Getting to the heart of the Christian faith, with implications for our society

By Fr Stephan Alexander

General Manager, CCSJ and AMMR

A reader recently asked me these important and timely questions: What does the Church mean by ‘Catholic anthropology’? How does that idea impact the dignity of the human person? And why does the Church consider these teachings so important? These terms may sound technical, but they lie at the very heart of the Christian faith and have profound implications for how we live together as a society.

What is Catholic anthropology?

At its simplest, ‘Catholic anthropology’ is the Church’s understanding of what it means to be human. It answers fundamental questions: Who am I? Why do I exist? What is my worth? How should I live with others?

The Church teaches that the human person is created by God, in the image and likeness of God (cf Gen 1:26–27). This means that every human being, without exception, is willed by God, loved by God, and called into relationship with God and with others. We are not accidents of history, economic units, or problems to be managed. We are persons, each of us a mystery to behold and to be safeguarded.

Catholic anthropology also affirms the unity of body and soul. The human person is not a soul trapped in a body, nor merely a biological organism. We are embodied spirits: our physical, emotional, social, moral, and spiritual dimensions belong together. To harm one aspect of the person is ultimately to harm the whole.

What is the dignity of the human person?

From this understanding flows the Church’s teaching on human dignity. Dignity is not something we earn, achieve, or lose. It does not depend on age, ability, productivity, social status, moral history, or public approval. Human dignity is inherent; it belongs to us simply because we are human.

The Second Vatican Council expressed this clearly: “Human dignity rests above all on the fact that man is called to communion with God” (Gaudium et Spes, 19). This means that the unborn child, the elderly person with dementia, the prisoner, the migrant, the poor, the disabled, and the condemned criminal all possess the same fundamental dignity. Their lives are not of lesser value, even when society may treat them as disposable or inconvenient.

Sexuality, meaning, and the human person

Human sexuality, in Catholic anthropology, is not a trivial or merely private matter. It is a profound dimension of the person. Sexuality expresses our call to love, communion, and self-gift. It is not simply about pleasure, but about meaning.

When sexuality is detached from relationship, responsibility, and personal integrity, the person becomes fragmented. The body is reduced to a site of stimulation, and desire becomes something to be managed or marketed rather than ordered toward love and the good of the person.

Such a diversion from the truth of who the human person is inevitably leads to the instrumentalisation, objectification, and commodification of men and women, who come to be viewed not as persons to be loved but as instruments, objects, and commodities to be bought, sold, and used.

It is within this moral and cultural framework that the inclusion of a sex toy for women in the Carnival goodie bag of a popular mas band must be evaluated.

From a Catholic perspective, this is not a harmless novelty, but a concrete manifestation of a deeper cultural disorder that both reflects and reinforces the objectification of the human person—here, particularly women—by reducing their dignity to use, consumption, and entertainment.

Even when such gestures are presented in the language of empowerment or freedom, they often replicate the same utilitarian logic that has long exploited women’s bodies, now repackaged as choice.

Catholic teaching insists that dignity is not enhanced by sexualisation, but by reverence for the person as a whole.

Why are these teachings so important?

Catholic teaching on human dignity and the human person is not an abstract theory reserved for theology classrooms. It shapes how we think, speak, and act—personally, socially, and politically—by offering a clear moral vision rooted in the Gospel.

At its core, this teaching provides a foundation for justice. If every human person possesses equal and inviolable dignity, then any system or practice that exploits, excludes, or dehumanises is fundamentally unjust.

Racism, human trafficking, violence, extreme poverty, corruption, and the routine loss of life are not merely social failures; they are moral failures grounded in a denial of human dignity.

This vision also challenges the modern ‘use-and-discard’ mentality that measures human worth by productivity, power, or utility. The Church insists that no-one is expendable. Human life is not valuable because it is useful; it is useful because it is valuable. This principle resists all forms of disposability, especially toward the poor, the vulnerable, and the marginalised.

Catholic anthropology further offers a critical lens on contemporary culture, particularly the growing objectification of women. In many cultural frameworks, the body—especially the female body—is detached from the person and treated as an object of display, consumption, and profit. Such practices distort the truth that the body is the visible expression of the person and undermine authentic human freedom.

Finally, this teaching shapes Catholic engagement in public life and grounds Christian hope. Defending human dignity requires moral clarity, consistency, and respect for every person. Because dignity comes from God, no circumstance ever erases it, and no human life is beyond reverence or redemption.

Catholic anthropology ultimately asks us to see differently: to look at each person not as a problem, a threat, or a statistic, but as a brother or sister. This way of seeing does not ignore wrongdoing or social complexity, but it refuses to surrender compassion, truth, and justice to fear or cynicism.

In defending the dignity of the human person, the Church is not imposing an ideology. She is bearing witness to a truth about humanity itself, one that urgently and often needs repeating in our fractured world.

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