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The Splendor of the Human Person:
A Catholic Vision of the Person and Sexuality
I
t is essential that Catholics, particularly those working for the Church in par-
ishes and schools, as well as the young people to whom the Church ministers
in our parishes and schools, receive formation in the Church's teaching on the
human person and sexuality. Catholic parishes and schools exist to express the
mission of the Church to proclaim the Gospel, the Good News of salvation, and
to make disciples. Anyone coming to the Church has the right to receive the
truth of God's creation and revelation in its entirety. Christian sexual ethics
reflects important truths about the relationship between men and women, the
dignity of persons, and the value of love for men and women. As Catholics we
are called to live according to God's plan for life and love, including his plan
for human sexuality. We are called to prophetic witness, even as our culture
increasingly denies the truth and meaning of sexuality and indeed doubts the
possibility of moral truth altogether. Living according to this plan and witness-
ing to the truth and meaning of human sexuality should never be regarded as a
burden, but as an inspiring source of grace and hope.
The Church serves the human person by striving to bring God's compassion
to each person. God is a loving Father, and his love is shown first in the great
gift of creation. He has made human beings as a body-soul unity, with the soul
as the life of the body, what truly forms it as uniquely human. Human beings are
different from every other creature in the physical world in that we can under-
stand the truth of things and make free choices based upon this understanding.
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The Church's Vision of the Person
and Sexuality
