Sexuality refers to a fundamental component of personality in and through which we, as sexual beings, experience our relatedness to self, others, the world and God. Sexuality involves the whole person. Education in sexuality is not to be limited to talking about sexual intercourse, to sexual attraction, or to 'the flesh'. Sexuality is a powerful force for emotional and spiritual union housed in the physical body. A wholistic understanding of human sexuality flows from the idea that human beings are created in the image of God, the Imago Dei, as unique individuals who are loved and called by God. Living wholeheartedly looks to the integration of the multiple dimensions of the human person, including one's sexuality, in a way that contributes to one's own flourishing and the flourishing of the community. There is a sense in which sexuality is identifiable with the principle of life itself. Here, sexuality is associated with our drive for love, communion, community, friendship, family, affection, wholeness, consummation, creativity, self-perpetuation, immortality, joy, delight, humour, and self-transcendence. It is about overcoming separateness by giving life and blessing it (Rolheiser, 1999 pp. 195, 198). Sexuality, when fully embraced as a gift, touches all aspects of the human person and manifests its deepest meaning in leading the person to the gift of self in love (John Paul II, 1981).

Sexuality must be grounded in respect for the power of sexuality to either enrich or diminish life. While sexuality is good and central to the unity of body, mind and spirit, sexuality can also be distorted and misused. The human sexual condition includes sexual abuse, sexual torture and sexual exploitation of the vulnerable by the strong (Callahan, 2007 p. 79). The results of fractured sexual relationships are often experienced as terrible heartaches, family breakups, and violence (Rolheiser, 1994 p. 199). Sexuality in the context and conviction of the Christian vision is situated within loving and just relationships and the enhancement of the human vocation. On the basis of a positive vision of sexuality, we can approach the entire subject with a healthy realism. It is, after all, a fact that sex often becomes depersonalised and unhealthy; as a result, 'it becomes the occasion and instrument for self-assertion and the selfish satisfaction of personal desires and instincts'. In our own day, sexuality risks being poisoned by the mentality of 'use and discard'. The body of the other is often viewed as an object to be used as long as it offers satisfaction, and rejected once it is no longer appealing. Can we really ignore or overlook the continuing forms of domination, arrogance, abuse, sexual perversion and violence that are the product of a warped understanding of sexuality? Or the fact that the dignity of others and our human vocation to love thus end up being less important than an obscure need to 'find oneself'? (Pope Francis, 2016 Amoris Laetitia)

From a Catholic perspective, marriage is a permanent and exclusive commitment between a man and a woman, who freely give themselves to each other in love and in so doing commit themselves to love and care for any children that may arise from their mutual love. Commitment, intimacy and passion vitalize and nurture covenanted love (Genovesi, 1996). Sexual intimacy is a sign of fully committed love. Outside the context of marriage, genital intimacy, however well intended, is not an expression of total self-giving. Marriage is also a public commitment. The two partners freely choose to enter into this partnership, this covenant. They say 'yes' to each other, to being there for each other and to working together to make God's creative love present in the world. They do this through their active participation in the community as committed partners and through bringing about new life through sexual intercourse. The Catholic perspective on marriage is that it should be treated as something permanent and exclusive in which divorce and extra-marital affairs have no place. Public commitment to a permanent and exclusive partnership of mutual co-operation and self-giving love provides the institutional and community basis for the trust necessary for the married couple to truly open themselves to each other. They are able to give themselves wholly to each other in the knowledge that there is a community who will support them in their decision when times are hard and assist them in the raising of their children.

Marriage is also a Sacrament. In a unique way marriage makes Christ visible in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Second Vatican Council's 1965 Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, explains it like this: For as God of old made Himself present to His people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the Spouse of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf, the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal. Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church, so that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and may aid and strengthen them in sublime office of being a father or a mother. For this reason Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this sacrament, as spouses fulfil their conjugal and family obligation, they are penetrated with the spirit of Christ, which suffuses their whole lives with faith, hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance the perfection of their own personalities, as well as their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God (Gaudium et Spes, para. 48).

In light of this ideal of marriage the separation of a married couple is always seen as something undesirable. People who have been through such a separation know from experience how undesirable separation is. No one should enter into marriage expecting its break down and the consequent separation of the couple. Indeed, thinking like that may even call the validity of the marriage into question. Most people, when they get married, really do believe, or at least hope, that they will live with and love each other for the rest of their lives. This is why, when, for many reasons, things don't work out it is regarded as tragic. Of course, at the time of separation, the separation may indeed be desired and necessary as in cases of domestic violence or infidelity. The Catholic perspective, whilst upholding the ideal on the one hand, nonetheless accepts human failings on the other. In such cases, where, despite support of the community separation is necessary, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: 'If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.' (CCC Article 2383)

Some couples will find that they are unable to bear children. The moral validity of sexual intercourse and of their marriage is not affected by this. The Catholic perspective does not require every act of sexual intercourse to be generative and to result in the conception of a child.(see the section on Natural Family Planning below). Rather the Catholic perspective maintains that the full meaningfulness and moral goodness of sexual intercourse is achieved when it is open to procreation and the joyful acceptance of any children that may result. The Catholic perspective emphasises the full gift of oneself to the other. Such children as may be generated are not 'made' by the couple, but are received by them as a gift. Moreover, this generativity that flows from sexual intercourse can also be understood figuratively. Drawing upon foundation to which the unitive dimension contributes the couple can also be generative and generous in their dealings with the world around them.

Genital Sexual intercourse between a man and a woman has the potential to realise two good things, the unity of the couple and new life. And these two things cannot be separated from each other without diminishing the goodness of sexual intercourse. That is why the best place for sexual intercourse to occur is in the context of marriage. First, genital sexual intercourse is good because it is unitive. The two people grow closer together and become more unified through the extremely intimate act of penetration and ejaculation in the vagina. Sexual intercourse in this sense is not about selfish pleasure but about the complete gift of oneself to the other. Two become one, become unified as one flesh, one mind, and in a certain sense, one spirit. The act of genital sexual intercourse is the culmination and a sign of the trust and love that the two have for each other and their commitment to the idea that God wants a woman and a man to be partners in life, to grow together. Through sexual intercourse the bond of self-giving mutual commitment to each other is renewed and strengthened. But this unitive dimension must also be generative if it to be truly unitive, self-giving, committed, trusting, open to new life and conformed to God's will for humanity and for the couple themselves. Second, genital sexual intercourse is good because it is generative. Put simply, genital sexual intercourse brings about new life. But the meaning given to sexual intercourse in the Catholic perspective is deeper than simple procreation. Clearly, if any two fertile people have sexual intercourse a child could result. The Catholic perspective, however, holds that sex simply for the sake of producing children does not adequately represent God's intended purpose for sexual intercourse because it does not take the unitive dimension into account. The unitive dimension of sexual intercourse emphasises the importance that sex has for humans not merely as a means of reproduction but as a means for fostering loving, trusting and committed relationships that are best suited to raise children. Put simply, a loving committed couple (unitive dimension) is better able to provide a stable and loving environment to raise children (the generative dimension). Moreover, the generative or creative dimension is not limited simply to the biological production of new human beings. Two people who love each other unconditionally and who foster that love through the unitive act of self-giving sexual intercourse are more likely to be open, inclusive and loving towards others. Such a couple are more likely to be committed to working for the good of the community since they are able to rely on the strength that comes from being supported by a loving, trusting, and committed partner.