Christian Humanism CH 10-11

Marital Act

The act of sexual intercourse between a man and a woman designed to express conjugal love and total self-giving.

Unitive Purpose

The aspect of the sexual act where a man and woman become one both physically and spiritually through profound self-giving love.

Procreative Purpose

The aspect of the sexual act where the union may bear fruit in the conception of new life.

Natural Law

The principle that sexual intercourse has inherent meaning requiring respect, including total self-giving love and the potential for new life.

Adultery

Sexual intercourse between two persons, one of whom is married to someone else, violating the unitive and procreative meanings of marriage.

Divorce

The legal dissolution of a marriage, which can be ethically acceptable in cases of abuse or unfaithfulness but may harm the children of the union.

Annulment

A judgment that a marital bond was nonexistent or null, allowing both parties to marry again as if the previous marriage never existed.

Fornication

The sexual act between two persons who are not married, violating the Natural Law in various ways and disregarding the rights of potential children.

Contraception

The act of preventing pregnancy during sexual intercourse, contradicting the truth of conjugal love by rejecting each other's fertility.

Natural Family Planning

A method of family planning that involves periodic abstinence during fertile periods, differing from contraception in respecting the nature of the act.

Homosexual Act

Refers to the sexual act between two persons of the same sex, which lacks the complementarity of male and female bodies for true sexual union, making it sterile and unable to achieve the unitive and procreative purposes of the sexual act.

Same-Sex Attraction

A disorder influenced by social, psychological, and biological factors, not chosen freely by the individual, and considered not sinful in itself as it is an inclination, not an act.

Gender Theory

Distinguishes between sex (biological aspects) and gender (psychological and cultural aspects), including gender identity (how one perceives oneself), and gender role (adoption of cultural expectations).

Masturbation

Involves deliberate stimulation of external sex organs without intercourse, seen as a disorder that contradicts the self-giving nature of the body in the sexual act, potentially addictive, and harmful to personal well-being.

Pornography

Visual representation of human sexuality that distorts its proper context, leading to addiction, desensitization, objectification of individuals, and negative impacts on individuals, families, and society.