Note: Parents, this article contains sexually explicit material unsuitable for children.

Herod's troops were about to launch a search and destroy mission for the Messiah. The very life of Jesus was at stake. God's warning to flee to Egypt came to St. Joseph, the head of the Holy Family, via a dream. God's plan for the salvation of the world hinged upon the decisive and instant obedience of this Hebrew carpenter. St. Joseph, the world's best model of fatherhood, rose to the occasion and put the protection of the child Jesus before his career, his home, his friends, and his temporal well-being. Fathers following in the footsteps of St. Joseph realize that the protection of their family is as important as providing for their family. As St. Joseph was "Guardian of the Redeemer" (title of John Paul II's 1989 encyclical on St. Joseph), so we need to be guardians of our families.

For families today, something far worse than Herod's troops threatens your children and mine. Herod's soldiers could only send the Holy Innocents to their graves. Now fathers need to protect their children against the forces which can corrupt a child and send his soul to hell. The stakes are high when our children's eternal destinies are the consequences. For some fathers, this article may be a midnight wake-up call.

The besetting sin of the twentieth century is sexual sin in all its forms. It is the door through which countless thousands have fallen away from the faith. The sexual revolution is the underlying cause for the continuing abortion holocaust. Once culturally accepted, sexual sin carries with it the power to darken entire societies.

Our generation has fallen into the abyss. The U.S. Senate's failure to override the partial-birth abortion veto is positive proof of our moral collapse. Any nation which lawfully permits such hideous infanticide has lost the most rudimentary foundations of civilization.

Our hope for the future rests upon our children's generation. Yet before we can rescue the future we need to rescue our children from that which disturbs and corrupts the period of innocence in their childhood. The danger comes in the form of classroom sex education widely promoted in Catholic classrooms.

Informed pro-lifers know that there is a long-standing connection between abortion and sex education. Alan Guttmacher was a former president of Planned Parenthood, the world's largest provider of abortion. He was asked by a reporter after the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision how he planned to keep abortion legal without a chance of seeing it reversed. Guttmacher's unforgettable answer was, "The answer to winning the battle for elective abortion once and for all is sex education."

Alan Guttmacher, like his predecessor Margaret Sanger, knew that abortion is the fruit of the sexual revolution. He realized that keeping abortion legal necessitated keeping the sexual revolution going. Planned Parenthood's plan for continuing the sexual revolution is sex education.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the atheist responsible for getting prayer banned from public schools said, "The issue of abortion is a red herring. Until it dawns on the combatants that the fight is over sex education, including information on birth control, the battle will continue..."(American Atheist, March 1988, cited in On Watch, January 1991).

My wife Karen and I will never forget the shock we experienced on Sunday evening October 6, 1990. As recent converts we were excited about our newly discovered Catholic faith. We enrolled our daughters in C.C.D. classes and were eager to see how the Church would help us teach them the faith. After the first class we reviewed the religious educational materials our daughters brought home. It is difficult to express the utter dismay we felt as we read our fourth grader's The New Creation Series sex education book. This is what we read:

"...At times the boy's penis may become erect. It becomes hard and stands out from his body. This erection [e REC shun] just happens. During puberty this may happen more often than before. The penis does not stay erect for more than a few minutes at one time. A boy is physically ready to become a father when his testicles produce sperm." (Changing and Becoming, Grade 4, The New Creation Series, Brown ROA Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa, p.12.)

Even though this book carried an Imprimatur it was not difficult with my pro-life background to see that it was a thinly-veiled Planned Parenthood type of curriculum. I removed my girls from the classes instantly. I could not entrust my children to teachers and programs that were playing into the heart of the pro-abortion strategy for passing on the sexual revolution to the next generation.

The letter justifying the introduction of this sex-ed program stated that the need for this program was due to the media's exposure of sexuality to children. Their reasoning was, "Since children have already been over-exposed to sex by the media we should expose them to classroom sex-ed." A much wiser statement comes from The Pontifical Council for the Family's new document: The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education within the Family, which says "...explicit and premature sex education can never be justified in the name of a prevailing secularized culture" [Section 143].

The parish using The New Creation Series replaced it with Valuing Your Sexuality, a program adapted in the mid-70's for the Catholic Church by Nancy Hennessy Cooney of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ms. Cooney also assisted in writing the textbook, Sex, Sexuality and You, which was used in a new type of sex-ed training for parents. During the sex-ed training (in a Catholic Church) using Ms. Cooney's guidelines, parents were asked to sit in a circle and discuss questions like the following:

(Childhood) Do you remember any sex play with other children?

What memories do you have of: Approaching adolescence? Wet dreams? Awareness of sexual feelings? Body development?

(Adulthood) Do you find yourself comfortable / uncomfortable in relating to friends who have made or are making different choices for lifestyle, sexual behavior, etc. that are different from your own?

With a little research I found that Ms. Cooney, the author of this "Catholic" small group sex babble, was one of the persons who signed the "solidarity ad" in the New York Times, on March 2, 1986, declaring that abortion could sometimes be a morally valid choice.

This blatant dissent from Catholic teaching was organized by Catholics for a Free Choice at a cost of more than $30,000. Catholics for a Free Choice is headed by Frances Kissling, a former abortion facilities administrator and past executive director of the National Abortion Federation. The ad claimed that there is no single legitimate Catholic position on abortion, and that Catholics who dissent from the Church's teaching remain in good standing as Catholics. To this public declaration Ms. Cooney proudly added her name.

If Ms. Cooney believes that "choice" can sometimes include killing innocent babies, then should she be trusted in helping children form decision-making skills regarding masturbation, homosexuality, and sexual relations outside of marriage?

It gets worse! Ms. Cooney served on the task force that wrote the USCC (United States Catholic Conference) sex education guidelines. Why would church officials invite a pro-abortion advocate to help devise sex education curricula?

One of the greatest ironies I have encountered in the Catholic Church is the fact that some of the most articulate pro-lifers are also ardent promoters of classroom sex education. Can't they see that they are playing directly into the hands of the enemies of life, the opponents of the faith, and the destroyers of moral purity in children?

There is an unnatural attachment to the sex education agenda among many Catholic educators and leaders. Even after the publication of The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality: Guidelines for Education within the Family pleas from Catholic parents go unheeded as sex education is pushed forward. It doesn't take five minutes to figure out that the Pontifical Council for the Family is urging that education in human sexuality be done by parents in the home. You do not have to read any more than the title to understand what the Vatican is urging.

Yet, in response to the issuing of this document, some prominent American church leaders have taken up a renewed emphasis on classroom sex education. It's puzzling to figure out how a person could get renewed inspiration to toot the horn for classroom sex education after reading this document. Yet this is exactly what is happening in some circles of American Catholic family life and sex education experts. Parents, be warned that this document is not stopping the crusade for classroom sex education.

Can morality in sexuality ever be legitimately taught in Catholic classrooms? Yes, but only in a specific way. For almost two thousand years sexual morality has been taught in the course of catechesis. Children and teens were taught the sixth commandment along with the other nine commandments. Yet the Catechism of the Council of Trent along with Pope Pius XI's encyclical on Christian Education urge caution, delicacy, and moderation in teaching the sixth commandment.

When you hear a claim that the Catholic Church approves of sex education just remember that the Vatican has only approved teaching sexual morality in the way described by Monsignor Caffarra, Director of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Rome: ...the Church, when educating children at the elementary and secondary school levels with regard to sexual morality, has constantly done so within the framework of the regular religion class, and has not attempted to isolate the teaching of sexual morality or 'chastity education' in separate programs not related to the other virtues (May 31, 1990).

The next time someone claims that we need some sex education, or chastity education program, simply reply that what we really need is to teach the new Catechism of the Catholic Church to our children.

The historically-proven method of teaching sexual morality is simply to teach the sixth commandment along with the other nine. Ditch the sex-ed and chastity programs and teach the third pillar of the new catechism. You will not only save tons of money by not purchasing these expensive programs, but you will save souls from over-exposure to sexuality and sexual immorality.

There is an inescapable reason why classroom sex education will result in moral failure. The act of spousal love within marriage is the most intimate and sacred of human relationships. Spousal love is inherently private. Classroom sex education makes public that which by its nature is private and intimate. To treat something sacred as though it were common is to profane it. Classroom sex education profanes the sacredness of married love. A subject needs to be taught in a manner consistent with its nature. Since spousal love is inherently private and intimate it needs to be taught that way. To do otherwise is to reinforce our culture's profaning the sacredness of marital love by continually dragging sex out before the public.

The new Catechism of the Catholic Church says: "Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden...Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love. It keeps silence or reserve where there is risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet." [Sections 2521 & 2522]

Well-intentioned preventative programs can have unintended effects by over-focusing on the subject. For instance, death/suicide prevention programs often result in higher suicide rates among teens who have gone through such programs. Why? The programs focus too much on a subject that should be dealt with in brevity and delicacy.

Another area in which discretion and modesty are abandoned is with the "funny" Catholic chastity videos and programs for teens. Humor is necessary in reaching teens, but not at the expense of the sacred mystery of the sexual union in marriage. Even some who would call themselves "conservative" Catholics have fallen headlong into this trap. The sexual union needs to be taught to youth with RESPECT, RESERVE, AND REVERENCE. Profanity is not just dirty cuss words. One of the ways the dictionary defines "profane" is that which is not sacred, but rather irreverent. "To profane" is to treat a sacred thing with irreverence or lack of respect. Some of the most popular Catholic chastity videos and presentations are sincere, but sincerely misguided. They are little more than humorous profanity.

"Human sexuality is a sacred mystery...Informed by Christian reverence and realism, this doctrinal principle must guide every moment of education for love. In an age when the mystery has been taken from human sexuality, parents must take care to avoid trivializing human sexuality, in their teaching and in the help offered by others [The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Section 122].

Ephesians 4:29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear. 5:3 But fornication and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is fitting among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness, nor silly talk, nor levity, which are not fitting; but instead let there be thanksgiving.

The dangers to your child from classroom sex education are unparalleled. "If the devil himself had wanted to infect mankind in the most harmful way, with the least amount of effort, inflicting the quickest yet longest-range and most permanent damage, he could not have chosen a better instrument than sexual immorality, nor a better method of introducing sexual immorality on the broadest scale than the present classroom Sex Education" [Sex Education: The Final Plague by Randy Engel, (TAN) page xv].

Just a little over six months after it published its document on sex education, the Pontifical Council for the Family released another important document entitled, "Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage." These new guidelines from the Vatican urge a remote, proximate, and immediate preparation for marriage. We are asking fathers to take remote preparation for the sake of their children's future marriages and the welfare of their grandchildren in those marriages.

The bottom line is that if you want to prepare your children for marriage tomorrow, then get them out of all sex education programs today. Do not under any circumstance allow sex education and chastity education programs to disturb or destroy your child's sense of modesty and sexual innocence. Permanent and irreversible damage can occur which will decrease your child's ability to enter and maintain a lifelong covenant of marriage.

Dad, you are called to be the protector and guardian of your family. Protect your children from classroom sex education at all costs! Don't just shift this responsibility to your wife. Never let your child be exposed to classroom sex education. You have the right and the duty to protect your children from anything deemed unsuitable by you.

I have never seen a sex education or chastity education program that I can remotely imagine Joseph or Mary using with Jesus, nor have I ever seen one that I would ever imagine using with my own children. St. Joseph would have given his life before allowing the boy Jesus to be exposed to classroom sex education. St. Joseph put the physical welfare of Jesus before even his job, his home, his friends, and his convenience. As fathers walking in the footsteps of the Guardian of the Redeemer, can we do any less when the eternal well-being of our children is at stake?