Document offers publishers guidance on teaching about human sexuality

Published: 2007-11-15

BALTIMORE (CNS) -- With no public discussion, the U.S. Catholic bishops Nov. 14 adopted a document offering guidance to publishers of textbooks on human sexuality for grades kindergarten through 12. In a vote of 212-3, with one abstention, the bishops adopted "Catechetical Formation in Chaste Living: Guidelines for Curriculum and Publication Design." Since 2003 the Committee on Catechesis has been working to provide resource to publishers that focuses on Catholic faith and morals as well as virtues for chaste living. The introduction notes that the document follows the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the publication of the General Directory for Catechesis, the National Directory for Catechesis and the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults. By issuing the guidelines, the bishops seek "to call each baptized person to reflect upon and cherish his or her dignity and that of other persons as made in the image and likeness of God," and to help them "embrace joyfully" the call "to love and live chastely either as a married or celibate person," the 21-page document says.

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