STEUBENVILLE, OHIO—Continuing its commitment to the Catholic Church’s teaching on the human person and human sexuality, Franciscan University of Steubenville recently updated its reference documents for staff, faculty, and students summarizing that teaching and reaffirming its fidelity to Church doctrine.

The University developed the Compendium on Human Sexuality: Male and Female He Created Them in response to requests from faculty, staff, and students for guidance on specific questions arising from the confusion about sexuality in today’s culture.

The Compendium builds on documents that were created in 2016 and provides the University community with a timely, faithful resource that presents a concise, yet comprehensive expression of the Church’s teaching on the human person and human sexuality. The document is expected to evolve as the University addresses new questions that arise and continues to discern its pastoral approach in light of its fidelity to Catholic doctrine.

“As witnessed by those who live it, the Church’s teaching on human sexuality is liberating, lifegiving, and illuminating,” wrote Franciscan University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR ’89, in a recent letter to the University community. “Franciscan University’s Compendium on Human Sexuality: Male and Female He Created Them summarizes that timeless teaching and presents human sexuality in all its truth, goodness, and beauty.”

The Compendium is a cross-disciplinary initiative that included men and women, faculty and staff, from theology, philosophy, biology, counseling, Student Life, Personal Vocation, Franciscan Life, evangelization, and Human Resources. In contrast to the online culture of instant gratification that devalues the dignity of the human person, the document highlights the richness and depth found within the Catholic Church’s teaching about human sexuality. It also emphasizes the primacy of charity and the inseparability of love and truth.

“I hope this document allows our Franciscan University community to encounter the beauty of God’s design for the human person,” Father Pivonka wrote. “My desire is that the truth of Catholic teaching helps us better understand one another, care for each other, and ultimately, love one another.”

Read the Compendium on Human Sexuality: Male and Female He Created Them.