The questions you have sent us are VERY basic questions.
Look at the way Our Lord physically created a man
and physically created a woman.
I think the answer is obvious. Why? Because a man's
body compliments a woman's body.
So the answer is YES!
The people in the pictures you sent do not understand
the difference between:
Here is a quick copy and paste from the on-line
Catechism below. Read especially paragraph 2357
* I. "MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM . .
."
2331 "God is love and in himself he lives
a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating
the human race in his own image . . .. God inscribed
in the humanity of man and woman the vocation,
and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love
and communion."
"God created man in his own image . . . male
and female he created them"; He blessed them
and said, "Be fruitful and multiply"; "When
God created man, he made him in the likeness of
God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed
them and named them Man when they were created."
2332 Sexuality affects all aspects of the human
person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially
concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and
to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude
for forming bonds of communion with others.
2333 Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge
and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral,
and spiritual difference and complementarity are
oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing
of family life. The harmony of the couple and of
society depends in part on the way in which the
complementarity, needs, and mutual support between
the sexes are lived out.
2334 "In creating men 'male and female,'
God gives man and woman an equal personal dignity." "Man
is a person, man and woman equally so, since both
were created in the image and likeness of the personal
God."
2335 Each of the two sexes is an image of the
power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity
though in a different way. The union of man and
woman in marriage is a way of imitating in the
flesh the Creator's generosity and fecundity: "Therefore
a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves
to his wife, and they become one flesh." All
human generations proceed from this union.
2336 Jesus came to restore creation to the purity
of its origins. In the Sermon on the Mount, he
interprets God's plan strictly: "You have
heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'
But I say to you that every one who looks at a
woman lustfully has already committed adultery
with her in his heart." What God has joined
together, let not man put asunder.
The tradition of the Church has understood the
sixth commandment as encompassing the whole of
human sexuality.
II. THE VOCATION TO CHASTITY
2337 Chastity means the successful integration
of sexuality within the person and thus the inner
unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being.
Sexuality, in which man's belonging to the bodily
and biological world is expressed, becomes personal
and truly human when it is integrated into the
relationship of one person to another, in the complete
and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman.
The virtue of chastity therefore involves the
integrity of the person and the integrality of
the gift.
The integrity of the person
2338 The chaste person maintains the integrity
of the powers of life and love placed in him. This
integrity ensures the unity of the person; it is
opposed to any behavior that would impair it. It
tolerates neither a double life nor duplicity in
speech.
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery
which is a training in human freedom. The alternative
is clear: either man governs his passions and finds
peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them
and becomes unhappy. "Man's dignity therefore
requires him to act out of conscious and free choice,
as moved and drawn in a personal way from within,
and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere
external constraint. Man gains such dignity when,
ridding himself of all slavery to the passions,
he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing
what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively
secures for himself the means suited to this end."
2340 Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal
promises and resist temptations will want to adopt
the means for doing so: self-knowledge, practice
of an ascesis adapted to the situations that confront
him, obedience to God's commandments, exercise
of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer. "Indeed
it is through chastity that we are gathered together
and led back to the unity from which we were fragmented
into multiplicity."
2341 The virtue of chastity comes under the cardinal
virtue of temperance, which seeks to permeate the
passions and appetites of the senses with reason.
2342 Self-mastery is a long and exacting work.
One can never consider it acquired once and for
all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages
of life. The effort required can be more intense
in certain periods, such as when the personality
is being formed during childhood and adolescence.
2343 Chastity has laws of growth which progress
through stages marked by imperfection and too often
by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds himself
up through his many free decisions; and so he knows,
loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages of
growth."
2344 Chastity represents an eminently personal
task; it also involves a cultural effort, for there
is "an interdependence between personal betterment
and the improvement of society." Chastity
presupposes respect for the rights of the person,
in particular the right to receive information
and an education that respect the moral and spiritual
dimensions of human life.
2345 Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a
gift from God, a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort.
The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of Baptism
has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ.
The integrality of the gift of self
2346 Charity is the form of all the virtues. Under
its influence, chastity appears as a school of
the gift of the person. Self-mastery is ordered
to the gift of self. Chastity leads him who practices
it to become a witness to his neighbor of God's
fidelity and loving kindness.
2347 The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship.
It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate
him who has chosen us as his friends, who has given
himself totally to us and allows us to participate
in his divine estate. Chastity is a promise of
immortality.
Chastity is expressed notably in friendship with
one's neighbor. Whether it develops between persons
of the same or opposite sex, friendship represents
a great good for all. It leads to spiritual communion.
The various forms of chastity
2348 All the baptized are called to chastity.
The Christian has "put on Christ," the
model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are
called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their
particular states of life. At the moment of his
Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective
life in chastity.
2349 "People should cultivate [chastity]
in the way that is suited to their state of life.
Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy
which enables them to give themselves to God alone
with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner.
Others live in the way prescribed for all by the
moral law, whether they are married or single." Married
people are called to live conjugal chastity; others
practice chastity in continence:
There are three forms of the virtue of chastity:
the first is that of spouses, the second that of
widows, and the third that of virgins. We do not
praise any one of them to the exclusion of the
others. . . . This is what makes for the richness
of the discipline of the Church.
2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called
to live chastity in continence. They should see
in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect,
an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of
receiving one another from God. They should reserve
for marriage the expressions of affection that
belong to married love. They will help each other
grow in chastity.
Offenses against chastity
2351 Lust is disordered desire for or inordinate
enjoyment of sexual pleasure. Sexual pleasure is
morally disordered when sought for itself, isolated
from its procreative and unitive purposes.
2352 By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate
stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive
sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of
the Church, in the course of a constant tradition,
and the moral sense of the faithful have been in
no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation
is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action." "The
deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever
reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary
to its purpose." For here sexual pleasure
is sought outside of "the sexual relationship
which is demanded by the moral order and in which
the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human
procreation in the context of true love is achieved."
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects'
moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action,
one must take into account the affective immaturity,
force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety
or other psychological or social factors that lessen,
if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.
2353 Fornication is carnal union between an unmarried
man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary
to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality
which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses
and the generation and education of children. Moreover,
it is a grave scandal when there is corruption
of the young.
2354 Pornography consists in removing real or
simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the
partners, in order to display them deliberately
to third parties. It offends against chastity because
it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving
of spouses to each other. It does grave injury
to the dignity of its participants (actors, vendors,
the public), since each one becomes an object of
base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It
immerses all who are involved in the illusion of
a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities
should prevent the production and distribution
of pornographic materials.
2355 Prostitution does injury to the dignity of
the person who engages in it, reducing the person
to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who
pays sins gravely against himself: he violates
the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and
defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves
women, but also men, children, and adolescents
(The latter two cases involve the added sin of
scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to
engage in prostitution, the imputability of the
offense can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail,
or social pressure.
2356 Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual
intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice
and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom,
and physical and moral integrity to which every
person has a right. It causes grave damage that
can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically
evil act. Graver still is the rape of children
committed by parents (incest) or those responsible
for the education of the children entrusted to
them.
Chastity and homosexuality
2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between
men or between women who experience an exclusive
or predominant sexual attraction toward persons
of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of
forms through the centuries and in different cultures.
Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained.
Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents
homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition
has always declared that "homosexual acts
are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary
to the natural law. They close the sexual act to
the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine
affective and sexual complementarity. Under no
circumstances can they be approved.
2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated
homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination,
which is objectively disordered, constitutes for
most of them a trial. They must be accepted with
respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign
of unjust discrimination in their regard should
be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill
God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians,
to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the
difficulties they may encounter from their condition.
2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity.
By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them
inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested
friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they
can and should gradually and resolutely approach
Christian perfection.
III. THE LOVE OF HUSBAND AND WIFE
2360 Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love
of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy
of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual
communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons
are sanctified by the sacrament.
2361 "Sexuality, by means of which man and
woman give themselves to one another through the
acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses,
is not something simply biological, but concerns
the innermost being of the human person as such.
It is realized in a truly human way only if it
is an integral part of the love by which a man
and woman commit themselves totally to one another
until death."
Tobias got out of bed and said to Sarah, "Sister,
get up, and let us pray and implore our Lord that
he grant us mercy and safety." So she got
up, and they began to pray and implore that they
might be kept safe. Tobias began by saying, "Blessed
are you, O God of our fathers. . . . You made Adam,
and for him you made his wife Eve as a helper and
support. From the two of them the race of mankind
has sprung. You said, 'It is not good that the
man should be alone; let us make a helper for him
like himself.' I now am taking this kinswoman of
mine, not because of lust, but with sincerity.
Grant that she and I may find mercy and that we
may grow old together." And they both said, "Amen,
Amen." Then they went to sleep for the night.
2362 "The acts in marriage by which the intimate
and chaste union of the spouses takes place are
noble and honorable; the truly human performance
of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify
and enriches the spouses in joy and gratitude." Sexuality
is a source of joy and pleasure:
The Creator himself . . . established that in
the [generative] function, spouses should experience
pleasure and enjoyment of body and spirit. Therefore,
the spouses do nothing evil in seeking this pleasure
and enjoyment. They accept what the Creator has
intended for them. At the same time, spouses should
know how to keep themselves within the limits of
just moderation.
2363 The spouses' union achieves the twofold
end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves
and the transmission of life. These two meanings
or values of marriage cannot be separated without
altering the couple's spiritual life and compromising
the goods of marriage and the future of the family.
The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands
under the twofold obligation of fidelity and fecundity.
* Conjugal fidelity
2364 The married couple forms "the intimate
partnership of life and love established by the
Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted
in the conjugal covenant, that is, in their irrevocable
personal consent."
Both give themselves definitively and totally to
one another. They are no longer two; from now on
they form one flesh. The covenant they freely contracted
imposes on the spouses the obligation to preserve
it as unique and indissoluble. "What therefore
God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
2365 Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping one's
given word. God is faithful. The Sacrament of Matrimony
enables man and woman to enter into Christ's fidelity
for his Church. Through conjugal chastity, they
bear witness to this mystery before the world.
St. John l suggests that young husbands should
say to their wives: I have taken you in my arms,
and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself.
For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent
dream is to spend it with you in such a way that
we may be assured of not being separated in the
life reserved for us. . . . I place your love above
all things, and nothing would be more bitter or
painful to me than to be of a different mind than
you.
* The fecundity of marriage
2366 Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage,
for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful.
A child does not come from outside as something
added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but
springs from the very heart of that mutual giving,
as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which
is "on the side of life," teaches that "it
is necessary that each and every marriage act remain
ordered per se to the procreation of human life." "This
particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions
by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable
connection, established by God, which man on his
own initiative may not break, between the unitive
significance and the procreative significance which
are both inherent to the marriage act."
2367 Called to give life, spouses share in the
creative power and fatherhood of God. "Married
couples should regard it as their proper mission
to transmit human life and to educate their children;
they should realize that they are thereby cooperating
with the love of God the Creator and are, in a
certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill
this duty with a sense of human and Christian responsibility."
2368 A particular aspect of this responsibility
concerns the regulation of procreation. For just
reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of
their children. It is their duty to make certain
that their desire is not motivated by selfishness
but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate
to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should
conform their behavior to the objective criteria
of morality:
When it is a question of harmonizing married love
with the responsible transmission of life, the
morality of the behavior does not depend on sincere
intention and evaluation of motives alone; but
it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria
drawn from the nature of the person and his acts,
criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual
self-giving and human procreation in the context
of true love; this is possible only if the virtue
of married chastity is practiced with sincerity
of heart.
2369 "By safeguarding both these essential
aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal
act preserves in its fullness the sense of true
mutual love and its orientation toward man's exalted
vocation to parenthood."
2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods
of birth regulation based on self-observation and
the use of infertile periods, is in conformity
with the objective criteria of morality. These
methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage
tenderness between them, and favor the education
of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every
action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal
act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development
of its natural consequences, proposes, whether
as an end or as a means, to render procreation
impossible" is intrinsically evil:
Thus the innate language that expresses the total
reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid,
through contraception, by an objectively contradictory
language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally
to the other. This leads not only to a positive
refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification
of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called
upon to give itself in personal totality. . . .
The difference, both anthropological and moral,
between contraception and recourse to the rhythm
of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis
two irreconcilable concepts of the human person
and of human sexuality.
2371 "Let all be convinced that human life
and the duty of transmitting it are not limited
by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation
and full significance can be understood only in
reference to man's eternal destiny."
2372 The state has a responsibility for its citizens'
well-being. In this capacity it is legitimate for
it to intervene to orient the demography of the
population. This can be done by means of objective
and respectful information, but certainly not by
authoritarian, coercive measures. The state may
not legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses,
who have the primary responsibility for the procreation
and education of their children. In this area,
it is not authorized to employ means contrary to
the moral law.
The gift of a child
2373 Sacred Scripture and the Church's traditional
practice see in large families a sign of God's
blessing and the parents' generosity.
2374 Couples who discover that they are sterile
suffer greatly. "What will you give me," asks
Abraham of God, "for I continue childless?"
And Rachel cries to her husband Jacob, "Give
me children, or I shall die!"
2375 Research aimed at reducing human sterility
is to be encouraged, on condition that it is placed "at
the service of the human person, of his inalienable
rights, and his true and integral good according
to the design and will of God."
2376 Techniques that entail the dissociation of
husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person
other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum,
surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques
(heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization)
infringe the child's right to be born of a father
and mother known to him and bound to each other
by marriage. They betray the spouses' "right
to become a father and a mother only through each
other."
2377 Techniques involving only the married couple
(homologous artificial insemination and fertilization)
are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally
unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from
the procreative act. The act which brings the child
into existence is no longer an act by which two
persons give themselves to one another, but one
that "entrusts the life and identity of the
embryo into the power of doctors and biologists
and establishes the domination of technology over
the origin and destiny of the human person. Such
a relationship of domination is in itself contrary
to the dignity and equality that must be common
to parents and children." "Under
the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its
proper perfection when it is not willed as the
fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the
specific act of the spouses' union . . . . Only
respect for the link between the meanings of the
conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human
being make possible procreation in conformity with
the dignity of the person."
2378 A child is not something owed to one, but
is a gift. The "supreme gift of marriage" is
a human person. A child may not be considered a
piece of property, an idea to which an alleged "right
to a child" would lead. In this area, only
the child possesses genuine rights: the right "to
be the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal
love of his parents," and "the right
to be respected as a person from the moment of
his conception."
2379 The Gospel shows that physical sterility
is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer
from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical
procedures should unite themselves with the Lord's
Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They
can give expression to their generosity by adopting
abandoned children or performing demanding services
for others.
IV. OFFENSES AGAINST THE DIGNITY OF MARRIAGE
Adultery
2380 Adultery refers to marital infidelity. When
two partners, of whom at least one is married to
another party, have sexual relations - even transient
ones - they commit adultery. Christ condemns even
adultery of mere desire. The sixth commandment
and the New Testament forbid adultery absolutely.
The prophets denounce the gravity of adultery;
they see it as an image of the sin of idolatry.
2381 Adultery is an injustice. He who commits
adultery fails in his commitment. He does injury
to the sign of the covenant which the marriage
bond is, transgresses the rights of the other spouse,
and undermines the institution of marriage by breaking
the contract on which it is based. He compromises
the good of human generation and the welfare of
children who need their parents' stable union.
Divorce
2382 The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention
of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble.
He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped
into the old Law.
Between the baptized, "a ratified and consummated
marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power
or for any reason other than death."
2383 The separation of spouses while maintaining
the marriage bond can be legitimate in certain
cases provided for by canon law.
If civil divorce remains the only possible way
of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the
children, or the protection of inheritance, it
can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral
offense.
2384 Divorce is a grave offense against the natural
law. It claims to break the contract, to which
the spouses freely consented, to live with each
other till death. Divorce does injury to the covenant
of salvation, of which sacramental marriage is
the sign. Contracting a new union, even if it is
recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of
the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a
situation of public and permanent adultery:
If a husband, separated from his wife, approaches
another woman, he is an adulterer because he makes
that woman commit adultery, and the woman who lives
with him is an adulteress, because she has drawn
another's husband to herself.
2385 Divorce is immoral also because it introduces
disorder into the family and into society. This
disorder brings grave harm to the deserted spouse,
to children traumatized by the separation of their
parents and often torn between them, and because
of its contagious effect which makes it truly a
plague on society.
2386 It can happen that one of the spouses is
the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil
law; this spouse therefore has not contravened
the moral law. There is a considerable difference
between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be
faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly
abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault
destroys a canonically valid marriage.
Other offenses against the dignity of marriage
2387 The predicament of a man who, desiring to
convert to the Gospel, is obliged to repudiate
one or more wives with whom he has shared years
of conjugal life, is understandable. However polygamy
is not in accord with the moral law." [Conjugal]
communion is radically contradicted by polygamy;
this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God
which was revealed from the beginning, because
it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of
men and women who in matrimony give themselves
with a love that is total and therefore unique
and exclusive." The Christian who has previously
lived in polygamy has a grave duty in justice to
honor the obligations contracted in regard to his
former wives and his children.
2388 Incest designates intimate relations between
relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits
marriage between them. St. Paul stigmatizes this
especially grave offense: "It is actually
reported that there is immorality among you . .
. for a man is living with his father's wife. .
. . In the name of the Lord Jesus . . . you are
to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh. . . . " Incest corrupts family
relationships and marks a regression toward animality.
2389 Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated
by adults on children or adolescents entrusted
to their care. The offense is compounded by the
scandalous harm done to the physical and moral
integrity of the young, who will remain scarred
by it all their lives; and the violation of responsibility
for their upbringing.
2390 In a so-called free union, a man and a woman
refuse to give juridical and public form to a liaison
involving sexual intimacy.
The expression "free union" is fallacious:
what can "union" mean when the partners
make no commitment to one another, each exhibiting
a lack of trust in the other, in himself, or in
the future?
The expression covers a number of different situations:
concubinage, rejection of marriage as such, or
inability to make long-term commitments. All these
situations offend against the dignity of marriage;
they destroy the very idea of the family; they
weaken the sense of fidelity. They are contrary
to the moral law. The sexual act must take place
exclusively within marriage. Outside of marriage
it always constitutes a grave sin and excludes
one from sacramental communion.
2391 Some today claim a "right to a trial
marriage" where there is an intention of getting
married later. However firm the purpose of those
who engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the
fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure
mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship
between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can
they protect it from inconstancy of desires or
whim."Carnal union is morally legitimate only
when a definitive community of life between a man
and woman has been established. Human love does
not tolerate "trial marriages." It demands
a total and definitive gift of persons to one another.
IN BRIEF
2392 "Love is the fundamental and innate
vocation of every human being" (FC 11).
2393 By creating the human being man and woman,
God gives personal dignity equally to the one and
the other. Each of them, man and woman, should
acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.
2394 Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized
person is called to lead a chaste life, each according
to his particular state of life.
2395 Chastity means the integration of sexuality
within the person. It includes an apprenticeship
in self-mastery.
2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity
are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and
homosexual practices.
2397 The covenant which spouses have freely entered
into entails faithful love. It imposes on them
the obligation to keep their marriage indissoluble.
2398 Fecundity is a good, a gift and an end of
marriage. By giving life, spouses participate in
God's fatherhood.
2399 The regulation of births represents one of
the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood.
Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses
do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable
means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).
2400 Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union
are grave offenses against the dignity of marriage.
