Morality & Chastity Curriculum

Faith and Morals

  1. Students will learn some "signs" of God's presence in the world.
  2. Students will learn God always loves us, even though we do not always do what is right and good.
  3. Students will learn God has given marriage two main purposes: (1) to help a husband and wife grow in love and help each other get to heaven, and (2) to bring children into the world to know, love, and serve God in this world and the next. (CCC 1601 ff)
  4. Students will learn chastity is the virtue which ensures that our thoughts, words, and actions correspond to God's plan.
  5. Students will learn we should respect ourselves because God has created us in His image, made us His children, and sent His Son to die out of love for us.
  6. Students will learn that at Baptism, the Holy Spirit came into our hearts in a special way. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and we must treat them with respect.
  7. Students will learn we have the right and responsibility to insist that other people treat our bodies with respect as our Maker does.
  8. Students will learn modesty is a virtue. This means dressing, speaking, and acting in a way that helps other people avoid attitudes and actions that do not respect God's plan for sexuality.
  9. Students will learn Christ has given us the Church to help us become the loving people God wants us to be. The teaching of the Church tells us what attitudes and actions are loving and unloving. The Sacraments give us the grace to do what is loving and to avoid what is unloving.
  10. Students will learn that the Word of God, personal prayer, and active participation in the Sacraments are sources of grace which give us the strength to respect the gift of sexuality as God intends.
  11. Students will learn that sin is a refusal to accept God's grace. When we knowingly choose to misuse God's gift of sexuality, we sin and must ask His forgiveness.
  12. Students will learn that there is a difference between temptation and sin and that we have a serious responsibility to avoid sin and temptation.
  13. Students will learn that the Sacrament of Reconciliation strengthens our ability to resist temptation and helps us to grow in love of God and one another. (CCC 1422 ff)
  14. Students will learn that the Eucharist is the greatest sign of God's love for all men and women and gives us the grace to live chastely. (CCC 1322 ff)
  15. Students will learn there are moral norms which are absolute, that is, which bind in every case and on all people. (CCC 1954 ff)
  16. Students will review what conscience is, how to examine one's conscience, and the role of the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Christian life. (CCC 1422 ff)
  17. Students will learn every human life, even if a person is sick and suffering, is always a marvelous gift of God's goodness.
  18. Students will learn caring for the sick and suffering is a special way to show our love of God and His beloved creatures.
  19. Students will learn taking one's own life (suicide or assisted suicide) is always against God's law. It is a violation of the 5th Commandment.
  20. Students will learn human life must be protected and nurtured from the first moment of conception, when the soul is created, until the moment of a natural death, when the soul leaves the body. (CCC 2270; 2276 ff)
  21. Students will learn induced abortion is the intentional killing of an innocent human person and is a grave sin against God. It is a violation of the 5th Commandment. (CCC 2270-2275)
  22. Students will learn abortion is never the right decision to make when a woman is faced with a difficult or unwanted pregnancy.
  23. Students will learn there are many spiritual, physical and emotional consequences to abortion.
  24. Students will learn that the moral law is always superior to the law of the land.
  25. Students will learn that adoption is a loving decision for the birth parents, the child, and the adoptive parents.
  26. Students will learn that as Christians we are called to show compassion towards all who are sick and suffering.
  27. Students will learn about examples from the lives of Jesus, Mary and the saints related to family life and chastity.
  28. Students will know the reason for gender-separated classes for some topics.

Personal, Health, and Safety

  1. Students will learn substance abuse (e.g., alcohol, drugs, inhalants, nicotine, food, etc.) has a negative and destructive effect on the spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional well being of the individual, the family and society. A "no use" approach will be taught.
  2. Students will learn God has designed the human body with a marvelous immune system to protect itself from infection and disease.

Character, Family and Social

  1. Students will learn the characteristics of human persons, e.g., spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical, ethical, social.
  2. Students will be encouraged to investigate their own family's history and traditions.
  3. Students will learn the importance of following established family rules for activities with friends.
  4. Students will learn marriage is a life-long commitment of love and fidelity and that the physical union of the husband and wife is a sign of the sacred love between them, and of their mutual self-giving partnership. It is also the way that God brings children into the world. (CCC 1601 ff; 1646 ff)
  5. Students will learn that according to God's plan, a family results from the love and commitment of a husband and wife. (CCC 2202)
  6. Students will recognize that according to God's plan, children are to be raised in a loving family unit consisting of a father, a mother and the child/children and that everyone should strive to reach and maintain this ideal plan of God’s (CCC 2202). At the same time, students will recognize that it is sometimes necessary for children to be raised by grandparents, single parents, or others, and that these people make great sacrifices to raise the children in difficult circumstances.
  7. Students will learn ways to increase communication with parents and to contribute to family well-being.
  8. Students will learn their family is an important part of their Church and will be encouraged to provide service to that Church.
  9. Students will learn their family is an important part of the local community and will be encouraged to provide service to that community.
  10. Students will identify what makes a good friendship and the importance of including others in their group.
  11. Students will learn the importance of making good short- and long-term decisions.
  12. Students will learn what true friendship is and how friends can help one another (positive peer pressure).
  13. Students will learn the elements of self-worth, fairness and justice, caring and compassion, social responsibility, personal integrity, fidelity, pursuit of excellence, and appropriate expression of rights and responsibilities.
  14. Students will learn practical applications of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance) and the theological virtues (faith, hope, charity). (CCC 1805, 1813)