Chastity and the Council

Those well acquainted with the history of the Second Vatican Council know that the Council fathers threw out the magnificent work of the Preparatory Commissions, which were headed mainly by members of the Roman Curia. I have been reading through the reports issued by the Vatican Council Press Service and published in L'Osservatore Romano on the discussions of the Central Preparatory Commission.

May, 1962
"The Commission then examined a schema of constitution presented by Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani, president of the Theological Commission, on the esteem of virginity and chastity, on the dignity of marriage and family duties."

The report then summarizes the contents of the discussion, from which I quote:

The matter in question is not only perpetual virginity but also that complete chastity which must be practiced by youth before marriage and by those who live for one motive or another outside of marriage. Speaking to doctors in 1948, Pius XII said: "The principle is inviolable. God alone is master of life and of the integrity of man, of his members, his organs, and his potencies, especially those which associate him with his creative work."

It is true that according to certain theories it would be almost impossible for young people - especially in today's world - to practice purity. These theories are inadmissible by the Church, which affirmed again in Pius XII's words: "We declare today to educators and to youth itself that the divine commandment of purity of soul and body holds without weakening for present day youth. It also has the moral obligation and, with the help of grace, the possibility of keeping itself pure."

Modern life, without doubt, multiplies invitations to evil by such distractions as beauty contests, spectacles, billboards, songs, illustrated magazines, beaches, places of vacation, promiscuity, and certain forms of sport. This is why the Church never ceases to recall to each one the principles of prudence, conscience, and responsibility, and the rights and duties of liberty, and the obligation of vigilance and precaution on the part of parents, educators, and civil authorities. This is also why the Church points out as dangerous and condemns as erroneous all theories that are then translated into practice concerning the cult of movie stars, naturalism, the so-called sexual education, pansexualism, and certain injurious aspects of psychoanalysis.

Something got lost on the Council floor, eh?

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