Chastity

Chastity is the successful integration of sexuality within the person — the virtue by which human sexuality is ordered according to reason and faith toward its proper ends: the good of the spouses and the generation of new life within marriage, and complete consecration to God outside it (CCC 2337).

What Chastity Is

Chastity is not the suppression of sexuality but its right ordering. Sexuality is a genuine good — a gift from God ordered toward love and life. Chastity means living that gift with integrity, in a way proper to one's state: married chastity (faithful conjugal love), virginal or celibate chastity (total consecration to God), and chastity in singleness (continence) (CCC 2348–2349).

The Universal Call to Chastity

"All the baptized are called to chastity" (CCC 2348). This is not a call for everyone to be celibate — it is a call for everyone to live their sexuality in a way that is ordered, integrated, and truthful. The form of chastity differs by state of life; the call is universal (CCC 2348).

Chastity as a Virtue

Chastity is a virtue — a habit developed through effort, grace, and the sacraments. It involves self-mastery, prayer, the practice of modesty, and recourse to the Eucharist and Reconciliation when failures occur. The Catechism calls it a "long and exacting work" but one in which the person discovers "spiritual freedom" (CCC 2340).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between chastity and celibacy? Celibacy is the state of remaining unmarried, usually for the sake of the Kingdom. Chastity is the virtue that orders sexuality rightly in any state of life. A celibate person is called to chastity; so is a married person; so is a single person discerning their vocation (CCC 2337–2349).

Does the Church expect perfection in chastity? The Church expects the sincere effort to live chastely and the willingness to repent and return to God's grace when one falls. Moral perfection is the goal; the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the remedy for failures (CCC 2340).