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SEX-INSTRUCTION IN THE HOME
as to where they got their first knowledge of sex matters, and what effect this knowledge had on
them. It was found that if the knowledge came from a good source (parents, priests, nuns,
teachers), it had a good effect in 94 cases out of a hundred. But where the boys had been left
to find out for themselves (from other boys, magazines, the ' pictures'), the effect was harmful
in 75 cases out of a hundred.
So they need your help. Fr Vermeersch, in his world-famous book on Chastity, says: "We can
unhesitatingly affirm that there is occasion for sex-instruction, and the only serious question
that remains is the best manner and time for giving it."2
Whose duty is it?
It is the parents' duty.
"As regards the parental instruction of children in the matters concerned, we are convinced that
herein lies the chief cause and the remedy which is being sought. There is to-day a lamentable
decline in family education, due largely to an ever-increasing tendency on the part of the
parents deliberately to shirk their obvious duty" (The English Bishops in their Joint
Pastoral).3
"The bond established by nature between parent and child is so close that such an intimate and
sacred subject as discussion of sex is primarily a matter for parent and child" (The Scottish
Bishops).
It is your duty; and I hope to show you that the task is not beyond your powers.
What is its purpose?
What are we aiming to do for our children? Why is sex-instruction given?
'Its sole purpose should be to assist the formation of the virtue of purity' (The Scottish
Bishops).4 We must remember this when discussing methods of
sex-instruction, and,
2 A. Vermeersch, S.J., De Castitate, Rome, 1919, § 191.
3 April 1944, published by the Westminster Press.
4 Memorandum on Sex Education, published with the approval of the Bishop, of Scotland. This
Memorandum, and the Joint Pastoral of the English Bishops, are given as appendices in Sex
Enlightenment and the Catholic by J. Leycester King, S.J.
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