Catholic conversations about gender, celibacy and homosexuality

Marc, the "Bad Catholic," has a "TOB in a Nutshell" post on his blog, under the title "Sexuality and Personality." The post addresses some pretty fundamental issues (heck, you got that from the title, didn't you?) as well as the very current, very complicated questions that people have only started asking recently--for example, what does it mean that "male and female he created them" when we know someone who experiences life from a transgender perspective?  What would happen if we got rid of concepts like "man" and "woman"?

Here's a sample; go read the rest:

In an imaginary world of only women, there would be no women. For on what ground would “woman” take on any meaning, any demarcation of identity, besides (perhaps) a being who is not a plant, not a fish, and not a bicycle? So too, a man is only a man in any meaningful sense in his relation to women.

Today Huffington Post highlighted the appeal of a priest who wants a dispensation from his vow of celibacy; he doesn't want to leave the priesthood, though. He's hoping Pope Francis will let him have it both ways. The show host did not get all her facts straight (see how many erroneous statements you can spot!), but she did invite Byzantine Father Thomas Loya to speak about priestly celibacy. Which he proceeded to do with more clarity than the host knew what to do with. Note especially how Father Loya explains that the Byzantine liturgy requires periodic celibacy even of married priests: there is an "eschatological" (life-of-the-world-to-come) dimension to the Liturgy that celibacy expresses:




Then this past Sunday a half-hour documentary was released that is addressed in a special way to people who experience same-sex attraction. There will no doubt be many gay people who will be outraged by a film that claims that the Catholic Church has anything to offer them, but the people in the film (all have impeccable gay bona-fides) tell a different story. Watch it here, or go to the Blackstone page to see, share, comment. Gay or straight, seeing this movie could be a moment of grace for someone you love--or for you.

 
The Third Way from Blackstone Films on Vimeo.

Also:
Brandon Vogt interviews Father John Hollowell about The Third Way
Abbey Roads critiques the title and offers a helpful interpretation

Review of "Fill These Hearts"

Theology professor Susan Windley-Daoust posted her review of Christopher West's "Fill These Hearts: God, Sex and the Universal Longing," which she uses in an anthropology course. Here's a sample of what she had to say:

This text electrified most of the class.  People really resonated with the treatment of desire, were open to the treatment of design, and were really thinking through consequences by the time we got to destiny.  As a professor, it struck me as an ideal first text before moving into more “academic theology” and primary sources.  Indeed, we went from this text to reading Augustine's Confessions, and they got it: Augustine wasn't an overly guilt-ridden sex addict who talks too much about his sinfulness.  He was a man with disordered desires who opened himself to a new way of seeing through grace.

What was intriguing to me was how they latched on to a piece that West has been criticized for in the past: West writing from the perspective that people have received a Christian upbringing that was cold, stoic, and rule-centered.  Some have criticized West that most Catholics after Vatican II simply have not had that upbringing: the stereotype is more “felt banner and singing about God’s love round the campfire” (which is not a fair stereotype, but moving on).

These students thought the cold stoic Church description was right on.  The Christianity they know, they say, is ALL about rules.  This “frame” (as West calls it) of desire, design, and destiny, wrapped in God’s lavish love, was seen as truly radical.

The thing is, that is not their experience—because a lot of them have no experience of being in a Christian church outside of major holidays.  The Church they “know” is a bizarre echo chamber of their parents’ apathy and fear, the culture of the mainstream press and movies, and a projection of their fears.  It doesn’t exist.  But for them, the echo chamber is keeping them from listening to the wisdom of the Christian faith.

One of the reasons West’s approach is effective is because he is talking to Christians, especially Catholics, who have fundamental misconceptions of what Catholic theology is about: and he addresses those misconceptions head on.  You shouldn’t end your reading of theology with West (does he ever argue that?  of course not), but this book whets the appetite for a faith seeking understanding that they do not know they have.  People on the inside forget that teaching theology in American culture neither builds on a solid catechetical foundation, nor a blank slate.  We unteachbefore we teach.  Christopher West’s popularity in many young adult circles—to the point of people saying things such as “the Theology of the Body changed my life!”—is attributable directly to West exposing the delusion of this echo chamber and presenting the revelation of Christianity in both the natural world of signs and the Church they clearly do not yet know.  He is a dazzling "unteacher," and this book makes space to truly explore what it means to be human.

It’s a potentially life-transformative book.

How culture affects the way we see the human body

Dr Michael Waldstein (translator of the full text of the Theology of the Body)

When the eyes and the mind are in conflict

Gender identity trumps every other right in Massachusetts high schools, giving new meaning to the story of the Emperor's New Clothes. Now, no matter how clearly the child in the story says what is before everyone's eyes, any glimmer of recognition will have to be suppressed. How long can that last?

When "the guidelines [imposed in Massachusetts] don't recognize that it is impossible to erase the differences between the sexes," you know there's a desperate need for Theology of the Body. And our TOB project here in Chicago is making real progress! A volunteer created the postcard design, and has just completed a trailer.

Here's the trailer; feel free to share it far and wide--we are counting on the grace of the Holy Spirit working through social media to invite people to take a real look at what the Catholic Church says about the human person, the human body and its "language." At this point, it is the only "alternate vision" available, no matter what our eyes may tell us.


For registration links (and lots more details) see our bookstore blog.

TOB resources

We now have online registration open for the Chicago onsite program for May 4, 11 and 18. Please share this information widely! The "virtual" program for those of you who are hoping to join us via video stream is lined up (on our new Ustream channel, TOB-TV), but we are limited to a six-week registration window. That means that once mid-March hits, it will be important to let people know about the program and sign up for it.

Because we can't afford the "pro" version of anything, we had to divide the program into six distinct "events," each of which requires a separate registration. (On the plus side, registration gives one access to the archived video in case of scheduling conflicts.)

As I was preparing the new Ustream.tv channel for the May overview program, I also found a helpful overview by Msgr. Hogan.

50 Shades of TOB

One young adult responds to the current best seller, critiquing it from a Theology of the Body perspective:

Pornography and Purity of Heart

While I was visiting my family in south Louisiana, I managed to make it to the chapel of Our Lady of Wisdom in Lafayette for my friend Fr. Sibley's mass and TOB homily. He gave a broad TOB introduction before focusing on the sin of "unchastity" mentioned in the Gospel. (If the people of Lafayette realized what a fantastic preacher Fr. Sibley is, he'd have to celebrate Mass in the Cajun Dome to accomodate the crowds!)

Listen to Fr Sibley's homily on porn addiction for yourself, and then share the link far and wide so that it reaches people in most need.

TOB e-books

The book that started it all:
TOB in real life!
For young people:

And without TOB?

St Thomas and TOB

International Symposium

Clayton Emmer posted the recorded talks from this month's International Theology of the Body Symposium. I'm finding the lectures immensely enriching; I think I may even use them for my annual retreat!

Book Review: The Human Person in the Thought of John Paul II

Book Explores What It Means to be Human in Light of 
Theology of the Body

WASHINGTON—“What does it mean to be human?” A new book by the priest who spearheads the evangelization and catechetical efforts of the U.S. bishops explores this question by drawing on the teachings of Pope John Paul II in his theology of the body. In The Human Person: According to John Paul II, published by Pauline Books and Media, Father J. Brian Bransfield examines the vision of humanity expressed by Pope John Paul II and uses it as the basis for a moral theology that offers practical guidance and support in living the Christian life.

Father Bransfield writes about the challenges raised by three social revolutions of the 20th Century – the industrial, sexual and technological revolutions – and how Pope John Paul’s theology of the body responded to the resulting societal shifts. These shifts, Father Bransfield observes, have led to a disregard for women, the spread of cohabitation, the rise in divorce and the growing trend of fatherlessness. John Paul II challenged all of these trends. Father Bransfield shows how Christians today can overcome the negative consequences of these shifts through living the teaching of the theology of the body as an essential element of the new evangelization proclaimed by Pope John Paul II.

Father J. Brian Bransfield is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He currently serves as the Assistant General Secretary and Executive Director of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Father Bransfield holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington.
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This review dated June 10, 2010; http://www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2010/10-114.shtml