Debate about sex ed guidelines for schools in German archdiocese continues after Vatican letter

The Vatican has confirmed to parents in the Archdiocese of Hamburg that the Vatican document “Male and Female He Created Them” remains the authoritative guide for sex education.

The Dicastery for Culture and Education has confirmed to the parents of students at Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Hamburg in Germany that the Vatican document “Male and Female He Created Them” remains the authoritative guide for sex education.

With this, the Vatican appears to contradict a framework regarding sex education that the archdiocese’s vicar general said must be used in all Catholic schools and that some parents reject.

Father Sascha-Philipp Geißler, SAC, implemented the document “Male, Female, Diverse: Framework for Sexual Education at Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Hamburg” first in 2025, and all Catholic schools in the archdiocese are expected to use it beginning with the 2026–2027 school year.

The framework, in line with influential sexologist Uwe Sielert, describes sexuality as “general life energy.” On the issue of gender, it states: “Biological sex does not necessarily have to correspond to social identity.”

Regarding conflicts of values with parents, the document notes that it may be “the school’s role to ‘stand on the children’s side.’”

After receiving a response to their complaints to the Vatican, the Parents’ Network for Child Protection and Prevention asked Hamburg’s Archbishop Stefan Heße once again to withdraw the framework. They asked that it be replaced by guidelines that “in particular guarantee parental rights and child protection and are in full accordance with Catholic doctrine and the requirements of the Holy See.”

Monsignor Matthias Ambros, the undersecretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, wrote in the letter dated July 6, which was obtained by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News: “After due consideration of its contents, this dicastery confirms that, with regard to the question of possible guidelines on sex education, the position remains the one set forth in the document ‘Male and Female He Created Them’ … published by the Congregation for Catholic Education on February 2, 2019.”

According to the dicastery, the parents’ petition was received on July 2. The letter thanks the parents for their “commitment to Catholic education.” It does not explicitly mention the framework the Archdiocese of Hamburg wants Catholic schools to use. In fact, the dicastery did not comment on the substance of the parents’ objections at all.

Based on the answer from Rome, the parents’ network compared the Vatican document from 2019, which firmly rejects gender ideology, with the Hamburg framework. The comparison lists 20 contradictions the parents see. These relate to the view of human nature, the assessment of marriage and family, and parents’ rights to educate their own children. The framework concept “adopts, in essential parts, the premises of that gender ideology which the congregation’s letter … has expressly rejected in the spirit of respectful dialogue,” the parents’ network concluded.

“We ask you: Do not view our concern merely as the protest of a group of parents. Read the response from Rome and compare it with the concept that is to be implemented in Catholic schools in Hamburg. Rome has once again reaffirmed the Church’s continuing position on sexual morality. If you, too, recognize the contradiction we have pointed out, we ask you: Do not remain silent! This is not merely a matter of defending our children and families but also of standing up for the teaching of our Church and remaining faithful to what it itself proclaims,” the network’s spokeswoman, Varinia Arauco Vera, said.

When the framework first took effect in 2025, the archdiocese described it as a sign of “contemporary, values-based, and scientifically sound sex education.”

“We advocate for the acceptance of diversity with regard to sexual orientations and gender identity,” said Geißler, the vicar general, at the time.

Christopher Haep, head of the Department of Schools and Higher Education in the archdiocese, added: “We want Catholic schools to be safe places where sexuality is not treated as a taboo but is recognized in all its complexity and dignity.”

The department’s spokesperson, Christoph Schommer, told CNA Deutsch in March that “as the school operators, we are in regular and intensive dialogue with parents and parent representatives.”

When the policy was implemented, it received “broad approval from the general parents’ council, school administrations, and the representatives for school pastoral care.”

“But of course, we also engage constructively with critical voices,” Schommer said.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, the German-language sister service of EWTN News, and has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.