God often brings good out of evil. The responses to my post on the filthy sex-ed leaflet from NHS Sheffield threw up a good reply from Kidscape and now Stuart Cunliffe has put me onto Challenge Team UK which is a group of young volunteers who educate teenagers about healthy sexuality. Part of the strategy is to go into schools speaking from a common sense and health perspective, without any religious references. This is perfectly reasonable since we believe that everyone ought to be able to know and understand the natural moral law.The message of challenge Team UK is:
• Saving sex for marriage is a positive, realistic and healthy lifestyle.Although the message is not given with an explicitly Christian slant, the volunteers of Challenge Team UK are Christians. You can see Stuart's blog Diary of a WIP (WIP is a reference to his life which, as for all of us, is a "work in progress".) Christians give out food on the streets of our cities and this is a good witness to the imperative of charity for Christians. Teaching young people about saving sex for marriage is also an act of Christian charity.
• Saving sex for marriage is a lifestyle of sexual self-control and respect.
• Anyone can start over again and choose chastity, which basically means saving sex for marriage.
• There can be many negative physical and emotional consequences to teen sexual activity - unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and diseases, loss of self-respect, embarrassment, anxiety, regret, etc.
• Saving sex for marriage can bring freedom - from worry about health or pregnancy, to be respected for who you are, to plan your future, to enjoy healthy relationships, and more.
I'm sorry not to have heard of these good young people before. Say a prayer for their excellent work with teenagers.
UPDATE: Rachel in the combox has drawn attention to one important drawback in the material regarding civil unions at this page. Obviously, I would not endorse this in any way.
8 comments:
This is definitely one that I will present at our next School Governors meeting.
So far it's been a bit of a lone struggle to prevent the sordid sex-ed programmes constantly being pushed at our school and kids, from actually being taken on board the curriculum.
It's always a rear-guard action as school nurses, Connexions and others are always crawling in like cockroaches through the chinks in the armour!
It would be great to get Challenge Team UK to speak to our kids, and after that hopefully we'll have opened up a door to get Good Counsel Network and Family Life International to spend time with our kids and hopefully keep the devil from the door!
We can but PRAY!
This sounds brilliant, maybe you could help arrange for them to come to our secondary school or give me some details as to how I could arrange it?
I love the part where it says 'Anyone can start over again and choose chastity, which basically means saving sex for marriage'.
God always forgives but man only sometimes. Does that imply we think we are better than God?
This looks good on the surface, Fr Tim. I hate to put a damper on things which are "less worse" than what we are used to. However, although it seems like a great idea to have "Catholic" sex-ed programs in our schools, they are not in line with the guidance given in "The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality", the Vatican document which explains how "education in love" (which includes education in sexuality) should be carried out. There, we learn clearly that this kind of information should be given by the parent(s), as primary educators of their children and that the school can only assist with this role if the parents expressly ask for help. Also, this kind of information should never be given in groups, especially mixed gender groups.
Recalling St Francis de Sales' words on the subject of purity, even talking about avoiding impurity stimulates the mind to dwell on this subject, so there is no easy way to address this issue other than a delicate education between parent and child which is based on a deep knowledge of the child's maturity and character. Only the parent can know how to broach this important subject.
We need to be educating parents in how to teach their children.
Also, the very idea that you can deter growing adults from behaving unchastely by warning them of the negative consequences of this behaviour is flawed in principle. Chastity is a function of continence, an ordering of one's spiritual energy according to one's state in life. This is what needs to be taught, as a positive.
Thanks for your work for us all and God Bless you.
Rachel - Challenge Team UK is not Catholic, it is a Christian effort intended for schools generally. They are not promoting "sex education" but abstinence education, linked specifically to abstinence before marriage. They are not giving details of sexual activity etc. but talking to those who have reached adolescence and giving a positive view of marriage.
Fr Tim..I think you were right to post this & will look it after my retreat..we need all good people fighting the same difficulties..i got stuck in Catholics only...I know Antonia Tully works with the Muslims on various issues..
Tim, Jackie, I have no objection to working with anyone who is trying to give the truth to young people, whether they are Muslim, Christian or atheist. My point is that these materials are not in line with the standards the Church herself gives us for carrying out this important work. I had a look at the materials on the net and couldn't see how they can be reconciled with what the Church tells us is the truth in the area of "education in love". Please do let me know if I have somehow misunderstood the document "The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality". Please have a look at one page on the site: www.challengeteamuk.org/secedarticle.php, where the penultimate paragraph describes how gay and lesbian teenagers can also "save sex" until they want a civil union. Please explain to me how this is appropriate material for our lovely Catholic teenagers, or any other teenagers for that matter.
Rachel - thanks for your comment. Not having trawled through the whole site, I did not see that part about civil unions which is clearly contrary to Church teaching. But I do think that much of what they get across is good - and, significantly, better than many Catholic attempts at PSHE. We really do need a proper Catholic programme for PHSE which is fully in line with TMHS. I understand that the Diocese of Lancaster is producing something in co-operation with SPUC.
Since your comment draws attention to a serious error in the material, I'll update the post to draw attention to it.
I know I have found this a lettle late, but would like to thank you for your interest in Challenge Team UK. I understand your concerns about the SecEd article reference to civil unions and would like to point out that our presentation contains no references to sexual orientation at all (neither do we come at the topic from a religious standpoint, as we believe that it's not only 'Christian' teenagers who would benefit from a lifestyle of saving sex for marriage). We simply wanted to state in the article that we believe that ALL teenagers would benefit from saving sex. We present in many Catholic schools and can provide references from them if you were interested. Please do get in touch with us directly if you would like any further information.
Regards,
Challenge Team UK
info at challenge team uk dot org
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