“Love is … the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being.”
– Pope St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio
Every human person is created to make a gift of themselves in love. Our bodies were given to us to communicate love, and our bodies speak a language. In sexual intimacy, our bodies say, “I give myself to you alone, completely and faithfully for the rest of my life.” If we engage in sexual activity without intending to be faithful or without giving ourselves fully (including our fertility), we are lying with our bodies.
We are called, instead, to authentic love. Chastity is recognizing my dignity and the dignity of others. It is treating others as persons to be loved and not as objects to be used for my pleasure. Every person is called to live the beauty and integrity of chastity.
Theology of the Body
In the Theology of the Body, Pope St. John Paul II offered the Church and the world a vision of the human person as body as soul, and reclaimed human sexuality as a gift for the sake of love. Rather than being reduced, suppressed or objectified, he encouraged us to receive our sexuality as a gift, to be lived in freedom and responsibility. God’s invitation for authentic love allows for the flourishing of the human person.
- Learn more about the beauty of God’s plan for love: The Chastity Project
- Looking to go deeper? Consider courses offered by the Theology of the Body Institute
Chastity Videos
Chastity Education
Each year, the Archdiocese of New York hosts dynamic young adult missionaries from Generation Life and the Culture Project to speak to schools and parish youth groups about God’s vision for life and love.
Culture Project missionaries will be present in the Archdiocese of New York from October 19 – 24, 2025 to give human dignity, sexual integrity, and social media presentations to parishes and schools. To schedule a presentation, please reach out to their scheduling team or submit a request through their website.
Generation Life and the Culture Project
Generation Life: Generation Life is a dynamic movement of young people committed to building a culture of life by educating other young people on the pro-life and chastity messages. We believe that by spreading the message of chastity, we can end abortion at its root cause.
The Culture Project: The Culture Project is an initiative of young people set out to restore culture through the experience of virtue. We proclaim the dignity of the human person and the richness of living sexual integrity, inviting our culture to become fully alive.
Gender & Sexuality
God has a plan for every human person: a plan for their life and their love. Every human person is invited to discover their deepest identity in being a child of God, infinitely loved and willed into existence. Persons who experience same-sex attraction or gender confusion are called to live their identity as beloved children and to lead lives of holiness by responding to the grace of chastity.
Video Testimonies
The Third Way: Homosexuality and the Catholic Church: a 40-minute documentary film which presents the truth of the Catholic Church’s teachings on homosexuality with love.
Desire of the Everlasting Hills: three intimate and candid portraits of Catholics who try to navigate the waters of self-understanding, faith, and homosexuality.
Resources
- Eden Invitation: Eden Invitation creates space to receive the whole person, grow systems of mutual support, and empower for creative discipleship. As a community of disciples with LGBTQ+ experiences, those involved at Eden Invitation seek to build fellowship with others who desire a way of life in congruence with Christ and His Church.
- Courage: a support group that ministers to those with same-sex attractions and their loved ones. They also have an outreach called EnCourage, which ministers to relatives and friends of persons with same-sex attractions.
- Find a Courage chapter near you.
- Find an EnCourage chapter near you.
- CanaVox: has a variety of explanations and resources for families looking for more information about topics such as friendship, dating, the meaning of sex, and gender and identity
- Person & Identity: assists the Catholic Church in promoting the Catholic vision of the human person and responding to the challenges of gender ideology; provides resources and pastoral guidance on issues of faith, gender, and sexual identity.
- Gender Resource Guide: educating and equipping parents to respond to the transgender issue
Church Teaching & Documents
Amidst many cultural voices, the Church seeks to uphold the full dignity and flourishing of every person, including those who face struggles related to their sexuality. The Church upholds a Christian anthropology that affirms the sacredness of human sexuality and gender as dimensions of human nature created by God. Rather than viewing sexuality as something to be manipulated or modified at will, it ought to be respected and upheld.
- Male and Female He Created Them: Towards a path of dialogue on the question of gender theory in education. Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, 2019.
- Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care. USCCB Committee on Doctrine, 2006. (en español)
- Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1986.
- Chastity and Homosexuality. Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Recommended Reading
- Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay: How I Reclaimed My Sexual Reality and Found Peace, by Daniel Mattson
- Made for Love: Same-Sex Attraction and the Catholic Church, by Fr. Mike Schmitz
- When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment, by Ryan T. Anderson
Pornography
The Church as a field hospital is called to proclaim the truth of the human person in love, to protect people – especially children – from pornography, and to provide the Lord’s mercy and healing for those wounded by pornography… Christ is our hope!
– USCCB, Create in Me A Pure Heart
While presented as harmless, in reality, pornography objectifies the human person, bringing hurt and pain rather than real relationship, intimacy, and joy. It pervades our understandings of love and relationship and impedes our efforts to live out our vocation to love as children of God.
If you are struggling with pornography, remember that you are not alone. Jesus is with you, and the Church offers you love and support. Many people struggle with the temptation and sin of pornography. Trust in God’s mercy and his healing, freeing power.
Resources for Seeking Freedom
Fight the New Drug: A non-profit that exposes the reality of porn’s harms and offers a variety of apps, resources and community to help those affected find freedom.
Covenant Eyes: An accountability app to break cycles of isolation and addiction.
Testimonies of Hope
Delivered: In this book, Matt Fradd compiles the stories and moving testimonies of real men and women who fought the battle of pornography addiction.
Resources for Parents and Educators
Parents and educators: Are you looking for help addressing pornography and chastity, and protecting those in your care? The following organizations have resources, videos and training available: