Review: What the Church Teaches About Sex

What the Church Teaches About Sex- God's Plan for Human Happiness
By Robert L. Fastiggi Ph.D. (reviewed by Matthew Coffin)

Dr. Robert L. Fastiggi is professor of Systematic Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary. In What the Church Teaches About Sex – God’s Plan for Human Happiness, he draws on his experience as a theologian and educator to explain the Catholic Church’s teaching about human sexuality. Fastiggi begins by looking at St. Augustine, an admitted adulterer and exploiter of women, before he allowed divine grace to transform his heart. With God’s help Augustine went from sinner to saint.

Fastiggi uses Augustine’s struggle with chastity to show how openness to selfless love and prayer are powerful antidotes to sexual concupiscence. Our first parent’s original sin taints every human endeavor, but none more than conjugal love. Dr. Fastiggi argues the “sexual revolution,” far from liberating human beings, has left in its wake divided homes, broken families, and fractured lives. The greatest victims of this new sexual license are woman and children. Ironically, it is often in their name that abortion, contraception, and divorce is justified.

What the Church Teaches About Sex – God’s Plan for Human Happiness, is more than a refutation of contemporary values. It is a comprehensive yet readable presentation of the Church’s teaching on human sexuality. Dr. Fastiggi looks at the Church’s greatest thinkers, from Augustine to John Paul II, relevant encyclicals, and catecheses. What emerges is the remarkably consistent view the Catholic Church holds regarding sex.

For any Catholic who wants to know why the Church teaches what it does about marriage, homosexuality, divorce, abortion, contraception, and more, this book is a good place to start. A forward by Catholic bioethics scholar Janet E. Smith and an appendix summarizing Church documents relating to sexual morality compliment the text. Whether you are a devout Catholic or unsure, this book will enlighten you like few others. (Despite having taught and studied Catholic Theology, I learned from reading it and will recommend it to students. Parents, engaged couples and young people would benefit greatly.)