The Church and Human Sexuality

The Catholic Church's stance on human sexuality concurred with my 12 years of Catholic education in many respects. For one, I know that human sexuality is an act of love, a gift to be treasured between man and wife. Yet the overlying message present in the text is about far more than any physical act, it is about respecting our bodies, our gifts from God. We are called to use them in ways of kindness, compassion, and love. Human sexuality, therefore, should be just that. In cases of homosexuality, I respect the Church's stance in saying that they "should not suffer from prejudice against their basic human rights." This stance upholds the concept that love is love. The Church only expresses the immorality of acting sexually upon those urges. They do not state that being homosexual is wrong and sinful. I learned that the emphasis isn't for abstinence, although that is encouraged of course. It mainly focuses on chastity and treating your body with the respect it deserves. You can be a virgin and treat your body like trash, while others may have an active sex life but make sure they are listening to themselves. I think this article could benefit from discussing more in-depth the sexually active single life. I felt their stance was questionable because it called into question the legitimacy of the act. I think that area needs to be explored a little more in detail because people are having sex out of wedlock. As we mentioned, even college students are being "sex-iled" because of their roommates active sex life. Because it is a common thing across colleges today, I feel that it needs to be address what to do in that situation, whether it is to help yourself recognize whether or not it is a healthy relationship or whether it is for a friend.