Great Books about Sexual Education and Theology of the Body for Catholic Parents

As a Theology major, I had the joy of taking classes focused on reading and studying John Paul II’s Theology of the Body at Christendom College. Approaching sexual education as a Catholic parent can be a daunting task. Here are some of my favorite resources to help you introduce sexual morality and education to your children in light of Theology of the Body.

From introducing basic concepts about human dignity, the body as a gift, and the value of life to tricky questions about contraceptive mentality and transgenderism, these books have answers! Feel educated and empowered to prepare your child to face questions of sexual morality in this fallen world!

Books for Parents to Read with Kids

Angel in the Waters is a lovely story about an unborn baby’s experience in the womb and experiencing the world for the first time. A great introduction to fetal development and sanctity of life for very little ones.

Book cover "God Made all of Me"

God Made All of Me is a well-done and age-appropriate approach to teaching children basic body safety. It focuses on the inherent goodness of the body, appropriate and inappropriate ways of touching the body, and how to ask for help if someone makes you uncomfortable. We read this with our children starting around age 3.

***Warning: the first two pages, before the story proper begins, are a list of sexual assault statistics that could disturb young readers. Cutting or gluing together these pages easily solves this problem.

Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr. sets up your sons (and daughters) to understand and avoid the dangers of pornography. Without becoming inappropriately graphic in the least, this phenomenal picture book introduces the concept that some pictures and videos are bad. It helps your children learn an action plan involving telling a parent if they are ever exposed to pornography. We use this beginning at age 5.

Good Pictures Bad Pictures is a more advanced porn-proofing book aimed at 8-12 year olds. This book is intended for parent and child to use and discuss together. It includes a story, discussion questions, and strategies to deal with potential porn exposure.

Wonderfully Made! Babies is an absolutely awesome Theology of the Body based approach to teaching exactly where babies come from and why. The why is so important! This book uses medically correct language to explain biological differences and sex, but also dives into why God designed sex to be so good, why marriage is a necessity, and why babies are amazing!

Books for Parents about Talking with Kids about Sex

Beyond the Birds and the Bees is a Catholic psychologist’s advice on what to say to your kids and when! The book is handily divided into chapters by age so it can easily be referenced over the years for age-appropriate discussion topics and information.

Made This Way is probably my favorite book on this list. Leila Miller and Trent Horn take a brilliant natural-law-heavy approach in this book. As a mom and grandma, Leila recognizes that teens in our culture need more than simple do’s and don’t’s when it comes to sexual ethics. So in this book, she provides:

1. The Church’s teaching on a moral issue such as homosexuality, transgenderism, pornography, contraception, divorce, etc.

2. Discussion points from the natural law to use in forming younger children on the topic.

3. Natural law, common sense, and research-based explanations for teens on the why of each issue.

Books about Sexual Morality and Theology of the Body for Adults

Three to Get Married by Fulton Sheen is my favorite book to give to newly engaged or married couples. With his typical clarity, Sheen explains God’s irreplaceable role in marriage. A thought-provoking book on the meaning and beauty of marriage, children, and human love.

Man, Woman, and the Meaning of Love and other titles by Dietrich Von Hildebrand are a great option if you are looking for a more succinct yet still highly insightful and philosophical look at God’s plan for marriage and love.

Alice Von Hildebrand, like her husband, wrote brilliant and eloquent books about marriage, sexuality, and human nature. In Man & Woman: A Divine Invention, Von Hildebrand explores the intrinsic complimentary of men and women, God’s design for them, and how sin destroyed this perfect harmony.

Going to the source is best! If you are looking for a challenging and life-changing book to read, consider undertaking St. John Paul II’s masterwork Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body.

Not quite ready to take on the nearly 800 pages of Man and Woman He Created Them? Try Love and Responsibility, St. John Paul II’s precursor which contains many of the same themes about understanding the human person as a whole in a more manageable length book.

William May is a respected moral theologian with a plethora of interesting works on marriage and life ethics. Marriage The Rock On Which The Family Is Built is his explanation of the importance of marriage and family in the context of society. He draws on the writings of Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.

With his customary brilliance, Fr. Michael Schmitz takes on the tricky question of navigating same-sex attraction in yourself or someone close to you. Made for Love is a concise, thorough guide to the correct Catholic response to homosexuality.

Edith Stein’s life is the stuff of a fascinating drama. Her journey from being Jewish to atheist to Catholic is captivating enough, but this great saint had a formidable intellect and was a respected writer. And she also became a nun. And also died in a Nazi death camp. Her writings are a great resource if you want to explore the nature and vocation of women in depth with your daughters.

Programs to Teach Theology of the Body to Kids and Teens

Ruah Woods Press offers a comprehensive K-12 Theology of the Body program. I appreciate the literature-based approach in the lower levels.

Theology of the Body Evangelization Team: TOBET

TOBET provides a great assortment of books geared for K-12 that reinforce the basic concepts of Theology of the Body such as: the goodness of the body, the purpose of the body, male and female differences, etc.

Ascension Press has a DVD/parental discussion guide/student workbook combination package to introduce Theology of the Body to teens. They have a special edition just for middle schoolers also.

Looking for more great books? Check out my book lists!

Review of “The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature”


What is the real magic in fairy tales? Why are they timeless and what do they teach us? Literature professor Mitchell Kalpakgian sets out to answer these questions by analyzing some of the themes repeated throughout classics children’s literature with a particular focus on fairy tales. The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature is a wonderful book for parents to read. This book clarifies so many of the enigmatic themes in children’s stories, empowering you as the parent to point out these themes to your children in stories from Cinderella to Pandora’s Box. It also helps Catholic parents understand the importance of exposing our children to these classic stories as a type of faith formation in shaping their hearts and imaginations.

What is a children’s classic?

Kalpakgian believes that a classic explicates one of the mysteries of life for children (and adults). A great story illuminates the connection between the spiritual and physical. Kalpakgian writes: “Dreams and fairy tales are as useful and necessary as windows which join the outside realm to the inside world, which bring heaven to earth and draw the human world to the divine world.”

Kalpakgian draws on a wide range of literature, poetry, fairy tales, and myths to exemplify the unfolding of each mystery for children to understand.  Examples of great stories in The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature range from The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald to Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales. From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s A Wonder Book to The Wind in the Willows. From A Child’s Garden of Verses to Little Women. And after reading The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature, the parent is empowered to recognize noteworthy themes in children’s books beyond those Kalpagian cites.

The themes in children’s literature can sometimes seem mysterious and contradictory.

For example, what’s the deal with wishes in fairy tales? Why do they sometimes come true, and sometimes don’t? Why are the consequences of wishing in fairy tales sometimes positive, like Cinderella receiving fairy help and a happily ever after, and sometimes negative, like Midas’ daughter turning to metal?

Kalpakgian classifies wishes in stories in four distinct categories: whims, fantasies, temptations, and true wishes. Whims are random, thoughtless wishes. Fantasies are “excessive, uncontrollable desires for gold or power that reflect the sin of pride, the worship of money, and self-delusion.” Temptations in children’s classics are false promises of excitement which entice innocent children to disobey. But true wishes begin in the deepest longings of the heart and reflect desires associated with genuine human happiness such as true love or the blessing of children.

Children’s classics help form an appreciation and desire for the transcendentals.

Kalpagian devotes three chapters to the Mystery of the Good, the Mystery of Truth, and the Mystery of Beauty. The transcendentals- the good, the true, the beautiful, and the one- are attributes of God. Each transcendental is intimately connnected to the others and points us to the others. For example, true beauty draws are heart and mind to truth and goodness. Kalpagian writes, “The mystery of beauty in children’s literature evokes a love and desire for knowledge.” Beauty drawing the beholder to truth and goodness can be seen in many fairy taeles such as Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White.

Looking at the connection between the transcendentals from another angle, inability to appreciate beauty correlates with blindness to truth and goodness, as in Anderson’s Swineherd. These chapters on each transcendental and also the inextricable bond between them were the best in the book in my opinion.

To quibble a bit, I found Kalpagian’s chapter on The Mystery of Luck slightly lacking.

Of course, I didn’t agree with every part of this book. To nitpick, I wish Kalpakgian’s treatment of “luck” had a more overtly Christian tone. He treats luck or fortune as a mysterious force that brings gifts to some and ruins others. I found this treatment not so much incorrect as incomplete; as Catholics we believe that all events are part of God’s plan. What agnostics call luck, Catholics call Divine Providence or blessings from God. In The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship, Arthur Ransome uses this Christian understanding of luck: “This is a story that shows that God loves simple folk and turns things to their advantage in the end.”

Kalpakgian actually does have a wonderful chapter on Divine Providence in children’s stories. He points out the mysterious yet very real motif of Divine Providence seen in the form of fairy godmothers, guardian angels, and mysterious elves in books. His explanation of Irene’s grandmother in The Princess and the Goblin is really exceptional as an example of Divine Providence as that invisible thread also seen in Chesterton’s Father Brown. But for some reason, Kalpagian doesn’t also see Divine Providence as represented by “luck” in children’s literature.

Classic stories help children develop a strong moral compass.

By reading or listening to classic stories at a tender age, children’s imaginations and hearts are formed to accept simple truths about virtue and life. Goodness, when done out of a generous heart and without desire for reward, is exalted and repaid twofold. The simple folk with no deviousness in their hearts are blessed. True wishes for genuine human goods are granted. Beauty leads to truth, which leads to goodness. Divine providence is a mysterious, but real and powerful force.

Not only are the pure of heart rewarded, the wicked or selfish are punished. Fairy tales and fables teach that ultimately good does triumph over evil. Often good triumphs in this life, but sometimes not until the next. For example, in the original Little Mermaid tale by Hans Christian Anderson, the Little Mermaid doesn’t get to marry the prince and dies, but she is lifted up by the sky fairies at death and given the opportunity for immortality, which is the real desire in her heart.

The great writer G. K. Chesterton explains in Orthodoxy that the lesson he retained from fairy tales and stories from his childhood had a profound effect on his eventual conversion. I conclude that as Catholic parents we can not do better than to  nourish our children’s minds, hearts, and imaginations with truly worthwhile stories that impart the lessons Kalpagian writes about in The Mysteries of Life in Children’s Literature.

 

 

Review of “All Creatures Great and Small”


James Alfred Wight, better known by his pen name James Herriot, wrote a wonderful series of books for adults, in addition to several collections for children. Drawing on his years of experience as a veterinarian in Yorkshire, Herriot wrote his memoirs beginning with All Creatures Great and Small. These memoirs take the form of a series of loosely connected stories, mostly anecdotes about the animals and owners he encountered. Sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, Herriot’s uncanny gift for storytelling makes these books classics I love to recommend to animal lovers young and old.

“All things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great and Small”

The poem The Creation by Cecil Frances Alexander inspired the titles of Herriot’s books. This poem really captures the spirit with which Herriot approached creation, always marveling at its wonders and seeing the hand of the Creator. In a spirit very similar to St. Francis of Assisi, Herriot cares for each animal, great and small, he encounters. He embodies a great example of stewardship of creation, often helping animals whose owners have no way to pay for his services. His great love for nature surpasses the boundaries of Kingdom Animalia. He also loves natural beauty, often describing the breathtaking vistas of the Yorkshire dales with the affection of a lover.

Community and good old-fashioned virtues praised.

Herriot writes of a different generation and lifestyle. He describes a now old fashioned way of life based on hard work and simple pleasures. Both Herriot himself and the farmers he encounters endure back-breaking work, whether birthing cows or forking hay. They enjoy good food, family time, and the occasional treat of an outing to a concert. The lack of technology and slow pace of life is a shock, perhaps a necessary one, to the twenty-first century reader. Was Herriot’s generation more peaceful in their hard labor? Happier in their simple pleasures?

Community is of great importance to Herriot. Neighborliness is an important quality in an isolated, low-tech community- even if the nearest neighbor is a mile away! The farmers are almost always hospitable and kind, taking care of the vet with a cup of tea and a seat by the fire after a call. In return, Herriot and his partner Siegfried often extend credit to cash-strapped customers.

Any questionable content?

Herriot’s memoirs are somewhat autobiographical. He recounts his charming, clean story of falling in love with Helen, his future wife. This is no more graphic than the description of a few kisses. On the other hand, the young veterinary student, Tristan, is a wild college student who is described as having several lady friends. Nothing graphic again, but the insinuation is that he knows them rather too well.

Tristan is also described as being frequently drunk. Herriot’s partner in the firm, Siegfried Farnon, is also occasionally described as drunk, and even rarely Herriot himself. Usually the consequences of drunkenness are portrayed as unpleasant: embarrassment at the least, or even a lost client. But occasionally Herriot does recount a drunken episode with a humorous twist.

The only other caveat I have about these books is the occasional foul language. The farmers are earthy men who swear when angry. Their language ranges from taking the Lord’s name in vain to the occasional f-word. The language is infrequent enough that is easy to take a permanent marker and cross out any words you don’t want your teens reading.

Who will enjoy the James Herriot books?

Anyone who appreciates a masterfully told anecdote with a lilting rhythm punctuated by impeccably timed punch lines. Anyone who loves animals and nature. Anyone who likes autobiographies, comedy, or a sweet love story. Really, I find it hard to imagine anyone not enjoying these books. I wholeheartedly recommend them for teens and adults who are looking for a light-hearted series.

 

Good Books for Catholic Husbands and Fathers

In our house, I am undeniably the bibliophile.  My very busy, military officer husband used to claim he didn’t like reading, but over time has altered his position to: “I only like (and have time for) reading practical, inspiring books.”  Once he actually finds a book he likes though, he thinks everyone should read it!  This list includes some of his favorites, which you will probably hear recommended over dinner if you ever come to our house.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links, which means I earn a small fee for qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.

Peter Kreeft’s clear, logical style resonates with men, so it’s no surprise my husband’s first book recommendation is usually Making Choices: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Moral Decisions. Actually, both of us loved this book, because it offers exactly what the title states: practical wisdom about everyday moral decisions. Kreeft provides a general framework and then addresses some specific common moral conundrums.

Kreeft has written a plethora of excellent books such as , but another title of particular interest for Catholic fathers is Before I Go: Letters to Our Children About What Really Matters. In this book, Kreeft shares his astute thoughts on what is most important to discuss and pass on to our children.

 

 

Another favorite author of both my husband and father is Matthew Kelly, a devout Catholic and also fantastic self-help type motivational speaker. His Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and Professional Satisfaction was extremely helpful for my husband in mapping out his path forward for his career and our family.

Another Matthew Kelly book which is perfect for a couple to read together is The Seven Levels of Intimacy. This book is sure to help you improve communication with your spouse and build a more meaningful relationship. Matthew Kelly’s simple, direct style makes this a quick and easy read.

Randy Hain’s Something More: The Professional’s Pursuit of a Meaningful Life is similar to Matthew Kelly’s Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and Professional Satisfaction. It’s another excellent book about trying to create harmony in all areas of your life.

Another great book by Hain is Journey to Heaven: A Road Map for Catholic Men. In this book, Hain undertakes to synthesize a lifestyle that combines authentic masculinity with a deep spirituality.

St. Alphonsus de Liguori’s Uniformity with God’s Will is a very short but highly practical little book which lays out a path to holiness based on submitting our will to God’s throughout the events of every day life.

Dr. Gregory Popcak’s Holy Sex!: A Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-Blowing, Infallible Loving is a favorite wedding gift for my husband’s friends. This isn’t simply a book about sex. Rather, it’s about how every moment of our day to day married lives needs to be about loving and serving one another, because that is the path to a happy marriage.

We are admittedly fond of Popcak’s books, so Parenting with Grace: The Catholic Parents’ Guide to Raising almost Perfect Kids has been our general road map for parenting style.

My husband really enjoyed reading Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters: 10 Secrets Every Father Should Know recently, and has already loaned it out to a friend! He was really impressed with how important the father is for girls’ success in life on every level from emotional stability to academic success to being able to pick a good husband.

Since we were blessed to attend classes by Dr. John Cuddeback during college, we have a particular fondness for True Friendship: Where Virtue Becomes Happiness. Cuddeback draws on Aristotelian philosophy to explain what true friendship looks like and what its purpose is.

My husband has a fondness for Venerable Fulton Sheen’s work, whether in audio or book form. We own Life is Worth Living, which is a collection of scripts from Sheen’s extremely popular television show of the same title. Each chapter is short, but thought-provoking.

Dale Ahlquist takes G. K. Chesterton’s prodigious genius and simplifies it to a level that mere mortals can understand at the end of a fourteen hour work day. All Roads: Roamin’ Catholic Apologetics is a series of very short (three page usually) chapters which clarify Chesterton’s unique wisdom and insight on a wide variety of topics.

The Way, Furrow, The Forge are three spiritual classics by Josemaria Escriva which my husband enjoys for its concise yet compelling one liners about following Jesus.

Because of Our Fathers

Because of Our Fathers is a wonderful new collection of inspirational stories from Ignatius Press. Tyler Rowley edits these moving accounts from 23 famous modern Catholic figures about the impact of their fathers on their lives. A great Father’s Day present!