By Mary Gorry                                                                                     

Riverhead — The blanket on the floor of the classroom representing the “marriage bed” was crowded with students in one of the religion classes at McGann-Mercy High School here Feb. 14. Except for the “married couple,” each student represented part of a web of past sexual experiences. The demonstration on the physical and emotional baggage brought into a marriage by premarital sex was part of the two-week L.I. Teen Freedom program.

L.I. Teen Freedom is a federally-funded program run by the Life Center that teaches young people about abstinence, relationship building, and the skills they need to do both. McGann-Mercy is the first Catholic high school on Long Island to host the program, where male and female team leaders have been talking with the ninth- and tenth-graders for two weeks during their religion classes.