At the heart of Catholic teaching is the belief that if we get sexual and family relationships right the world will become a more loving and safe place. Briefly put, the Catholic teaching on sexual morality centers on sexual activity being an act of self giving love, intended by God to bring children into the world and permanent marriage is directed at raising them in a stable, other centered environment where individual needs and desires are sacrificed for the good of one's spouse, one's children and one's own parents and extended family - and ultimately the wider community. Selfish expression of the sexual desire and seeking one's own pleasure, are separated from God's design for our happiness and well being and undermine the basic building block of a peaceful world. 

To simplistically caricature these teachings as a "primitive religion of punishment/appeasement"just misses the point completely and is disingenuous.