Sexuality
Sexuality is closely related to intimacy in the sense that intimacy develops into sexuality. Through intimacy you will begin to experience sexual attraction and feelings, but there are some important things to remember:
In the Catholic faith, there are two aspects to sex and sexual relations. There's the procreative and unitive aspect. Because of this, we believe that sex should only be shared between two people who have entered into a serious and permanent romantic relationship such as marriage. By waiting for marriage to have sex, you can fulfill the unitive aspect of the sexual relations, but there's still the procreative aspect that you must think about.
In order to keep faithful to the Catholic procreative aspect, the Church condemns many different forms of contraceptives due to their ability and intent to restrict the sperm of the male to fertilize the egg of the female. Such contraceptives include condoms, oral contraceptives, inter-uterine devices, spermicides, sterilization, and injection.
In addition to the movement against contraceptives, the Catholic Church believes that abortion is not only wrong, but one of the most abhorring acts a person can commit. As a Church, we believe that a person considered alive once the sperm fertilizes the egg and an embryo is formed. The Church, however, does understand that mistakes do happen such teenage pregnancies, or other crimes such as rape and sexual harassment can cause a woman to become pregnant, and abortion can seem like the only option, but there are ways around this.
Certain things that the Church endorses are Natural Family Planning, which involves a thorough understanding of a woman's reproductive cycle, and abstinence, which is the absolute refrain from engaging in sexual acts. Also, if a woman does get pregnant for any reason, rather than aborting the pregnancy, the woman should have the baby and either put the child up for adoption, or keep the child and raise it herself. Both of these choices are extremely difficult and require a great deal of responsibility, courage, and love, but it saves a life that can change the world.
In the Catholic faith, there are two aspects to sex and sexual relations. There's the procreative and unitive aspect. Because of this, we believe that sex should only be shared between two people who have entered into a serious and permanent romantic relationship such as marriage. By waiting for marriage to have sex, you can fulfill the unitive aspect of the sexual relations, but there's still the procreative aspect that you must think about.
In order to keep faithful to the Catholic procreative aspect, the Church condemns many different forms of contraceptives due to their ability and intent to restrict the sperm of the male to fertilize the egg of the female. Such contraceptives include condoms, oral contraceptives, inter-uterine devices, spermicides, sterilization, and injection.
In addition to the movement against contraceptives, the Catholic Church believes that abortion is not only wrong, but one of the most abhorring acts a person can commit. As a Church, we believe that a person considered alive once the sperm fertilizes the egg and an embryo is formed. The Church, however, does understand that mistakes do happen such teenage pregnancies, or other crimes such as rape and sexual harassment can cause a woman to become pregnant, and abortion can seem like the only option, but there are ways around this.
Certain things that the Church endorses are Natural Family Planning, which involves a thorough understanding of a woman's reproductive cycle, and abstinence, which is the absolute refrain from engaging in sexual acts. Also, if a woman does get pregnant for any reason, rather than aborting the pregnancy, the woman should have the baby and either put the child up for adoption, or keep the child and raise it herself. Both of these choices are extremely difficult and require a great deal of responsibility, courage, and love, but it saves a life that can change the world.