Over two years ago, I wrote about my experience teaching a Catholic holistic sexuality class for young adults. The article is still making its rounds on Substack, and several comments and messages from readers has prompted me to do a follow-up series, detailing what I actually teach in the class.
My husband and I have now taught this class three times, in separate groups of men and women. Because I only teach the women, I will mostly be expanding on that side of things. However, a lot of the lectures and resources are used by the men as well, but the discussions may be framed in a slightly different way. Also, each iteration of the course has been slightly different as I continue to educate myself on human physiology, moral theology and the spirituality of femininity. I will be sharing the outline of the most recent course that we finished in May 2026, and will include the free resources that I use. The hope is to expand next year to a wider audience, both by giving the class in collaboration with our local diocese here in Manitoba, and perhaps by having a Zoom option. Exciting for all of us that believe that (Catholic) body literacy should be easily accessible!
To note, the syllabus and course are designed by me, but some resources such as worksheets, articles and diagrams have been borrowed from a variety of places.
Introduction from the syllabus:
This course focuses on examining the experience of sexuality through the lens of Church teaching. Beginning with the physical and practical, young people can then integrate the intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual aspects of their person and mature into fully integrated human beings. Reading from a variety of sources will be used to help students engage and dialogue with their own experiences, and to critique the mainstream culture’s approach to sexuality.
Who is this course for?
Older teenagers (mature 16+), and young adults are the main audience. However, I have taught it twice now with mothers attending with their teenagers/young adult children. I personally thinking any adult could benefit from what is discussed!
Course materials:
The only textbook required is Women, Sex and the Church: A Case for Catholic Teaching, edited by Erika Bachiochi. Every class is about two hours, and includes a guided book discussion for whatever chapter and articles have been assigned, followed by a lecture. I don’t generally give assignments beyond the readings; however, the first time I taught it I required that attendees and in a two page reflection paper highlighting what they had gotten from the course. This was more for their benefit then mine, and I have switched just to ending the last class with some journaling/group sharing time.
*The Introduction and Chapter One of Women, Sex and the Church should be read before this class.
For this opening class, I begin with a discussion of what we mean by holistic sexuality. It begins with the foundational understanding that we are a body and soul unity. In the words of St. John Paul the Great, “The body, in fact, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden from time immemorial in God, and thus to be a sign of it.” Our bodies are created good by God, and so by understanding our bodies better, we can learn who we are and what we are called to be.
Why do we use the word holistic? Holistic means we are striving to have an understanding of our sexuality that includes all aspects of the person. The goal is to have all aspects (social, emotional, physical, spiritual and intellectual) integrated in a balanced way. If one aspect is emphasized more than the others either within ourselves or in a relationship, this shows a lack of integration. Too often sexuality is limited to just the act of sexual intercourse, but it is so much more than that. So, the goal of this course is explore our sexuality, looking at all the points of the “star” equally.
We then turn to the book discussion. I won’t expand too much on what is written in the chapters, because hopefully you are inspired to read the book yourself. The introduction generally makes an argument for why the Church’s teachings are pro-woman, and chapter one gives a vision for authentic freedom vs. license within sexuality.
The lecture for this class is more of an interactive exercise, one that I find quite illuminating (and the students have told me it is for them as well!).
I simply give a un-labelled worksheet of external and internal female reproductive anatomy, and ask them to label the parts that they know. Usually the score is about 4/12. It is wild to see how little women know of their own bodies (and I include myself in this craziness!!) We then go over in detail the correct labelling, and the definitions of the different organs and parts. Usually, there is a lot of nervous giggles as I reassure everyone that our bodies ARE good and there is nothing shameful in discussing them within a safe context.
DISCLAIMER - images are accurate illustrations, not meant for young eyes.
Internal reproductive worksheet
External reproductive worksheet
And after taking any questions, the first class concludes.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
I look forward to sharing more with you because the truth about our sexuality shouldn’t be hard to find!
On another note, my book “Rediscovering Rest: A Thirty Day Devotional” is now available. Available at rediscoveringrest.ca - shipping to Canada and USA!
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