I am a graduate student from Cincinnati, Ohio. I don’t know where to begin. As a human being, a woman and a Catholic, I am utterly offended by this article (“Going Down With Catholics” March 27).
Yes, oral sex is sex; no, the Catholic Church does not say that you can do whatever you want as long as you are not having intercourse. No, you will not necessarily go to hell for having sex outside of marriage, but it is a mortal sin that must be sincerely confessed if one does it. The Catholic Church advocates chastity outside and inside of marriage.
This does not mean just abstaining from sex outside of marriage. This means looking upon your boyfriend/girlfriend with respect, love and value their dignity as a human person. This means not participating in any sexual activities outside of marriage, not because you think you will go to hell if you do, but because you love (your partner), you love God and you love yourself. This also means once you are married, it is not a free-for-all. You still must look upon your husband/wife with respect and value – you cannot treat them like a piece of meat. You are still expected to treat sex as a holy union. That is not to say that you aren’t supposed to enjoy sex – you are! God made sex pleasurable for a reason. But you cannot use each other for that pleasure – sex is self-gift, not selfish.
FYI 1: Catholics believe sex is holy, that it is beautiful. Sex is for procreation and for unity within a marriage. Sex is the total giving of oneself to another, without holding anything back. Sex is the marital act, showing with your body what you pronounced in your vows. Sex is so wonderful, so holy, that it is not something to be flung about, to be taken lightly. FYI 2: The Immaculate Conception is the conception of Mary, without original sin, by her parents Anne and Joachim. The Immaculate Conception is not when Mary conceived Christ – that is the Annunciation. FYI 3: The “ultimate sacrifice” is Christ.
“Penelope,” maybe the point of writing this article was to make a splash, to irritate people and try to start arguments. Maybe it was to draw out the “confrontational Catholics,” to try and get good Catholics to say that you are wrong so that you can call them judgmental. Maybe you really do believe this. Really, it does not matter.
The point is, the article that was written was not researched, not validated and completely judgmental and offensive. This should have been thrown out in the editing process when no valid research was presented to back it up. Please see Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” for more information on the Church’s teachings on sexuality and sexual morality. If nothing else, there should be a published apology for slander.
Sarah MooreColumbus, Ohio
