Somewhere, about ten years ago, just as Pope Francis was getting into “synodality,” I remember hearing an author say that if the pontiff was looking for a truly relevant but countercultural theme for a synod, “chastity” was the one.  

I think the idea came from George Weigel, but I’ve never been able subsequently to track it down. It’s one of those things you regret not having saved when you had it. But the idea remains true.

No small number of contemporary problems, big and small, are related to chastity and its contemporary lack. At the same time, one can imagine the level of global derision the pope would have faced had he actually picked this very pastorally salient topic for a synod.

Which makes Sophia’s recent book—Fr. T.G. Morrow’s Achieving Chastity in an Unchaste World—all the more germane.  

Chastity has always been a challenge for human beings because we are bodily beings. Sensory impressions are powerful on bodily-spiritual creatures. And even the devil doesn’t work harder than he has to: why go through the effort—at least at the start—of tempting people to purely spiritual sins when the flesh offers easy entrée?

Our immediate times offer two avenues by which unchastity gains powerful access to people: pornography and masturbation. Pornography is ubiquitous today. Where once one had to search furtively for it in adult bookstores and the backs of magazine racks, today it is universally available from every computer and phone. Masturbation, which typically accompanies pornography and is arguably the doorway to other sexual sins (because it is usually a person’s first dissociation of the procreative and unitive ends of sex in favor of pleasure) isn’t even talked about.  Masturbation, which accompanies pornography and is arguably the doorway to other sexual sins (because it is usually a person’s first dissociation of the procreative and unitive ends of sex in favor of pleasure) isn’t even talked about.Tweet This

Doubt it? This December marks the 50th anniversary of Persona Humana, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s “Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics.” It deals with masturbation, fornication, and homosexual acts. Just watch to see how much it’s remembered—or even mentioned!

Making the case for chastity requires understanding just what chastity is and why it is important. Here it is apparent just how much author T.G. Morrow follows Pope St. John Paul II, especially his pre-papal work Love and Responsibility. That’s no surprise—Fr. Morrow, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, is a graduate of the Pope John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. Chastity has been getting a bum rap for almost 60 years: way back in Love and Responsibility, John Paul wrote that chastity is primarily framed negatively—what it’s against—rather than positively, what chastity is for.

Chastity, the late pontiff insisted, is not primarily a “no.” It is not pretending that people are not attractive even on the bodily level, that people don’t have sexual value. They do. The problem is when their value is reduced to, simply leveled with, their sexual value. When people cease being persons and become only sources of physical attraction and/or emotional appeal, that’s where the problem begins: a one-dimensional view of the person. 

It’s against such a one-dimensional perception for which chastity as a virtue exists. Chastity does not demonize sex. Neither, however, does it apotheosize it.

Morrow has penned a very practical and fast-paced book that tackles a lot of the issues younger people are facing in the areas of sex, dating, and courtship. In eleven chapters, he explains why chastity matters; how it can be acquired (without mincing words); what help—natural (including counseling) and supernatural (the sacraments and prayer) are available; the importance of a clean mind and heart to sustained persistence in chastity; extramarital sins (like masturbation and fornication) and why they’re wrong; what is chastity in courtship; what is chastity in marriage; and the broader social implications of chastity and unchastity.

This book moves along. It talks about things that are practical questions for young people in the dating years but about which few clergy talk: looks, kisses, the roles of men and women in guarding each other’s chastity. He’s frank but orthodox about the problems of premarital cohabitation. He does not “accompany” homosexuals to occasions of sin but speaks bluntly about the need of avoiding them, including through support groups like Courage.

He is realistic about taking the time before jumping into marriage to know with reasonable surety that this union would make sense. And he’s not unaware of modern trends when he talks about solid online Catholic dating sites while recommending a role for parishes in bringing people together.

He also recognizes that people first need to get their own lives in order: chastity will be under assault if, outside of one’s job, one doesn’t have much of a life. 

Having worked with scores of people struggling with sexual addiction over the years, I have found one pattern which seems to emerge over and over again: boredom with life. Most people in this predicament worked at their jobs daily but had rather mundane lives evenings and weekends. They had few or no enjoyable activities in their lives on a regular basis. I had to urge them to plan some fun every week. (p. 59) 

In a world that complains about loneliness, that’s practical advice!

Pope St. John Paul II bequeathed the Church a rich yet modern view of Catholic sexual ethics, both in his pre-papal writings as well as in his papal “theology of the body.” They were the fruit of years of engagement with young people, both in his university work and as a parish priest and bishop. Fr. Morrow has distilled solid extracts of that work into this handy book. It’s a good book to put in the hands of young people. Priests, catechists, and parents should see that happens.  

Because, whether it makes the topic of a synodal session or not, sex and chastity remain abiding concerns in people’s lives across generations—and they are sorely needed topics for Christian discussion today.