Sexuality education (Catholic anthropology) is holistic (mind, body, and spirit) and empowers us to protect our health and well-being through recognizing that we are made in God’s image and likeness. (Gen 1:27)
What does it mean to be “made in God’s image and likeness?” It means that we are created out of love and for love, to love and to be loved, not just spiritually but with the minds and bodies that we’ve been given. Becoming who we are means to be in right relationship with God, with ourselves, and with each other. How we use our bodies to be in right relationship with others is what holistic formation in the human person and sexuality is all about.
It is the responsibility of all of us to help form our children in the proper use of their bodies and minds in order to authentically receive and share God’s love. As in all things, parents are the primary educators of their children, so these resources are naturally geared towards them with the understanding that schools and parishes are called to support and supplement the parental roles in human/faith formation.
Teen STAR™ is a developmental curriculum, founded by Hanna Klaus, MD (Sr. Miriam Paul , MMS), that helps adolescents and young adults come to terms with their emerging sexuality and fertility and assist them in making responsible decisions. Beginning with the physical, the young person can then integrate their intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of their persona and mature into a fully integrated human being.
LoveEd helps families, parishes and schools empower parents to teach both the theology and science of human sexuality within the context of God’s plan for love and life. It helps young people discover the beauty and the purpose of their sexuality, which is fully articulated in Catholic teaching. LoveEd doesn’t just teach the facts of life, but the meaning of life. At a time when young people are asserting their independence, LoveEd gives parents the knowledge and support they need to discuss what is often (but doesn’t have to be!) an uncomfortable topic and helps parents and their kids develop closer relationships.
Ruah Woods Institute’s K-12 foundational curriculum equips teachers and parents with church approved tools for forming boys and girls in their God-given identity. REVEALED/ROOTED brings to life Pope St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body in the context of our modern world. Through this curriculum, children gain an understanding of who God is, who they are as image-bearers of God, male or female, and how they fit into the world.
The Body Matters, based on St. John Paul’s life-affirming Theology of the Body (TOB), is a teaching tool intended to assist primary educators (parents) in forming their children, and to be inserted into already-existing curricula at Catholic schools and parish faith formation programs. The Body Matters program aims to restore a right understanding of the dignity of the human person and to form families and their children in the truths of the Catholic Faith, precisely through a deeper understanding of the human BODY.
A first period course that prepares daughters AND mothers for the start of menstrual cycles with science, values, and the dignity of women in mind. Recommended for ages 9-11.
In an age of “selfies” and egocentrism, YOU cuts through the noise to present an authentic view of the human person. YOU. Life, Love, and the Theology of the Body introduces teens to the truth that life is not, in fact, all about them; it is about going out of themselves to be a sincere gift for others.
Benziger’s Family Life curriculum guides children, parents, teachers, and catechists to integrate five themes into Catholic family living: God’s gifts of family, self, life, love, and community. It presents the teachings of the Church with clarity and offers support for Catholic families.
The L.I.F.E program is a series of downloadable lesson packages offering relationship education and safe environment training for children and adolescents with their parents. All aspects of the program are designed to encourage parent-child conversations about Love, Infatuation, Friendship, and Exploitation – as the individual child is experiencing them now, at this stage of his or her personal development.
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