Gozo Bishop Mario Grech said his comments regarding sex education at school had been misinterpreted.
The Bishop sparked controversy last week when he said that “our educational system could be abusing students if, instead of helping them to control their sexual energy, it offers them information and methods, such as contraceptives, inducing them to give in to the culture of pleasure”.
In a statement on Saturday, Mgr Grech said his comments should not be taken to mean he was against sexual education but only that sexual education should be put in its proper context, or a holistic approach, which includes the ethical dimension.
Mgr Grech expressed concern regarding the possible abuse of students if, under the excuse of a sex education devoid of ethical principles and values, contraceptive methods were promoted to the detriment of the true nature and finality of human sexuality.
His arguments, he said, were in line with the teaching of the Church. He pointed out that, in May 2008, Pope Benedict XVI had said: “The urgent need for education... primarily concerns the theme of life... To circulate false illusions in the context of love or to deceive people concerning the genuine responsibilities they are called to assume with the exercise of their own sexuality does not do honour to a society based on the principles of freedom and democracy.”
Pope Benedict had said an action that “aims to prevent procreation means denying the intimate truth of spousal love, with which the divine gift is communicated”. The bishop said sex education cut off from sound moral principles militated against the promotion of authentic love-relationship and fostered a hedonist culture. The human person was thus reduced to an object of pleasure, to be manipulated at will.
Church teaching regarding the dignity of the human person and personal love could be demanding and challenging, especially in the prevailing technological era.
The seemingly easy “solution”, he said, was deceptive as it vitiated the true nature and significance of human sexuality and overlooked the fundamental need of humans to educate themselves responsibly to authentic love.
Mgr Grech again quoted the Pope who had said: “If the practice of sexuality becomes a drug that seeks to enslave one’s partner to one’s own desires and interests, without respecting the cycle of the beloved, then what must be defended is no longer solely the true concept of love but, in the first place, the dignity of the person”.