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Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

Title:Discussions from a Christian Perspective
Notice:Prostitutes and tax collectors welcome!
Moderator:CSC32::J_CHRISTIE
Created:Mon Sep 17 1990
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1362
Total number of notes:61362

935.0. "Sexual Ethics" by COVERT::COVERT (John R. Covert) Wed Jun 15 1994 03:24

                           DECLARATION
                 ON CERTAIN QUESTIONS CONCERNING
                          SEXUAL ETHICS


        Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
                        December 29, 1975


  1. According to contemporary scientific research, the human
person is so profoundly affected by sexuality that it must be
considered as one of the factors which give to each individual's
life the principle traits that distinguish it.  In fact it is from
sex that the human person receives the characteristics which, on
the biological, psychological and spiritual levels, make that
person a man or a woman, and thereby largely condition his or her
progress towards maturity and insertion into society.  Hence sexual
matters, as is obvious to everyone, today constitute a theme
frequently and openly dealt with in books, reviews, magazines and
other means of social communication.

  In the present period, the corruption of morals has increased,
and one of the most serious indications of this corruption is the
unbridled exaltation of sex.  Moreover, through the means of social
communication and through public entertainment this corruption has
reached the point of invading the field of education and of
infecting the general mentality.

  In this context certain educators, teachers and moralists have
been able to contribute to a better understanding and integration
into life of the values proper to each of the sexes; on the other
hand there are those who have put forward concepts and modes of
behavior which are contrary to the true moral exigencies of the
human person.  Some members of the latter group have even gone as
far as to favor a licentious hedonism.

  As a result, in the course of a few years, teachings, moral
criteria and modes of living hitherto faithfully preserved have
been very much unsettled, even among Christians.  There are many
people today who, being confronted with so many widespread opinions
opposed to the teaching which they received from the Church, have
come to wonder what they must still hold as true.

  2. The Church cannot remain indifferent to this confusion of
minds and relaxation of morals.  It is a question, in fact, of a
matter which is of the utmost importance both for the personal
lives of Christians and for the social life of our time [1].

  The Bishops are daily led to note the growing difficulties
experienced by the faithful in obtaining knowledge of wholesome
moral teaching, especially in sexual matters, and of the growing
difficulties experienced by pastors in expounding this teaching
effectively.  The Bishops know that by their pastoral charge they
are called upon to meet the needs of their faithful in this very
serious matter, and important documents dealing with it have
already been published by some of them or by Episcopal Conferences.
Nevertheless, since the erroneous opinions and resulting deviations
are continuing to spread everywhere, the sacred Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith, by virtue of its function in the
universal Church [2] and by a mandate of the Supreme Pontiff, has
judged it necessary to publish the present Declaration.

  3. The people of our time are more and more convinced that the
human person's dignity and vocation demand that they should
discover, by the light of their own intelligence, the values innate
in their nature, that they should ceaselessly develop these values
and realize them in their lives, in order to achieve an ever
greater development.

  In moral matters man cannot make value judgements according to
his personal whim: "In the depths of his conscience, man detects a
law which he does not impose on himself, but which holds him to
obedience ... For man has in his heart a law written by God.  To
obey it is the very dignity of man: according to it he will be
judged" [3].

  Moreover, through his revelation God has made known to us
Christians his plan of salvation, and he has held up to us Christ,
the Saviour and Sanctifier, in his teaching and example, as the
supreme and immutable Law of life: "I am the light of the world;
anyone who follows me will not be walking in darkness, he will have
the light of  life" [4].

  Therefore there can be no true promotion of man's dignity unless
the essential order of his nature is respected.  Of course, in the
history of civilization many of the concrete conditions and needs
of human life have changed and will continue to change.  But all
evolution of morals and every type of life must be kept within the
limits imposed by the immutable principles based upon every human
person's constitutive elements and essential relations -- elements
and relations which transcend historical contingency.

  These fundamental principles, which can be grasped by reason, are
contained in "the divine law -- eternal, objective and universal --
whereby God orders, directs and governs the entire universe and all
the ways of the human community, by a plan conceived in wisdom and
love.  Man has been made by God to participate in this law, with
the result that, under the gentle disposition of divine Providence,
he can come to perceive ever increasingly the unchanging truth"
[5].  This divine law is accessible to our minds.

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935.1COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2579
  4. Hence, those many people are in error who today assert that
one can find neither in human nature nor in the revealed law any
absolute and immutable norm to serve for particular actions other
than the one which expresses itself in the general law of charity
and respect for human dignity.  As a proof of their assertion they
put forward the view that so-called norms of the natural law or
precepts of Sacred Scripture are to be regarded only as given
expressions of a form of particular culture at a certain moment in
history.

  But in fact, divine Revelation and, in its own proper order,
philosophical wisdom, emphasize the authentic exigencies of human
nature.  They thereby necessarily manifest the existence of
immutable laws inscribed in the constitutive elements of human
nature and which are revealed to be identical in all beings endowed
with reason.

  Furthermore, Christ instituted his Church as "the pillar and
bulwark of truth" [6].  With the Holy Spirit's assistance, she
ceaselessly preserves and transmits without error the truths of the
moral order, and she authentically interprets not only the revealed
positive law but "also ... those principles of the moral order
which have their origin in the human nature itself" [7] and which
concern man's full development and sanctification.  Now in fact the
Church throughout her history has always considered a certain
number of precepts of the natural law as having an absolute and
immutable value, and in their transgression she has seen a
contradiction of the teaching and spirit of the Gospel.

  5. Since sexual ethics concern certain fundamental values of
human and Christian life, this general teaching equally applies to
sexual ethics.  In this domain there exist principles and norms
which the Church has already unhesitatingly transmitted as part of
her teachings, however much the opinions and morals of the world
may have been opposed to them.  These principles and norms in no
way owe their origin to a certain type of culture, but rather to
knowledge of the divine law and of human nature.  They therefore
cannot be considered as having become out of date or doubtful under
the pretext that a new cultural situation has arisen.

  It is these principles which inspired the exhortations and
directives given by the Second Vatican Council for an education and
an organization of social life taking account of the equal dignity
of man and woman while respecting the difference [8].

  Speaking of "the sexual nature of man and the human faculty of
procreation," the Council noted that they "wonderfully exceed the
dispositions of lower forms of life" [9].  It then took particular
care to expound the principle and criteria which concern human
sexuality in marriage, and which are based upon the finality of the
specific function of sexuality.

  In this regard the Council declares that the moral goodness of
the acts proper to conjugal life, acts which are ordered according
to true human dignity, "does not depend solely on sincere
intentions or on an evaluation of motives.  It must be determined
by objective standards. These, based on the nature of the human
person and his acts, preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving
and human procreation in the context of true love' [10].

  These final words briefly sum up the Council's teaching -- more
fully expounded in an earlier part of the same Constitution [11] --
on the finality of the sexual act and on the principle criterion of
its morality it is respect for its finality that ensures the moral
goodness of this act.

  The same principle, which the Church holds from divine Revelation
and from her authentic interpretation of the natural law, is also
the basis of her traditional doctrine, which states that the use of
the sexual function has its true meaning and moral rectitude only
in true marriage [12].

  6. It is not the purpose of the present Declaration to deal with
all the abuses of the sexual faculty, nor with all the elements
involved in the practice of chastity.  Its object is rather to
repeat the Church's doctrine on certain particular points, in view
of the urgent need to oppose serious errors and widespread aberrant
modes of behavior.

935.2COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2661
  7. Today there are many who vindicate the right to sexual union
before marriage, at least in those cases where a firm intention to
marry and an affection which is already in some way conjugal in the
psychology of the subjects require this completion, which they
judge to be connatural.  This is especially the case when the
celebration of marriage is impeded by circumstances or when this
intimate
relationship seems necessary in order for love to be preserved.

  This opinion is contrary to Christian doctrine, which states that
every genital act must be within the framework of marriage.
However firm the intention of those who practice such premature
sexual relations may be, the fact remains that these relations
cannot ensure, in sincerity and fidelity, the interpersonal
relationship between a man and a woman, nor especially can they
protect this relationship from whims and caprices.  Now it is a
stable union the Jesus willed, and he restored its original
requirement, beginning with the sexual difference.  "Have you nor
read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female
and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother,
and cling to his wife, and the two become one body?  They are no
longer two, therefore, but one body.  So then, what God has united,
man must not divide" [13].  Saint Paul will be even more explicit
when he shows that if unmarried people or widows cannot live
chastely they have no other alternative than the stable union of
marriage: "...it is better to mary than to be aflame with passion"
[14].  Through marriage, in fact, the love of married people is
taken up into that love which Christ irrevocable has for the Church
[15], while dissolute sexual union [16] defiles the temple of the
Holy Spirit which the Christian has become.  Sexual union therefore
is only legitimate if a definitive community of life has been
established between the man and the woman.

  This is what the Church has always understood and taught [17],
and she finds profound agreement with her doctrine in men's
reflection and in the lessons of history.

  Experience teaches us that love must find its safeguard in the
stability of marriage, if sexual intercourse is truly to respond to
the requirements of its own finality and to those of human dignity.
These requirements call for a conjugal contract sanctioned and
guaranteed by society -- a contract which establishes a state of
life of capital importance both for the exclusive union of the man
and the woman and for the good of their family and of the human
community. Most often, in fact, premarital relations exclude the
possibility of children.  What is represented to be conjugal love
is not able, as it absolutely should be , to develop into paternal
and maternal love. OR, if id does happen to do so, this will be to
the detriment of the children, who will be deprived of the stable
environment in which they ought to develop in order to find in it
the way and the means of their insertion into society as a whole.

  The consent given by people who wish to be united in marriage
must therefore be manifested externally and in a manner which makes
it valid in the eyes of society.  As far as the faithful are
concerned, their consent to the setting up of a community of
conjugal life must be expressed according to the laws of the
Church.  It is a consent which makes their marriage a Sacrament of
Christ.

  8. [See reply 91.3991]
935.3COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2767
  9. The traditional Catholic doctrine that masturbation
constitutes a grave moral disorder is often called into doubt or
expressly denied today.  It is said that psychology and sociology
show that it is a normal phenomenon of sexual development,
especially among the young. It is stated that there is real and
serious fault only in the measure that the subject deliberately
indulges in solitary pleasure closed in on self ("ispsation"),
because in this case the act would indeed be radically opposed to
the loving communion between persons of different sex which some
hold is what is principally sought in the sue of the sexual
faculty.

  This opinion is contradictory to the teachings and pastoral
practice of the Catholic Church.  Whatever the force of certain
arguments of a biological and philosophical nature, which have
sometimes been used the theologians, in fact both the Magisterium
of the Church -- in the course of a constant tradition --- and the
moral sense of the faithful have declared without hesitation that
masturbation is an intrinsically and seriously disordered act [19].
The main reason is that, whatever the motive for acting in this
way, the deliberate use of the sexual faculty outside normal
conjugal relations essentially contradicts the finality of the
faculty.  For it lacks the sexual relationship called for by the
moral order, namely the relationship which realizes "the full sense
of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true
love" [20].  All deliberate exercise of sexuality must be reserved
to this regular relationship.  Even if it cannot be proved that
Scripture condemns this sin by name, the tradition of the Church
has rightly understood it to be condemned in the New Testament when
the latter speaks of "impurity," "Unchasteness" and other vices
contrary to chastity and continence.

  Sociological surveys are able to show the frequency of this
disorder according to the places, populations or circumstance
studies.  In this way facts are discovered, but facts do not
constituted a criterion for judging the moral value of human acts
[21].  The frequency of the phenomenon in question is certainly to
be linked with man's innate weakness following original sin; but it
is also to be linked with the loss of a sense of God, with the
corruption of morals engendered by the commercialization of vice,
with the unrestrained licentiousness of so many public
entertainments and publications, as well as with the neglect of
modesty, which is the guardian of chastity.

  On the subject of masturbation modern psychology provides much
valid and useful information for formulating a more equitable
judgement on moral responsibility and for orienting pastoral
action.  Psychology helps one to see how the immaturity of
adolescence (which can sometimes persist after that age),
psychological imbalance or habit can influence behavior,
diminishing the deliberate character of the act and bringing about
a situation whereby subjectively there may not always be  serious
fault.  But in general, the absence of serious responsibility must
not be presumed; this would be to misunderstand people's moral
capacity.

  In the pastoral ministry, in order to form an adequate judgement
in concrete cases, the habitual behavior of people will be
considered in its totality, not only with regard to the
individual's practice of charity and of justice but also with
regard to the individual's care in observing the particular
percepts of chastity.  In particular, one will have to examine
whether the individual is using the necessary means, both natural
and supernatural, which Christian asceticism from its long
experience recommends for overcoming the passions and progressing
in virtue.

935.4COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2784
  10. The observance of the moral law in the field of sexuality and
the practice of chastity have been considerably endangered,
especially among less fervent Christians, by the current tendency
to minimize as far as possible, when not denying outright, the
reality of grave sin, at least in people's actual lives.

  There are those who go as far as to affirm that mortal sin, which
causes separation from God, only exists in the formal refusal
directly opposed to God's call, or in that selfishness which
completely and deliberately closes itself to the love of neighbor.
They say that it is only then that there comes into play the
fundamental option, that is to say the decision which totally
commits the person and which is necessary if mortal sin is to
exist; by this option the person, from the depths of the
personality, takes up or ratifies a fundamental attitude towards
God or people.  On the contrary, so-called "peripheral" actions
(which it is said, usually do not involve decisive choice), do not
go so far as to change the fundamental option, the less so since
they often come, as is observed, from habit.  Thus such actions can
weaken the fundamental option, but not to such a degree as to
change it completely.  Now according to these authors, a change of
the fundamental option towards God less easily comes about in the
field of sexual activity, where a person generally does not
transgress the moral order in a fully deliberate and responsible
manner but rather under the influence of passion, weakness,
immaturity sometimes even through the illusion of thus showing love
for someone else.  To these causes there is often added the
pressure of the social environment.

  In reality, it is precisely the fundamental option which in the
last resort defines a person's moral disposition.  But it can be
completely changed by particular acts, especially when, as often
happens, there have been prepared for by previous more superficial
acts.  Whatever the case, it is wrong to say that particular acts
are not enough to constitute mortal sin.

  According to the Church's teaching, mortal sin, which is opposed
to God, does not consist only in formal and direct resistance to
the commandment of charity.  It is equally to be found in this
opposition to authentic love which is included in every deliberate
transgression, in serious matter, of each of the moral laws.

  Christ himself has indicated the double commandment of love as
the basis of the moral life.  But on this commandment depends "the
whole Law, and the Prophets also" [22].  It therefore includes the
other particular percepts.  In fact, to the young man who asked "
... what good deed must I do to possess eternal life?" jesus
replied: ".... if you wish to enter into life, keep the
commandments ... You must not kill.  You must not commit adultery.
You must not steal.  You must not bring false witness.  Honor your
father and mother, and; you must love your neighbor as yourself"
[23].

  A person therefore sins mortally not only when his action comes
from direct contempt for the love of God and neighbor, but also
when he consciously and freely chooses something which is seriously
disordered.  For in this choice, as has been said above, there is
already included contempt for the divine commandment: the person
turns himself away from God and loses charity.  Now according to
Christian tradition and the Church's teaching, and as right reason
also recognized, the moral order of sexuality involves such high
values of human life that every direct violation of this order is
objectively serious [24].

  It is true that in sins of the sexual order, in view of their
kind and their causes, it more easily happens that free consent is
not fully given; this is a fact which calls caution in all judgment
as to the subject's responsibility.  In this matter it is
particularly opportune to recall the following words of Scripture:
"Man looks at appearances but God looks at the heart" [25].
However, although prudence is recommended in judging the subjective
seriousness of a particular sinful act, it in no way follows that
one can hold the particular view that in the sexual field mortal
sins are not committed.

  Pastors of souls must therefore exercise patience and goodness,
but they are not allowed to render God's commandments null, nor
reduce unreasonably people's responsibility.  "To diminish in no
way the saving teachings of Christ constituted an eminent form of
charity for souls.  But this must ever be accompanied by patience
and goodness, such as the Lord himself gave example of in dealing
with people. having come not to condemn but to save, he was indeed
intransigent with evil, but merciful towards individuals" [26].

935.5COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2866
  11. As has been said above, the purpose of this Declaration is to
draw the attention of the faithful in present-day circumstances to
certain errors and modes of behavior which they must guard against.
The virtue of chastity, however, is in no way confined solely to
avoiding the faults already listed.  IT is aimed at attaining
higher and more positive goals.  It is a virtue which concerns the
whole personality, as regards both interior and outward behavior.

  Individuals should be endowed with this virtue according to their
state in life: for some it will mean virginity or celibacy
consecrated to God, which is an eminent way of giving oneself more
easily to God alone with an undivided heart [27].  For others it
will take the form determined by the moral law, according to
whether they are married or single.  But whatever the state of
life, chastity is not simply an external state; it must make a
person's heart pure in accordance with Christ's words: "You have
learned how it was said: You must not commit adultery.  But I say
this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already
committed adultery with her in his heart" [28].

  Chastity is included in that continence which Saint Paul numbers
among the gifts of the Holy Spirit, while he condemns sensuality as
a vice particularly unworthy of the Christian and one which
precludes entry into the kingdom of heaven [29].  "What God wants
is for all to be holy.  He wants you to keep away from fornication,
and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him
in a way that is holy and honorable, not giving way to selfish lust
like the pagans who do not know God.  He wants nobody at all ever
to sin by taking advantage of a brother in these matters .... We
have been called by God to be holy, not to be immoral.  In other
words, anyone who objects is not objecting to a human authority,
but to God, who gives you his Holy Spirit" [30].  "Among you there
must not be even a mention of fornication or impurity in any of its
forms, or promiscuity: this would hardly become the saints!  For
you can be quite certain that nobody who actually indulges in
fornication or impurity or promiscuity -- which is worshipping a
false god -- can inherit anything of the kingdom of God.  Do not
let anyone deceive you with empty arguments: it is for this loose
living that God's anger comes down on those who rebel against him.
Make sure that you are not included with them.  You were darkness
once, but now you are light in the Lord; be like children of light,
for the effects of the light are seen in complete goodness and
right living and truth" [31].

  In addition, the Apostle points out the specifically Christian
motive for practicing chastity when he condemns the sin of
fornication not only in the measure that this action is injurious
to one's neighbor or to the social order but because the fornicator
offends against Christ who has redeemed him with his blood and of
whom he is a member, and against the Holy Spirit of whom he is the
temple.  "You know, surely, that your bodies are members making up
the body of Christ .... All the other sins are committed outside
the body; but to fornicate is to sin against your own body.  Your
body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you
since you received him from God.  You are not your own property;
you have been bought and paid for.  That is why you should use your
body for the glory of God" [32].

  The more the faithful appreciate the value of chastity and its
necessary role in their lives as men and women, the better they
will understand, by a kind of spiritual instinct, its moral
requirements and counsels.  In the same way they will know better
how to accept and carry out, in a spirit of docility to the
Church's teaching, what an upright conscience dictates in concrete
cases.

935.6COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2844
  12. The Apostle Saint Paul describes in vivid terms the painful
interior conflict of the person enslaved to sin: the conflict
between "the law of his mind" and the "law of sin which dwells in
his members" and which holds him captive [33].  But man can achieve
liberation from his "body doomed to death" through the grace of
Jesus Christ [34].  This grace is enjoyed by those who have been
justified by it and whom "the law of the spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has set free from the law of sin and death" [35].  It is for
this reason that the Apostle adjures them: "That is why you must
not let sin reign in your mortal bodies or command your obedience
to bodily passions" [34].

  This liberation, which fits one to serve God in newness of life,
does not however suppress the concupiscence deriving from original
sin, nor the promptings of evil in this world, which is "in the
power of the evil one" [37].  This is why the Apostle exhorts the
faithful to overcome temptations by the power of God [38] and to
"stand against the wiles of the devil" [39] by faith, watchful
prayer [40] and an austerity of life that brings the body into
subjection to the Spirit [41].

  Living the Christian life by following in the footsteps of Christ
requires that everyone should "deny himself and take up his cross
daily" [42], sustained by the hope of reward, for "if we have died
with him, we shall also reign with him" [43].

  In accordance with these pressing exhortations, the faithful of
the present time, and indeed today more than ever, must use the
means which have always been recommended by the Church for living
a chaste life.  These means are: discipline of the senses and of
the mind, watchfulness and prudence in avoiding occasions of sin,
the observation of modesty, moderation in recreation, wholesome
pursuits, assiduous prayer and frequent reception of the Sacrament
of Penance and the Eucharist.  Young people especially should
earnestly foster devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God, and take
as examples the lives of the Saints and other people, especially
young ones, who excelled in the practice of chastity.

  It is important in particular that everyone should have a high
esteem for the virtue of chastity, its beauty and its power of
attraction.  This virtue increases the human person's dignity and
enables him to love truly, disinterestedly, unselfishly and with
respect for others.

935.7COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:2884
  13. It is up to the Bishops to instruct the faithful in the moral
teaching concerning sexual morality, however great may be the
difficulties in carrying out this work in the face of ideas and
practices generally prevailing today.  This traditional doctrine
must be studied more deeply.  It must be handed on in a way capable
of properly enlightening the consciences of those confronted with
new situations and it must be enriched with a discernment of all
the elements that can truthfully and usefully be brought forward
about the meaning and value of human sexuality.  But the principles
and norms of moral living reaffirmed in this Declaration must be
faithfully held and taught.  It will especially be necessary to
bring the faithful to understand that the Church holds these
principles not as old and inviolable superstitions, nor out of some
Manichaean prejudice, as is often alleged, but rather because she
knows with certainty that they are in complete harmony with the
divine order of creation and with the spirit of Christ, and
therefore also with human dignity.

  It is likewise the Bishops' mission to see that a sound doctrine
enlightened by faith and directed by the Magisterium of the Church
is taught in Faculties of Theology and in Seminaries.  Bishops must
also ensure that confessors enlighten people's consciences and that
catechetical instruction is given in perfect fidelity to Catholic
doctrine.

  It rests with Bishops, the priests and their collaborators to
alert the faithful against the erroneous opinions often expressed
in books, reviews and public meetings.

  Parents, in the first place, and also teachers of the young must
endeavor to lead their children and their pupils, by way of a
complete education, to the psychological, emotional and moral
maturity befitting their age.  They will therefore prudently give
them information suited to their age; and they will assiduously
form their wills in accordance with Christian morals, not only by
advice but above all by the example of their own lives, relying on
God's help, which they will obtain in prayer.  They will likewise
protect the young from the many dangers of which they are quite
unaware.

  Artists, writers and all those who use the means of social
communication should exercise their profession in accordance with
their Christian faith and with a clear awareness of the enormous
influence which they can have.  They should remember that "the
primacy of the objective moral order must be regarded as absolute
by all" [44], and that it is wrong for them to give priority above
it to any so-called aesthetic purpose, or to material advantage or
to success.  Whether it be a question of artistic or literary
works, public entertainment or providing information, each
individual in his or her own domain must show tact, discretion,
moderation and a true sense of values.  In this way, far from
adding to the growing permissiveness of behavior, each individual
will contribute towards controlling it and even towards making the
moral climate of society more wholesome.

  All lay people, for their part, by virtue of their rights and
duties in the work of the apostolate, should endeavor to act in the
same way.

  Finally, it is necessary to remind everyone of the words of the
Second Vatican Council: "This Holy Synod likewise affirms that
children and young people have a right to be encouraged to wight
moral values with an upright conscience, and to embrace them by
personal choice, to know and love God more adequately.  Hence, it
earnestly entreats all who exercise government over people or
preside over the work of education to see that youth is never
deprived of this sacred right" [45].

  At the audience granted on November 7, 1975 to the undersigned
Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,
the Sovereign Pontiff by divine providence Pope Paul VI approved
this Declaration "On certain questions concerning sexual ethics,"
confirmed it and ordered its publication.

  Given in Rome, at the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
Faith, on December 29, 1975.

FRANJO Card. SEPER
Prefect

+ fr. Jerome Hamer, O.P.
Titular Archbishop of Lorium
Secretary

935.8COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:3464
Footnotes:

[1] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Constitution on the
Church in the Modern World GAUDIUM ET SPES, 47: AAS 58 (1966), p.
1067.

[2] Cf. Apostolic Constitution REGIMINI ECCLESIAE UNIVERSAE, 29 (
August 15, 1967): AAS 59 (1967), p. 897.

[3] GAUDIUM ET SPES, 16: AAS (1966), p. 1037.

[4] Jn. 8:12.

[5] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration DIGNITATIS
HUMANAE, 3: AAS 58 (1966), p. 931.

[6] 1 Tim. 3:15.

[7] DIGNITATIS HUMANAE, 14: AAS 58 (1966), p. 940; Cf. Pius XI,
Encyclical Letter CASTI CONNUBII, December 31, 1930: AAS 22 (1930),
pp. 579-580; Pius XII, Allucution of November 2, 1954: AAS 46
(1954), pp. 671-672; John XXIII, Encyclical Letter MATER ET
MAGISTRA, May 15, 1961: AAS 53 (1961), p. 457; Paul VI, Encyclical
Letter HUMANAE VITAE, 4, July 25, 1968: AAS 60 (1968), p. 483.

[8] Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Declaration GRAVISSIMUM
EDUCATIONIS, 1, 8: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 729-730; 734-736.  GAUDIUM ET
SPES, 29, 60, 67: AAS 58 (1966), pp. 1048-1049, 1080-1081, 1088-
1089.

[9] GAUDIUM ET SPES, 51: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1072.

[10] Ibid,; cf. also 49: loc cit., pp. 1069-1070.

[11] Ibid., 49, 50: loc cit., pp. 1069-1072.

[12] The present Declaration does not go into further detail
regarding the norms of sexual life within marriage; these norms
have been clearly taught in the Encyclical Letters CASTI CONNUBII
and HUMANAE VITAE.

[13] Cf. Mt. 19:4-6.

[14] 1 Cor. 7:9.

[15] Cf. Eph. 5:25-32.

[16] Sexual intercourse outside marriage is formally condemned: 1
Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 7:2; 10:8; Eph. 5:5; 1 Tim 1:10; Heb. 13:4; and with
explicit reasons 1 Cor. 6:12-20.

[17] Cf. Innocent IV, Letter SUB CATHOLICA PROFESSIONE, March 6,
1254, DS 835; Pius II, PROPOS. DAMN. IN EP. Cum SICUT ECCEPIMUS,
November 14, 1459, DS 1367; Decrees of the Holy Office, September
24, 1665, DS 2045; March 2, 1679, DS 2148.  Pius XI, Encyclical
Letter CASTI CONNUBII, December 31, 1930: AAS 22 (1930) pp. 558-
559.

[18] [See reply 91.3991]

[19] Cf. Leo IX, Letter AD SPLENDIDUM NITENTIS< in the year 1054:
DS 687-688, Decree of the Holy Office, March 2, 1679: DS 2149; Pius
XII, Allucutio, October 8, 1953: AAS 45 (1953), pp. 677-678; May
19, 1956: AAS 48 (1956), pp. 472-473.
935.9COVERT::COVERTJohn R. CovertWed Jun 15 1994 03:3566
[20] GAUDIUM ET SPES, 51: AAS 58 (1966), p. 1072.

[21] " ... If sociological surveys are useful for better
discovering the thought patterns of the people of a particular
place, the anxieties and needs of those whom we proclaim the word
of God, and also the opposition made to it by modern reasoning
through the widespread notion that outside science there exists no
legitimate form of knowledge, still the conclusions drawn from such
surveys could not of themselves constitute a determining criterion
of truth," Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation QUINQUE IAM ANNI,
December 8, 1970, AAS 63 (1971), p. 102.

[22] Mt. 22:38,40.

[23] Mt. 19:16-19.

[24] Cf. note 17 and 19 above: Decree of the Holy Office, March 18,
1666, DS 2060; Paul VI, Encyclical Letter HUMANAE VITAE, 13, 14:
AAS 60 (1968), pp. 489-496.

[25] 1 Sam. 16:7.

[26] Paul VI, Encyclical Letter HUMANAE VITAE, 29: AAS 60 (1968),
p. 501.

[27] Cf. 1 Cor. 7:7,34; Council of Trent, Session XXIV, con. 10: DS
1810; Second Vatican Council, Constitution LUMEN GENTIUM, 42, 43,
44: AAS 57 (1965), pp. 47-51; Synod of Bishops, DE CACERDOTIO
MINISTERIALI, part II, 4, b: AAS 63 (1971), pp. 915-916.

[28] Mt. 5:28.

[29] Cf. Gal. 5:19-23; 1 Cor. 6:9-11.

[30] 1 Thess. 4:3-8; cf. Col. 3:5-7; 1 Tim 1:10.

[31] Eph. 5:3-8; cf. 4:18-19.

[32] 1 Cor. 6:15, 18-20.

[33] Cf. Rom. 7:23.

[34] Cf. Rom. 7:24-25.

[35] Cf. Rom. 8:2.

[36] Rom. 6:12.

[37] 1 Jn. 5:19.

[38] Cf. 1 Cor. 10:13.

[39] Eph. 6:11.

[40] Cf. Eph. 6:16,18.

[41] Cf. 1 Cor. 9:27.

[42] Lk. 9:23.

[43] 2 Tim 2:11-12.

[44] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree INTER MIRIFICA, 6:
AAS 56 (1964), p. 147.

[45] GRAVISSIMUM EDUCATIONIS, 1: AAS 58 (1966), p. 730.
935.10BIGQ::SILVAMemories.....Wed Jun 15 1994 13:057


	Hey John, is there a conference where you haven't put this in yet? :-)



935.11NITTY::DIERCKSIncredibly warped &amp; gravely depravedWed Jun 15 1994 13:087
    
    
    I bet he hasn't put it in womannotes!!!!!!!
    
        GJD
    
    
935.12POWDML::FLANAGANResident AlienWed Jun 15 1994 13:554
    Maybe we should enter a note on masturbation and see if we get 4000
    replies?
    
    
935.13NITTY::DIERCKSIncredibly warped &amp; gravely depravedWed Jun 15 1994 15:096
    
    
    I'm reminded of a song from "Hair" -- but probably shouldn't enter the
    lyrics here!
    
      Greg
935.14CSC32::J_CHRISTIEHeat-seeking pacifistWed Jun 15 1994 16:406
    .13  I know to what song you're refering and I thank you for your
    self-restraint.
    
    Shalom,
    Richard
    
935.15NITTY::DIERCKSIncredibly warped &amp; gravely depravedWed Jun 15 1994 17:006
    
    
    
    8-)
    
    
935.17With the exception of Bob Dole, no offense intended. ;-)CSC32::J_CHRISTIECrossfireSun Sep 25 1994 00:182
    .16  Kansas?  No, thank God.