“Fidelity and Intimacy”

The Grisezs
9 June 2001

In 1966, St. Benedict College (now Benedictine College), Atchison, Kansas, invited Grisez to lecture to the entire college community on a topic of his choice at the beginning of its academic year. He chose to lecture on sexual ethics by accentuating the positive: faithful love in marriage. To illustrate points, he included poems that he had written to his wife, Jeannette, around the time of their marriage (9 June 1951). The lecture, “Fidelity Today,” was delivered in the college gymnasium on 11 September 1966, and surprisingly well received. During subsequent years, Grisez gave the lecture repeatedly to groups of Catholic young people, and revised it many times, but never published it. The last time he delivered it was 22 October 2001 at St. Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was his contribution to the Tollefsen Lecture Series, and on that occasion, Jeannette helped deliver the lecture by reading the poems.

Grisez publishes the 2001 version of the lecture here, copyright © 2009, and reserves the right to make and distribute copies for sale. However, he hereby grants everyone the right to print out and distribute without charge copies of the entire work provided the source is identified and this copyright information included.

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