It’s no secret that sex sells, and that it’s being used to sell everything from music and movies to clothing to teenagers. Unfortunately, it’s far too easy for teenage girls to come to understand that’s what their bodies are: a commodity.

But St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body insists that the human body, male and female, is far more important. God made people body and soul, and both are necessary and integral parts of the human person, and both must be cherished. Sexuality, John Paul II said, is a good and essential part of love and life.

That’s the point of the Theology of the Body curriculum, provided through the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Respect Life Office, that is being taught to freshman girls at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, 3737 W. 99th St.

Deacon Bob Cislo, who teaches theology to freshmen and juniors and is moderator of the school’s Respect Life club, and Sheila Rave, who teaches theology to freshmen and sophomores, said the curriculum gives the young women in the classes a positive message about their own worth.

“The culture that they’re living in shows little respect for the female body,” Rave said. “We are teaching them that they are bodies and spirits both, and they need to respect their bodies and the bodies of other people.”

In their classes, students discuss all areas of human development — physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual — and their importance as they move through life and make choices that will affect them and other people. By the time they discuss Theology of the Body by the end of the school year, “they are pretty accustomed to it,” Rave said.

Raymund Pingoy, coordinator of youth outreach for the Respect Life Office, also is familiar with the school, having talked in past years with the Respect Life club.

Cislo said that some of the lessons that seem to resonate with students are about how the word “love” is misused, and the suggestion that they pray for their future spouses, even when they have no idea whom they will marry. Instead of spending a lot of time telling young people what they shouldn’t do, they offer a positive message of how to grow into a healthy and loving adult.

“What we stress here is that their job in adolescence is to develop into a loving person by loving their families and loving themselves,” Rave said. “That will eventually put them in a good place to enter into a marriage with someone they love. I’m finding it’s encouraging girls to think about being their best self, and they are enthused.”

Doing that helps the girls develop the skills they will need to make good decisions as they move through high school and beyond. Young alumnae often come back and say they find themselves counseling college friends as their friends struggle to make decisions.

“We tell them they have to look at their values and they have to look at the consequences,” Rave said. “They have a set of skills they can turn to when it comes to making decisions.”

Teaching religion, especially the portion devoted to Theology of the Body, has opened Rave’s eyes to the world her students see around them, she said.

“They always say to me, ‘How do we meet a good guy?’” she said. “They don’t think they are out there. They are sucked into the culture.”

That culture says people use each other for what they want, she said. Theology of the Body says the opposite: that we are to be gifts to one another.

Rave and Cislo said they would recommend the curriculum to any high school interested in using it, whether with girls or boys or both.

“I think it would be great for everybody,” Cislo said. “Certainly for all boys.”

For more information about Theology of the Body for Teens, high school or middle school edition, visit respectlifechicago.org.