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Many people today believe that the traditional Catholic view of sex is antiquated, unrealistic, and potentially harmful. In Catholic Sexual Morality, Dr. Robert Fastiggi asks whether the permissive sexual attitude of today's culture is really contributing to deeper love, better relationships, and true happiness for men, women, children, and families. He begins with the example of St. Augustine who recognized he was a slave to lust and in need of true freedom. Fastiggi then examines the foundations for Catholic sexual morality in Scripture, reason, and human experience. The hope is that people will realize that the Catholic Church is not "against sex" but sees sexual intimacy as something so beautiful and life-giving that it requires the stability of marriage for its true and rightful expression.
Catholic Sexual Morality is grounded in the belief that the church's teachings on sex correspond to God's plan for human happiness. These teachings are challenging, and the church understands how easy it is to fail in sexual matters. God's mercy, however, is more powerful than human weakness and sin. This book explains the reasons why the Catholic Church teaches as she does on matters such as pornography, masturbation, fornication, adultery, contraception, divorce, and homosexual acts. It presents these teachings in a realistic way with full recognition of the reasons why people reject them. The ultimate desire is to help people understand that Catholic sexual morality is not a creation of church leaders but a response to what God has made known to us in Sacred Scripture and the natural law. In a world filled with infidelity, divorce, wounded children, and broken hearts, the wisdom of traditional Catholic sexual morality deserves a more sympathetic view--not just because it is Catholic but because it is true.
About the author
Robert Fastiggi holds an A.B. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in theology from Fordham University. From 1985-1999, he taught at St. Edward's University in Austin, TX, and, since 1999, he's been on the faculty of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI, where he's Professor of Systematic Theology. In addition to his own publications, he served as the co-editor of the English translation of the 43rd edition of the Denzinger-Hunermann Compendium of Creeds, Definitions, and Declarations on Matters of Faith and Morals (2012) and the executive editor of the 2009-2013 supplements to the New Catholic Encyclopedia (Gale Cengage Learning in cooperation with The Catholic University of America).
