The NEW Middle School Chastity Curriculum

A brief history
After many years of research and evaluation, Chris Godfrey, an author, lawyer and former professional football player, was asked by Cardinal Sean O’Malley to develop a Catholic chastity curriculum for middle school students in schools and parishes  throughout the Archdiocese of Boston. Cardinal Sean had worked with Mr. Godfrey during his time in the Fall River diocese and knew the success of Mr. Godfrey’s Life Athletes work there. Now, Cardinal Sean was asking for even a larger product for an Archdiocese 7 times larger. With the assistance of pediatrician and author, Meg Meeker, MD, a new curriculum based on life, love, relationships, sexuality and chastity has been developed. It is called, “See, I Make All Things New.”

A Unique Curriculum
What’s unique about this curriculum?  First, it is based on the beauty and fullness of our Catholic teaching.  Second, it recognizes parents as the primary educators in matters of faith and morals, thus, the first part of the curriculum is the “parent component.”

For Parents
The parent component consists of a “parent information session” explaining to parents why a curriculum such as this is necessary for their children, bringing real life examples into the presentation. It educates parents on the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual consequences and benefits if their child chooses to save sex for marriage. But most importantly, it provides parents with the tools to begin these sensitive conversations at home first.  A parent DVD has been created by the author called “Know Yourself.” We distribute this to parents of students in grades 4-7 and ask parents to view the DVD initially, and then decide when, where, and how to have their child view it. Parent information sessions precede the actual implementation of the curriculum with the hope the child will be prepared to learn the curriculum, as well as foster and encourage parent/child communication. Please visit the Parent Information page for more details.

For Students
The second part of the curriculum is the student/teacher section, taught ideally in 7th grade.  This occurs either in the school classroom or in a parish setting.  It may be taught by staff from those sites, or the site may choose to bring in “curriculum specialists” from the Respect Life Education Office, teams who have been specially trained to teach this curriculum.

The Materials
The curriculum consists of instructor and student manuals along with videos to augment and enhance the learning objectives.  In “Conversations,” a series of short videos produced by our office, the popular chastity speaker Jason Evert discusses sex, relationships and virtue. Many of the students have already seen Evert at chastity talk events held around the Archdiocese for the last several years, events sponsored through the Respect Life Education Office.  Because of their overwhelming positive response, we knew adding Jason Evert into the curriculum could only add to its value for the students.

Another media package offered to teachers to use is a beautiful pro-life DVD called “Life Begins.” This video depicts the beauty and the inherent dignity of life for all human beings from the moment of conception to its natural death. Excerpts from part of this program are also used in our Respect Life Speaker Program, thus, creating continuity for a comprehensive chastity education for students throughout the Archdiocese. Recommended for the 8th grade, but available for the 7th grade, is the video "The Rules Have Changed" featuring Dr. Meg Meeker. It talks about the prevelance and danger of sexually transmitted diseases in our society.

Because of the generosity of a private donor, all curriculum materials are free of charge for the first implementation, with the site only paying for shipping.  Visit the Principal/DRE Information page for the “See, I Make All Things New” curriculum materials order form.