Sexual Science and the Catholic Church: Areas of Common Ground

Abstract

The fields of sexuality and Catholic theology are often seen in the public eye as polar opposites—and not from an unfounded base. While there are many topics the Catholic church and the field of sexology (the scientific study of sexuality) can disagree on, we rarely discuss the fundamental agreements between them. In the following text, I describe the evidence of agreement between Catholic teachings and sexual science on five main points: sexuality is integral to the human experience, consent is paramount, parents should be the primary educators of their children on matters of sexuality, sexuality education should be positive and developmentally appropriate, and that sexuality is an avenue for deep personal wounding. I summarize some of the calls for this collaboration, some functional barriers in addressing it, and suggest possible avenues for scholars to examine pertaining to sexual science and Catholic theology.

Keywords:

• Catholic
• sexuality
• catholicism
• sexuality studies
• sexology

Notes

1 While Catholic theology, magisterial tradition (official teaching), and Catholicism hold important nuanced differences in the field of theology, for the sake of this article and identifying commonalities, they will be grouped as a collective body.

2 While there exists a nuanced difference between sexology, sexuality scholarship, and sexuality education, for the sake of the article and identifying commonalities, the field will be interpreted as broadly inclusive of these.