One of the things I love about our faith is how rational it is; that is, how much it just makes sense. It is very rare that, so long as I am looking at the world from a Christian perspective, that it confuses me or doesn't make sense, particularly where human behavior is concerned. With the concepts of Original Sin, or man's fallen nature, or our innate desire for God, or the natural law, or guilt, or conscience, Holy Mother Church has very well instructed those who, like me, are not wise enough to figure out why people act as they do.

For instance, a man commits an evil. "Why did he do it?" people ask. "Because of his fallen nature, he inordinately desires created things, or things of this world, and is inclined to love himself over others," I know. Or, a group of people who commit evil may seek to legitimize it, or gain public acceptance for their evil acts. I understand this to be an act designed to assuage a guilty conscience. Or if a person acts with heroic selflessness, risking his life to save a child from a burning building, I can understand this as the person acting on his innate desire to do what is good, and he knows what is good through the natural law. It may be that all three of these happen within the same context; for instance a association aimed at the repeal of anti-arson laws sets fire to a building, causing a passerby to rush in to save the occupants. In fact, historically, these have all happened in the same context: Hitler was an evil man who sought to massacre the undesirables because he was fallen and prone to sin; the Germans who worked to accomplish his ends made excuses for why it was right, because they needed to appease their consciences and bury their guilt; and even in the midst of great evil, some rose above it all to show incredible love and compassion, because of a heroic desire for God and what is good.

(NB: the question of how people come to act as they do is, as are all questions of how, a matter of the sciences, particularly psychology and sociology, and are worth studying. For instance, what biological and environmental influences cause one man to commit evil and another to do good.)

It is because of this instruction that I am sometimes briefly astonished that, to this day, some people defend the sexual revolution as a good thing, until I remember that not everyone has the benefit of being brought up with such wisdom. To someone like me, who has a bit of intelligence but not a shred of wisdom, the revolution may look like a good thing. I mean, what could be wrong with throwing away outdated and pointless sexual mores? But when you look at the issue with the understanding provided by the Church, the problems become immediately obvious.

Chastity is part of the natural moral law, which is inscribed into our hearts and discernible through right reason. It governs our actions and helps us to act lovingly towards and promote the dignity of others and ourselves. By following the natural moral law, we can work to bring happiness. To act contrary to the natural law brings unhappiness and sorrow.

"The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties:

"For there is a true law: right reason. It is in conformity with nature, is diffused among all men, and is immutable and eternal; its orders summon to duty; its prohibitions turn away from offense . . . . To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege; failure to apply even one of its provisions is forbidden; no one can abrogate it entirely." (CCC 1956)

From this perspective it is easy to see what will happen when you casually toss aside these morals, "when you empty the relationship between the sexes of all moral significance and destroy the customs and institutions that govern it": women become a commodity, children become a possession, family becomes unnecessary, and murder becomes justifiable.

All the previous is just a very long-winded and roundabout way of introducing this article, which highlights one particular negative outcome of the sexual revolution: an increase in violence towards and abuse of women. 

And it makes sense.