Catholic Priest, Theologian to Teach Swiss Sex Classes
A Jesuit priest and Catholic theologian are offering a unique sex-education course to couples in Switzerland--and so far, they have the church's approval.
Nestled amid farmland and forests in central Switzerland, the tiny hamlet of Edlibach is not a likely hotbed of controversy. But that may change in May when a Jesuit priest and a Catholic theologian begin offering sex classes for couples at the village’s Jesuit center.
The seminar, entitled “Make Time and Room for Sensuality,” is intended “to remind people that Catholic doctrine considers sex to be an expression of love and not just a functional act for making babies,” Christian Rutishauser, the priest organizing the course, said in an interview earlier this month with the German-language newspaper Neue Luzerner Zeitung. “Until now, the Church has expressed particular prohibitions and set conditions for sex. It has said little about how sex can be active and positive.”
So far, the sex-ed course has not sparked much commotion among Catholic leaders in Switzerland. In fact, the course seems to have the church’s tacit approval. “If presented in the context of the Gospel, such a course could be a positive experience,” Walter Müller, spokesman for the Swiss Bishops Conference, tells TIME. He adds, however, that neither his organization nor the local bishop in charge of Edlibach knows what the instructors plan to teach or whether it will comply with the church’s teachings. The Vatican has also been mum on the issue—its spokesman Father Federico Lombardi did not respond to several emails from TIME for comment on the course.
Read more: newsfeed.time.com/…/catholic-priest…
