentic humanness in
relationship
-Demands honesty
CHASTITY AND NON-MARITAL SEX by WILLIAM MATTISON

110-116
Meaning of Sex:
-Sex has a meaning
-Our practices/activities reveal what we think those activities mean
-Cultural and social factors are very important in specifying the meanings of such bodily
acts
-Important way to determine if some gesture is fitting for an occasion
-Look at the agent's intention also
!!!-We seek to determine the point of purpose of sex in order to help us determine in which
situations it is appropriate so that we can perform this symbolic act when we mean what it
stands for
-Sexual is an expression of love in romantic relationships

What Does Sex Mean:

-Has to do with love in a profound way
!!!-Exclusive, permanent
-Point of sex: faithful, permanent love
-Ex.: "there's no one else in the world I love in the way I love you;" "I need you to love me,
and to love me not just now but always;" "I will stay with you through thick and thin."
1. UNITIVE
-Sex is an embodied form of communication that has an inherent meaning of an exclusive
and permanent love
-If so, sex is a beautiful, pleasurable, and powerful expression of, and further nourishment
of, such love
-Bodily act that bonds two people together physically and emotionally (even in situations
where that does not seem to be the intent)
-Helps further ingrain love through intimacy
-Loving couples can have sex and bond, even without promise of exclusivity and
permanence:
-But you rob sex of its capacity to signify and further nourish a relationship of faithful
permanence and commitment
-Sex is a lie (disconnect between what your body says and what you mean)
-Dissipate the power of their sexuality; the sexual expression is not all it is capable of
being
2. PROCREATIVE
!!!-Man’s willingness to "give" a child to a woman as hers, and of a woman's readiness to
bear or "have" a child with him; expression of love
-Desire to "begin a new life together," both in the form of their kid and in the form of their
shared life around that child (care for the kid, provide for it, etc.)
!!!-The two meanings of sexual union blend into each other!!!
-Sex is only fully respected and done well in a relationship that is faithfully permanent and
open to nurturing new life
!!!-Possible to engage in sex for a diff. meaning at certain times in one's life (i.e. For
pleasure), and then at some later point engage in sex in a manner that fulfills its meaning
=Important that we do so in order to try out a relationship on all levels (including sex)
before committing to the other person
-Vice=lust
-Prevents you from developing sexual habits that will enable you to live most truthfully,
most happily
-Virtue=chastity
-Virtues are inclinations to consistent acts with a certain meaning
•-Sex is fully virtuous only in a permanent, exclusive relationship that is open to new life =
Marriage!!!
MORAL PERSPECTIVES ON MASTURBATION by VINCENT GENOVESI

Psychological Perspective:
-Expression of adolescent's efforts to understand various elements of his self-identity as a
sexual being
-But can also be stultifying and isolating when you find the locus of pleasure to be in yourself
-Can’t move on to further stage of sharing yourself with someone else
-Other-oriented love
-Freud = expresses some internal psychosexual state
-Symptomatic of nonsexual conflicts: boredom, frustration, loneliness, poor self-image,
stress...
-Georgen = when you choose masturbation over sex, something is wrong
-Not intrinsically immoral
-But you may value sexuality as a solitary experience
-Points to the "unfinishedness" of the process of a person's sexual and spiritual integration
as a human being
-Hora = unhealthy and inauthentic
-Trivializes the sacredness and mystery of intercourse and diminishes its significance
-Sense of emptiness and non-being

Moral Evaluation:
-Disordered act
-Lacks the sexual relationship which realizes the full sense of mutual self-giving and human
procreation in the context of true love

Arguments against Masturbation:

A. Sperm is wasted
B. Unless it is forbidden, it endangers (coz people aren't motivated to marry and procreate)
C. Objectively Sinful = objectively a serious sin
-But human is not always subjectively guilty of a serious sin
-This psychological imbalance or habit can influence behavior
-Taken into account maturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety, etc.
D. Diminished Freedom = part of the complex process of maturation
-But if it's a habit, then it diminishes freedom
-For you to be guilty, your act is a fully deliberate choice of what you fully realize is a
serious evil
-If partial realization, then guilty of venial sin
E. Fundamental Option = average person does not regard it as seriously sinful
-Does not represent a serious change in your desire to live for God and others
F. Neutral Attitude = normal part of the growing up process
-Phase in a person's life
-Serious evil arises from guilty feelings that come from early training and negative
attitudes towards sexuality

Meanings of Masturbation:
A. Hedonistic = for the sake of pleasure
-Without any effort at control
-Can be indicative of self-centeredness, isolation, and evasion of personal responsibility
-Obstacle to personal growth
!!!-Sexual faculty is supposed to be a means, context, dynamism to bring two people
together to form a loving and committed relationship
= Masturbation inverts and destroys this order by isolating the sexual faculty!!!
B. Pathological = no satisfaction
-Compulsion, yet frequently repeated
C. Masturbation over sex
 -You are operating out of a sexuality that has not been fully integrated

-Sex for Keane, is not always objectively a seriously morally wrong

-It is when it closes off "both the aspects of personal union and procreation of the sexual
act"
!!!-Human sexually is meant not only to be Love-giving, Unitive, and Interpersonal, but also
Life-giving, Procreative, and Heterosexual
-Masturbation is incapable of expressing faithfully and substantially sexuality's full
meaning and purpose
-Can also stunt one's growth

Synthesis:
-Your sexuality is God's way of calling you into communion with others
-We must be on guard against any self-centeredness and self-preoccupation that can
enter our lives
!!!=Masturbation can entrap you in such a way that you become fixated on yourself,
your own body, and your own sensual pleasure that your capacity to love a partner ceases
to be functional
-Masturbation = seductive, appealing
-Accessible (easy way to reduce tension and to explore genital pleasure and fantasies
without interpersonal vulnerability and investment)
-Safe and risk-less
-We silence the Spirit urging us to love
-The only satisfaction it provides is momentary and solitary (it is not growth oriented)
-Live according to immediate gratification
-May give birth to: selfishness, self-centeredness, and rejection of vulnerability
!!!-Masturbation will always remain objectively an incomplete and inadequate expression of
sexuality
-Common among adolescents (have not yet discovered the kind of love that allows for
morally appropriate genital intimacy)
-Masturbation is an honest concession to the fact that a person is not yet ready for, or
capable of, either love and it's obligations or parenting and its responsibility
CHASTITY AND NON-MARITAL SEX by WILLIAM MATTISON

What's the Big Deal about Marriage:

-Sex is only fully virtuous in marriage
-Objections against marriage:
-Weddings say more about wealth than about a couple's relationship
-Can be fully committed without marriage vows
-Everything marriage is supposed to signify can be had without a piece of paper

What is Marriage:
-Wedding ceremony is an event
-Marriage is a state of life
-Begins with an event
-It is the state of living out the vows to love and honor one's spouse
-Vows summed up in a word: permanence
-What makes a couple married is the public profession of these vows
-Sex is only truly at home in marriage, means that it is only fully virtuous in a relationship
where the couple has made this public profession
-Marriage is a sacrament
-"What God has joined together, no human being must separate"
-Represents God's relationship with his people and Christ's relationship with the Church
-Marriage is a commitment to stay together, a promise, an act of will
-Permanence is the best setting to have and raise children
-A life shared together, shared stories
-It is commitment in the strong sense of having and building further a common vision of
what it means to live a good life
-The pledge to stay together, to love one another through all the changes
-Source of true happiness = marriage
-God is the faithful one who always loves and forgives the spouse, his people, even in the
times of infidelity
-Marriage as a modeling of God's faithful, enduring love
-State of life, whose very point is the self-giving love of, and service to, another person =
they live out their creation as Imago Dei

Can't I have it All Without the Piece of Paper:

-Marriage vows help clarify what it is that they're committing to
-Marriage vows should be in public
-Before others and officially recognized by the state and church
-Clarifies the intent of their relationship to each other and to everyone else
-We are social creatures
-Sex is only virtuous where all elements that marriage has are present
-Marriage helps people stay together
-Marriage vows can get people through tough times
-Social responsibilities and expectations that come with being married

Concluding Thoughts:
-Goals of marriage and sex coincide
-Having sex without marriage reveals that the relationship lacks something signified in
marriage necessary to have virtuous sex
-The Christian relies on God's grace to live virtuously
-Need for prudence, fortitude, temperance, and justice
THE ISSUE OF PREMARITAL SEXUALITY

-Moral theology = tries to encourage us to live good lives

-Sociology = tries to describe how life is actually lived
-Only 17% of American Catholics think premarital sex is wrong
-Church teaching on sexuality needs to be credible

A Moral Norm for Genital Sexuality:

-Loving someone is not enough reason to engage in the act of sexual intercourse
-Only a rely loving relationship is able to establish the proper context for sexual
expression
-But the reality and expression of true love are not confined or limited to genital sexuality
-Sex is not the only expression of love, nor is it the necessary one, or even the greatest one
-Sex is appropriate to a very special kind of love: pledged love, faithful love, fidelity
-Sexual union must embody the love between two persons who can say to each other,
and to no other living person: "I am yours, and all that I have is yours"
-Genital sex is not the primary language or ultimate proof of love
-For Christians, the greatest proof of love is caring for others even to the point of self-
sacrifice ("we can have no greater love than to lay down our lives for our friends")

Committed Love as the Context for Genital Expression:

-While true love does not necessarily or always include genital involvement, genital
relationships must always occur within the context of true love
1. Meaning of Sexual Intercourse
-Body-spirit relationship in dualist if terms, meaning it's distinct, and independent, and
separable
-Sex is a joining of two bodies, and leaves the human spirit unaffected
-Aristotle and Aquinas: hylomorphism = spirit and body are distinct realities but cannot be
separated from one another
-Spirit penetrates, permeates, and humanizes the entire human body
-Sex is giving my body and my sprit, my "self"
-John F. Dedek: "sexual intercourse is a sign of total, unreserved giving of self. At the
moment of orgasm, the individual's personality is lost in an interpretation of the the other
self. Sexual intercourse is expressive of one's person. To be authentic and not a lie it must
correspond to the existing relationship between persons."
-The mutual giving and receiving of selves that occur in sex physically symbolize a
spiritual achievement
-"Uniting of two human personalities by mutually assuming an unconditional responsibility
for one another"
-"Sex without love and commitment can be pleasurable physically, but it cannot offer the
same degree of reward, of pleasure, as if we had risked our very selves in self-disclosure
-The only time sex tells the truth is when it signifies that two people have united themselves
as one to start a new life together
-Sexual union should occur within the context of a life commitment
-"Sex is an act of self-revelation, self-expression, and self-giving which is so complete that
it bears the potential of creating another human life""
-The mutual self-going of sexual intercourse is meant to be an in-the-flesh reflection of the
self-giving contained in a couple's commitment to one another
-Sexual compatibility tested: naive and inattentive
-Sex is so powerful and enthralling that it becomes attention consuming and preoccupying
-It is blinding and distracting = the quest for knowledge of self and of the other is stymied
-Ray Short: "genital involvement can lead a couple into a tragic marriage that will likely
fail. A couple will rob themselves of the very best natural protection they have against getting
into a bad marriage."
-James Burtchaell: "sex is usually a disastrous prelude to marriage. Sex needs to mean
personal union, and if man and woman have not merged their two lives into one, sex does
not tell the truth."
=You are becoming two in one flesh without being two in one life
=Sex wreaks havoc; gives the illusion of union, while forestalling being two
independent persons
-If two people genuinely love each other, their physical relationship should take care of itself
with time and with tenderness
-Cohabitation
-Mitch Finley: "to give ourselves to each other in the physical sense, in private, would be
wrong until we have vowed ourselves to each other in public, before God and our families
and friends."
-Less committed to marriage and the work it entails and less likely to remain in the
marriage if it's less than satisfying

2. Morality, Humanity, Social Sensitivity

-In order for an act to be moral, it must be human, and socially sensitive
-For sex to be morally justified, it must express a truly human relationship, must be an
embodiment of social sensitivity
-By their public vows, society will encourage them in their new state of life and hold them
responsible for the pledge they share
-Marriage: a past has been shared, a present is being enjoyed, and a future is hoped for and
will be worked for together
-It is the friendship of the past and future, which surrounds sex with loyalty, constancy,
fidelity, and allows it to speak a fully human language
-Sex/Eros is fleeting, fickle, unless supported by friendship/Philia
-CCC: "marriage helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of one's own pleasure,
and opens oneself to the other, to mutual aid and to self-giving"
-Paul Ramsey: "man's capacity for fidelity to the being and well-bring of another makes
marriage possible. And man's inclination toward unfaithfulness and irresponsibility makes
marriage necessary"
-Marriage protects you from undue harm and harmfulness that may occur through the
misuse of sexuality

3. Reflecting God's Creative and Faithful Love

-Love one another as God loves us
-Express love in a genital way, it must reflect the kind of love God has for us
-God's creative and faithful love for us provides the norm against which such expressions
are to be measured
-Every sexual act/love is meant to be both Procreative, as God's love is creative, and also
Unitive, in imitation of God's unbroken promise of fidelity
-The two dimensions are kept together In Principle (within the same personal relationship,
but not in every act of intercourse)
-Contraception between spouses: they do not separate the personal love from the
procreation aspect
-"If and when I procreate, it'll be with you and no one else"
-CCC: "those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence"

4. Marriage as a Sacrament
-Love one another just as God loves us
-There’s a special dignity and a special responsibility in a marriage
-Isaiah: "your creator will be your husband... and like a young man marrying a virgin, so will
the one whole built you wed you, and as the bridegroom rejoices in his bird, so will your God
rejoice in you"
-God expects spouses to be as faithful and as close to each other in love as he himself is
to Israel, and this despite any infidelities of one's beloved
-Spousal union is richly complex and somewhat of a mystery
-Marriage is a living sign of the union existing between Christ and his Church (dignity)
-In imitation of Christ, spouses are to serve each other in tender and faithful love
(responsibility)
-Marriage is a sacrament
-When a Christian man and woman enter into a marital covenant, they begin to enjoy the
new gifts of God's help and grace
-Sacrament: special point of contact between God and God's people, wherein we are
freely chosen to share in God's life, God's love, God's grace/ avenue of God's grace and
love and life into the lives of spouses!!!
=CCC: "gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which
CHRIST has loved the church; the grace of the sacrament perfects the human love of the
spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life"
-Spouses are promised God's special assistance in their striving to live as loving and
faithful spouses whose life together is meant to symbolize, reflect, and express Yahweh's
union with Israel and Christ's union with his Church
-Doesn’t just reflect the Yahweh-Israel symbol; instead spouses are internally empowered
to live and to love in such a way that their own relationship participates in, recreates,
incarnates, and embodies the love union of God with his people
-Gaudium et Spes: "authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and
enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church"
-Gerald Twomey: "serves as a tangible sign and mediator of our encounter with God, as a
channel for communicating his presence and the power of his love"
-Marriage is a personal vocation
-Burtchaell: "the strength to make good on their marital promises is itself promised by
God"
P. 165!!!!!
-Not just receive the sacrament, but "become sacraments" = they become living and
effective signs of God's love
-Ladislas Örsy: "God covenants with the couple before they can covenant with each other...
God promises to stand by the couple, to be their strength in their weakness, so that they can
initiate a union, grow into it through successes and failures, and to consummate it in grace
and bring it to maturity in love"
P. 166!!!!
-"If grace is recognized, accepted, and used, the ability of spouses to understand each
other, to share themselves, and to support each other in times of trouble and suffering all
grow."
-Christian marriage not only gives witness to God's love, but must itself be witnessed
-Necessary to proclaim their love in a social context, so that through this new promise of
love, people may be reminded of the greatness of God and God's love

Theological Tradition and Development:

-Emphasis on "personalism" of the human moral act of sex
-Intention and circumstance influence the human meaning of the act
-The human meaning of the act must be appreciated before a moral evaluation of the act
can be made
-Human reason indicates that premarital intercourse generally proves itself harmful to
people; therefore, the natural law, exists to prevent a common danger, prohibits every act of
premarital intercourse
-Aquinas: universally denies an individual's right to use his/her discretionary powers to
determine the moral permissibility of premarital sex = overextended, unwarranted, and
overly cautious
-Degree of personal commitment between two people is a critical factor to be weighed when
discussing the moral status of premarital sex
Theological Speculation:
-Non-marital sex: occurs when you have no thoughts of marrying each other, no
expectations of a future together
-Objective moral wrong, subjective guilt
-Premarital sex: definitely directed towards marriage, but is "not yet realized or capable of
being realized in a public marriage ceremony"
-Most likely found in the lives of engaged couples
-Due to certain objective or external extenuating circumstances, an act like sexual
intercourse before marriage might not be an objective moral wrong, but rather a physical
wrong!!!
-Pre-moral wrong = objective circumstance provide a sufficient reason for the act's
occurrence
-Sin requires elements of knowledge, reflection, and consent
1. Objective moral wrong = harmful or destructive of self and of others
=Without reflection and consent/freedom
=Sex is more frequently this!
2. Moral evil = intentional and freely done
-Objective moral wrong + subjectively sinful
3. Pre-moral, physical evil = presence of objective or external extenuating circumstances
that alter a situation from objective wrong to pre-moral wrong
-Not morally neutral; must be avoided
-Argument is never that sufficient reason justify an action
-An act cannot be judged to be an objective moral wrong simply by looking at its object
-Must view the act in context of all its morally relevant circumstances, intentions, and
motivations
-Objective wrong that can be morally justified
-Sex is honest and most properly expressed and best protected in marriage
-Chastity is a matter of honesty in sex
-Two people striving to be honest with each other must be concerned that their physical
manifestations of affection and love always remain appropriate, not just sexually
-Physical virginity by refraining from sex is not in itself a guarantee of premarital chastity
or sexual honesty
-Petting: caressing and touching (i.e. Kissing, hugging)
-Appropriate ways in which to give expression to true feelings of affection and love and to
manifest the human need for intimacy
-Not intended to arouse
-Intense Petting: aka Foreplay
-Designed for sexual arousal (i.e. French kissing, partial/total nudity, fondling of
breasts/genitals)
-Provocative way of preparing two people for the shared pleasure of sex
-Unwise and frustrative and dishonest
-Toying with each other, not going to follow through until the end
-"Sex is a very small part of love. It is a part that can't be allowed to dominate a relationship."

Conclusion:
-Ontic, physical, premoral evil elements:
-Do a premoral evil in order to avoid a moral evil
1. -Non-good that can be tolerated
=Non-good and harm: sex is not safe (can get pregnant, STDs)
2. -The course of action pursued is the only one possible in the immediate circumstances
3. -The circumstances cannot be reasonably altered
-Is sex the only way to achieve and moral good and prevent a moral evil?? NO
-Moral good (mutual support, intimacy, love, and affirmation)
Sex is for marriage:
1. Any truly honest sexual intercourse is an act of mutual self-giving, by means of which two
people express their willingness to assume unconditional responsibility for each other
2. Premarital sex is not sufficiently appreciative of the fact that for human activity to be
moral, it must be socially sensitive
-Marriage is an institution intended to enhance personal relationships by offering some
defense against human immaturity, self-seeking, and false protestations of love
3. Human sexual love in its full richness is to reflect the qualities of God's love for us
-Open to procreation and expressive of unity and permanent fidelity
4. Chastity is honest in sex and requires that physical sexual relationships, in order to be
truthful, must express the degree of personal commitment that exists between to people.
HOMOSEXUAL INCLINATION AS AN OBJECTIVE DISORDER by LIVIO MELINA

-CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) 1997

-Letters to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,
Oct. 1986

1. Homosexual Inclination as "Objectively Disordered:"

-Intrinsically disordered
-Lacks the essential and indispensable finality
-Must treat homosexuals with respect
-Though it is not in itself a sin, it is objectively disordered
-Whoever denies that it is a disorder faces the dilemma of: toleration and approval of
homosexual activity or despair
-"Homosexual orientation" and "homosexual acts"
-Orientation: no freedom, not a moral wrong
-Aquinas: suffered tendencies "passiones"
-Man’s freedom = human; non-absolute freedom
-Real, but finite, situated, and conditioned freedom, which rests on, and develops from
motivations, contingencies, and bodily determinations
-"Sexuality" = seems to imply that it is a neutral term
-Sexuality is constitutively relative to gender difference and is thus "normally"
heterosexual
-Aquinas: "what is contrary to the nature of species becomes natural to this individual per
accidens."
-Sexuality is not only a natural faculty, but also the subject's response to the world around
him
-Sexuality = "stance," "disposition"

2. The Meaning of the Expression "Objective Disorder:"

-Augustine: order as "an arrangement of equal and unequal that gives each its place"
-Aquinas: order lies in orientation to an end
-Order is an expression of wisdom "sapientis est ordinare"
-Objectively disordered = elements of the personality are disposed in such a way that they
do not orient the subject towards the attainment of the end that God's plan assigns to
sexuality
-Concupiscence is not a sin
-But it derives from sin and inclines to it
-Disordered = no procreative and unitive meaning (only realized in matrimonial union of man
and woman)

3. The Order of Human Sexuality in the Wise Design of God:

-Mystery of human sexuality is therefore the mystery of our likeness to Christ
-Human sexuality, marked by duality of male and female genders, is a constitutive part of the
Imago Dei
-Difference between sexes is a reminder of the original love, of the divine source of man's
being, which is a whole composed of body and spirit
-Is a sign of creaturely and finite condition of human nature
-No individual human bring is ever capable of exhausting himself the whole of man; the
other mode of being man (in respect to his own) is always before him
-Sex expresses an ever new surpassing of the limit of man's solitude that is inherent in the
constitution of his body, and determines its original meaning
-The body is where both a limit and vocation are revealed
-Body = "nuptial meaning;" made to express the person's gift of self to another person
who is different from oneself
-Reciprocity of the sexes is not an integral complementarity, but always leaves open the
wound of asymmetry
-Orients the lovers to a completion lying beyond themselves
-Nature of love is oriented to produce a fruit
-Procreation is the completed form of union
-Kids are the crown of conjugal love
-The necessary transcendence of sexuality towards a mysterious third factor, and the
presence of this third in sex, is represented by the child
-Conjugal love and its fruitfulness = Trinity!!!
-Attempt to cancel the procreative dimension of sexuality leads ultimately to the abolition of
the meaning of the sexual difference and to the loss of its symbolic significance
-Narcissism that seeks pleasure independently if the joy in the other
-Man cannot exist alone; he can exist only as the "unity of the two" and therefore in relation
with another human person
-Being a person in he image and likeness of God this also involves existing in a
relationship, in relation to the other "I"

4. Homosexuality as a Disorder, Theological Dimension:

-Difference between the sexes is part of the creaturely image of God in human person
-God is a man who freely offers his love to humanity, which is a woman in relation to him
-Homosexuality is a sin against the Spirit, which denies the order of nature and attempts to
post itself as the principle of a culture without transcendent points of reference
-Mystery of Christian marriage fulfills human sexuality as a gift of self that is open to life!!!
-Finds its place in the order of the wise plan of God
-Act of recognizing and reestablishing the order willed by God's wise plan is the path of truth
and freedom, a path that begins with the humble recognition that we are creatures before
the Creator

SOME NOTES ON HOMOSEXUALITY by ADOLFO DACANAY

Prolegomenon:
-Unnatural
-Alfred Kinsey: there exists a certain degree of homosexuality in most persons
A. -No cause
B. -Sexual orientation is NOT a free choice
C. -Sexual preference is established early on (4 years old)
-May take years though to recognize it

Diff. Meanings of Homosexuality:

1. Occasional (Reversible) = experience homosexual attraction only in certain circumstances
-Is in a same-sex situation over extended periods of time
2. Inversion = sexual preference is inverted
-Male prefers male
3. Perversion = heterosexual, but engages in homosexual activities for certain reasons (i.e.
Money, opportunity, etc.)
4. Orientation = sexual preference of a person
-Not a free decision
A. Behavior = is when a person acts out the orientation
-Free decision
5. Transsexuals = person not comfortable with their sexual equipment
-Homosexual + need to have the other sex's sex parts
6. Transvestite = aka cross-dressers
-Refers to preferred attire
-Not referring to homosexuality
HOMOSEXUALS = irreversible inversion of sexual preference which is acted out (behavior,
not merely orientation)
-Doesn’t refer to Transsexuals and transvestites
A. Distinction between Orientation and Behavior/action
B. Pseudo-homosexuality
C. Not only referring to genital activity, but also to the fulfillment and happiness in relation
with members of the same sex

Sexual Orientation vs. Genital Activity:

-Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is, more or less a
tendency towards an intrinsic moral evil.
-Inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder = HOMOSEXUAL ORIENTATION
= only a tendency to homosexual sex
-CDF: "homosexual activity confirms within themselves a sexual inclination which is
essentially self-indulgent"
=Not only sexual, but psychosexual attraction as well (erotic, emotional, affective)
=If homo. Orientation is a disorder coz it inclines to "immoral acts," then any inclination
whether or not homosexual is a disorder (i.e. Masturbation, premarital sex)

Is Homosexuality a Mental Disorder?

-Freud: produced by certain arrest in sexual development; sexual inadequacy
-Hooker: no evidence; neurotic traits are same as oppressed minority groups = oppression
and prejudice causes their emotional problems, not homosexuality itself
-APA: no impairment, no incapability
-"Ego-dystonic" homosexuality = homosexual + want to change their sexual orientation

Catholic Perspective:
-All sexual activity must be in the context of marriage (procreative + unitive)
-Homosexuals = no procreative factor involved = aka immoral, sinful
-GS: marriage is not solely for procreation
-Argument: homosexual acts can't be immoral merely coz it's not procreative, since GS
says marriage is not directed exclusively for procreation
-Contemporary disposition: if a person wants to be a homosexual it's his right! (Recognition
of individual rights)
-Biblical times: concept of homosexuality was unknown
-Homosexuality acts in the Bible were presumed to be undertaken by heterosexually
oriented people

Moral Evaluation:
1. Homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and can in now way be approved of
-Against God's will
-Contrary to natural law
-Close sexual act to gift of life
-Complementary of man and woman lacking = close-minded
2. Morally neutral
-Every kind of sexual activity can be legitimate
-Anything goes
-Homo. Acts are no more problematic than heterosexual acts
-Moral limitations:
= Free consent of parties
= Avoidance of unwanted and undesirable consequences
3. Revisionist = revise Catholic position
-Tolerates it as less than ideal
-Heterosexual is the normative ideal = fullest expression of human sexuality
-Accepts a stable homo. relationship (committed, loving, responsible) = lesser evil
-Greater evil = casual, one-night stand
 -We are born into a world of sin
A. Psychic structure of homos. is one of the effects of the "sin of the world" = sexual
orientation is no choice of theirs
B. People are unconvinced of the possibility of intimacy, commitment, and perseverance in
homo. Relationship
-Society doesn't lend support, sympathy
-Tendency of such relationships to inspire boredom
-Only close-coupled homosexuals may be seen as pre-moral evil instead of objective
moral wrong
4. Quality of relationship
-Regardless of sexual orientation, does the relationship make you a better person, etc.
A. -Virtuous relationship
B. -Spiritual growth
C. -Human maturity
-Rejects the second class status mentioned in #3 (Revisionist)
-Homosexual relationships must be given normative status equal to heterosexual
relationships

Present Catholic Position:

-Natural Law argument = no procreation for homosexuals
-Not all expressions of sex are or can be procreative (fertile window)
-Periodic abstinence = couple doesn't want kid
-When such expressions of love lack the possibility of procreation, they DO NOT reflect
the full richness and power that God intended for human sexuality
-But not objectively wrong also
-Homo-genital Activity and Human Frustration
-Violates the criterion of love that must govern all relationships
A. -Homos. engaging in sex express, confirm, and deepen feelings that are themselves
immature and disordered
-Reflects stunted or arrested psychological development
-Such acts are unloving and wrong = failure to complete the process of human
psychosexual development
B. -Authentic love is incompatible
-Lacks the "permanent commitment"
-You can have homosexual feelings, desires and still be "healthy" provided you don't act
on them (no homo-genital action)
=Coz it provides self-gratification and doesn't enhance personal development
=Does not promote progressive and transcendent growth
-Homosexuality is a retarded stage of psychological development and hence a form of
immaturity
-Sexuality is meant to express unity and wholeness = impossible in homosexual
relationships
-Homosexual is mentally ill if he's not a responsible member of society
-Homo. Relationship is an exercise in narcissism
-Can never offer each other the same opportunity for complementary fulfillment
-Likely to breed boredom and dissatisfaction (hence, difficulty in being monogamous)