Just say ‘yes’
Chastity-education programs get a good response

By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Forget “just say no.”

The Respect Life Office of the Archdiocese of Chicago wants teens and young people to say yes—yes to chastity, that is.

“Chastity refers to taking action, to embracing purity of mind, body and spirit,” said Mary-Louise Kurey, Respect Life director, explaining the difference between “abstinence-based education” and chastity education. “Abstinence refers to not doing something. Chastity is all about doing something positive.”

In presentations around the archdiocese, Kurey tells junior high and high school students that chastity means respecting themselves enough not to do anything that will be harmful to them—including not just sex, but also drinking, illegal drugs and violence. And it means valuing themselves enough to demand that same respect from others.

“You are worth waiting for,” Kurey tells students. “And regardless of your past decisions, you can make a new beginning starting today.”

That’s significant when most teens who have been sexually active say they wish they had waited, according to a 2000 study from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

Other studies show that teens who are sexually active are more likely to engage in other risky behavior, such as alcohol and drug use, and that about a third of sexually active girls ages 15-19 said they were pressured or forced into sex.

 

In addition to presentations, the Respect Life Office offers schools two chastity curriculums from Project Reality. All the materials are at low or no cost.

“Game Plan” is aimed at students in grades 7-9, while Navigator serves high school students.

Kevin Gallmeier brought Navigator to St. Joseph High School in Westchester last year, when he was dean of the social studies division. Teachers used the curriculum in conjunction with other units in their religion classes, and Kurey kicked off the chastity education message by speaking to the all-boys school’s student body.

“They really respected her message,” said Gallmeier, who now serves as a faculty supervisor for evaluations and curriculum development. “They responded well.”

Students found the stories and activities in the Navigator curriculum to be relevant to their lives, and the small-group work provided peer reinforcement for good decision-making, Gallmeier said.

The message mirrors that taught in morality and sexuality units of religion classes at the Christian Brothers school, and reinforces the work of Students Against Destructive Decisions, a student group, he said.

Springfield Dominican Sister Teresa Marron, director of campus ministry at Marian Catholic High School, said Kurey’s presentation to juniors there also struck a nerve.

Marian Catholic also brings in pastor Steve Troglio to talk to its freshmen and sophomores about choosing not to have sex or engage in other risky behavior, she said, and the messages are reinforced as upperclass students at the coed school go through the Kairos retreat program.

“You have to start early and keep reinforcing that message,” she said.

Kurey has been an advocate for chastity since she participated in the Miss America Pageant program, in which she reigned as Miss Wisconsin in 1999. After seeing the fallout from friends’ bad sexual decisions, she took chastity education as her cause. Before coming to the Archdiocese of Chicago, she had spoken to more than 150,000 young people about chastity.

“There was a true need for this,” she said. “They were hungry for it. There’s a new sexual revolution sweeping the country—a chastity revolution—and it’s exciting.”

But when she became Respect Life director almost two years ago, she found that the archdiocese was providing few chastity education resources for its schools and parishes. She set about changing that.

The result was 91 presentations during the last school year at 42 Catholic schools and 16 parishes, youth ministry or religious education programs. Sixty-five elementary and high schools sent teachers for training in the Game Plan and Navigator curricula.

“For some schools, maybe all they can offer is one speaker a year,” Kurey said. “Others need the curriculum. We offer it all, and all at a very low cost.”

Now the archdiocese is home to one of the most comprehensive diocesan chastity education initiatives in the United States, she said.

For St. Joseph High School’s Gallmeier, it only makes sense for the church to take the lead on the issue.

“This message about respecting yourself, it’s exactly what the Catholic Church teaches,” he said.

 

For more information about chastity education, call the Respect Life Office at (312) 751-5355.