The Cathoholic

Love Actually: Girls on their own, and hating it

Just read a very interesting piece in The Atlantic by Caitlin Flanagan, a wonderful writer who explains how the 1970s' feminist-inspired regime of sexual liberation for teenage girls has morphed into an unpleasant and frequently terrifying regime of binge-drinking and hookups on U.S. campuses. Flanagan makes some key observations, including the fact that the hookup culture has been shadowed by traditional romantic fantasies in mainstream media (and, I might add, a whopping increase in purchases of romance novels -- more than 40% of books now sold in this country). The parents of American girls continue to "helicopter" around them, encouraging good grades and career prospects. But they don't seem to be able to deal with the grim environment the girls have inherited. Thus, the girls are left to navigate this world on their own. Writes Flanagan:

"What might we expect as the next thing for today’s girls? They just spent the better part of a decade being hectored—via the post-porn, Internet-driven world—toward a self-concept centering on the expectation that the very most they could or should expect from a boy is a hookup. We didn’t particularly stand in the way of that culture; we left the girls alone with it, sat idly by while they pulled it into their brains through their ubiquitous earbuds and their endless Facebook photo albums and text messages. We said, more or less, “Do your best.” And then we gave them iTunes gift cards and Wi-Fi connections in their bedrooms, and we warned them about dangerous online trends only after those trends had become so passé that we could learn about them on Dateline. And now the girls have had enough. We’ve sunk pretty low, culturally speaking, when we’ve left it to the 14- and 15-year-old girls of the nation to make one of the last, great stands for human dignity. But they’re making it, by God."

U.S. Bishops Boost Marriage

---

News

Bishops Boost Marriage

BY JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND

REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

November 29-December 5, 2009 Issue | Posted 11/20/09 at 5:04 PM

BALTIMORE — Over the last five years, the defense of marriage has emerged as a key catechetical, legislative and religious liberty issue for the U.S. episcopacy.

Few bishops understand that better than Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington.

As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathered for its fall general meeting, Archbishop Wuerl had to keep one eye on a same-sex “marriage” bill in Washington that likely will pass early next month.

Public debate on the bill has prompted bitter resistance to any broad exemption for Catholic social institutions with city contracts. City council members have accused the archdiocese of issuing “ultimatums.” Church officials contend that “without a meaningful religious exemption in the bill, Catholic Charities and similar religious providers will become ineligible for contracts, grants and licenses to continue those services.”

When marriage is the topic of debate, the U.S. bishops face a war that must be fought on multiple fronts: theological, cultural and political. No surprise that Archbishop Wuerl — who has defended Catholic teaching in the pages of The Washington Post, in parish bulletins and in public forums — applauds the arrival of the bishops’ new pastoral letter, “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.”

“The heart of the pastoral statement is the definition of marriage,” said Archbishop Wuerl. “It is so important for our faithful and for the wide community to understand this; we want to reaffirm this teaching so that people can speak with assurance about marriage. What is it about marriage that makes it unique and important? Why do people follow through with all the effort associated with marriage?”

In 2004, the bishops approved a multilayered pastoral initiative designed to strengthen marriage; the pastoral letter, approved during this month’s meeting, is described as “both an end and a beginning” of this effort.

As the teaching authority of the American hierarchy is increasingly challenged in battles over same-sex “marriage,” Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, chairman of the Subcommittee on Marriage and Family, heralded the letter as a “foundational document” and an “authoritative point of reference.”

The letter addresses marriage’s critical role in the nurturing and education of children; it challenges modern attempts to reduce married love to a “private” couples relationship and warns against the destructive consequences of redefining marriage to include same-sex unions.

Theology of the Body

Chastened by the increasingly skeptical response they have received from younger Catholics in particular, the bishops plan to communicate the central teaching of the pastoral in Web-based campaigns as well as through more traditional catechetical methods. The letter presents marriage as both a “natural institution” and a “Christian sacrament,” and takes note of social science research confirming the essential role of traditional marriage.

“There is a huge need for catechesis on marriage,” confirmed Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, who helped to lead a repeal of same-sex “marriage” in Maine earlier this month. “Throughout that public debate in the state, I was alarmed by the number of our Catholic people who have a shallow understanding of what marriage is.”

The pastoral letter incorporates the central teaching of Humanae Vitae (The Regulation of Birth) on the unitive and procreative dimensions of conjugal unions. But it also embraces the fresh insights of John Paul II’s theology of the body.

During an era when mass media encourages Americans to shrug off the distinctive characteristics of men and women, and where the young learn to treat the human body as a kind of machine that can be exploited or manipulated at will, the theology of the body offers an integrated vision of the human person. In this teaching, sexual complementarity is a gift to be embraced as the foundation for deep marital communion.

The late Pontiff provided a modern meditation on a fundamental truth: The body expresses the person’s deepest values. Sexual relationships that ignore marital vows of faithfulness, permanence and openness to children violate basic human dignity.

“In drafting the letter, the committee felt that the insights John Paul II made in the theology of the body strengthened the case we can make to people today. Paul VI provided a great foundation, but Humanae Vitae didn’t get the proper catechesis when it was first promulgated,” said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan.

The U.S. hierarchy’s initial failure to effectively defend Humanae Vitae is now viewed as a primary reason for ongoing confusion among Catholics about the evils of contraception and — subsequently — the immorality of some reproductive technologies and of same-sex “marriage.”

A New Hunger

Yet, Archbishop Naumann suggests that the past 40 years also have created a new hunger for this teaching.

“We have the experience of the past 40 years. That has given us a lot of empirical data to substantiate the teaching and encourage an openness to the teaching that didn’t exist in the ’60s,” he suggested.

The bishops’ pastoral initiative on marriage may also help to shore up catechetical efforts in states where same-sex “marriage” is already legal. “The pastoral gives us an opportunity to develop a new apologetics,” said Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. “We don’t hate gays, and we are not trying to deny anyone their civil rights. This is about the defense of marriage.”

The bishops acknowledge that a more intensive effort to present the countercultural elements of Church teaching on marriage is likely to provoke intense resistance not only from homosexual couples seeking social approbation, but also from poorly catechized Catholics.

The pastoral letter addresses a number of sensitive issues — including reproductive technologies that help infertile couples to begin families but violate Catholic teaching. The USCCB also approved a separate document that provides more detailed doctrinal analysis and pastoral reflection on in vitro fertilization, cloning and related procedures.

But bishops who have ministered to infertile couples acknowledge that many are bemused by the Church’s apparent departure from what they define as a pro-child theological tradition.

“I expect that many couples won’t see the need for ethical reflection on reproductive technologies,” said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, Calif., who helped jump-start California’s Proposition 8 ballot measure that led to the repeal of same-sex “marriage” in the state and is eager to bring the pastoral letter to his diocese.

Pushback from dissenting Catholics and political opponents is a given, but during the Baltimore meeting, the bishops appeared both revitalized and resigned as they considered the challenges ahead. Same-sex “marriage” fights appear likely in New Jersey and New York, and many bishops planned to meet with their senators about health-care reform before returning home.

During an afternoon press conference, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the bishops’ conference, was asked if his colleagues had “regained their political strength.”

“We know many of these issues are both moral and political. Our task is to bring the moral voice to the debate,” responded Cardinal George.

But then he acknowledged that the bishops’ work occasionally influenced the larger public debate, roiling partisan emotions that could fuel a backlash against the hierarchy. “There is something more than Catholic doctrine involved. Some issues are also political, and they draw on loyalties that go beyond Church membership.”

Register Article on Christopher West

Last week I reported  for the National Catholic Register on the controversy fueled by Christopher West's Nightline interview in May. 

It was fun to speak with people I have known and respected for years, including David Schindler, my professor at the John Paul II Institute for Studies of Marriage and Family who taught one of my favorite courses on American culture, along with Janet Smith the feisty expert on Catholic teaching on contraception and NFP, and Michael Waldstein, the gifted translator of John Paul Ii's theology of the body, and a remarkable scholar, husband and father (not necessarily in that order).

A relevant point: I want to let readers know that I facilitate theology of the body study groups sponsored by Imago Dei, Inc. I become a board member of Imago Dei after the study guide helped to truly transform my spiritual life. "A New Language" study groups have been started in over 22 U.S. dioceses and seven countries. This year we also complete a pilot project in Nicaragua using our Spanish-language edition. Check out our website and see when our next facilitator training will be scheduled.

Here is the article:

 

---

NEWS

Theology of the Body Fight

Scholars Debate Popular Author’s Take

BY JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND

REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

June 21-27, 2009 Issue | Posted 6/12/09 at 8:07 AM

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Criticisms about Christopher West’s work that first surfaced in the Register seven years ago are back. Critics wonder if his brand of discussion of Christianity and sexuality is fatally flawed.

Sam Meier hopes not. He needs West.

A counselor who works with recovering sex addicts, Meier relies on books by the foremost U.S. evangelist of Pope John Paul II’s theology of the body.

“Men appreciate West’s genuineness, his realness and the humble way he talks about difficult sexual sins that a lot of people struggle with in silence,” reported Meier. “Men who are looking for freedom connect with West and his material. It’s a life-changing experience.”

Meier spearheads the “freedom from pornography” effort in the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kan. His enthusiasm is shared by Church administrators in more than 40 dioceses where West has been invited to speak to Catholic educators, pre-Cana classes and youth groups.

Thousands more have participated in West’s in-depth seminars and purchased tapes and books. Public demand has kept the author’s latest works on the best-seller list of the Catholic Book Publishers Association for more than a decade, according to Matthew Pinto of Ascension Press, West’s publisher.

At the center of the Christopher West phenomenon is the theology of the body — what Pope John Paul II’s biographer, George Weigel, has described as a “theological time bomb.”

With popular titles like The Good News About Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions About Catholic Teaching, West has emerged as a high-octane evangelist with a gift for simplifying and popularizing the late Pope’s often complex teaching.

Like Meier, many applaud West’s ability to guide confused Catholics through the minefields of an increasingly hedonistic, sex-saturated culture.

Thus, when supporters learned ABC’s “Nightline” had scheduled a feature on West, they had every reason to believe the show would help him reach a broader audience of Catholics.

However, when “Nightline” aired its seven-minute segment in May, West got a salutary lesson in the pitfalls of employing secular media to evangelize the culture.

“Nightline” described West as a “sex sermonist” who celebrated John Paul II and Hugh Hefner as personal heroes who challenged a puritanical distaste for the human body and human desire.

“Christopher West is not your average sex therapist,” the program noted. “He’s a devout Catholic who believes one of the most important ways we can get closer to God is through great sex.”

 

Firestorm

West immediately sought to tamp down the ensuing firestorm, insisting that the segment misrepresented his work as a Catholic educator and took his comments out of context. His Theology of the Body Institute posted a clarification on its website, though West, who is preparing a more extensive response to his critics, declined a request for an interview.

“The point Christopher made — but which wasn’t included in the ‘Nightline’ piece — was that, as Catholics, we agree with Hugh Hefner’s diagnosis of the disease (i.e., a puritanical rejection of the body and sexuality is utterly contrary to Catholic faith), but we radically disagree with his cure,” explained a longer statement posted by the Theology of the Body In--sti-tute. “Christopher told the ‘Nightline’ correspondent that the theology of the body is the true cure for the disease that Hefner diagnosed.”

West’s struggle to stem the confusion reflected a desire to both defend his reputation and to prevent a backlash against the late Pope’s teachings, which have begun to enter the mainstream of Catholic catechetics with the encouragement of Pope Benedict XVI.

To many viewers, the “Nightline” segment gave the impression that Pope John Paul’s writings were designed as a kind of Church-approved therapy for individuals with sexual difficulties, a serious mischaracterization of the Pope’s legacy and thus of West’s own mission.

 

‘Love, Not Sex’

West’s clarification may suffice for most of his admirers. However, several theology professors at the author’s alma mater, the Washington, D.C.-based Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, issued statements suggesting he should consider further steps to set the record straight.

These critics acknowledged West’s deep love for the Church and accepted his claim that his statements were taken out of context. But they suggested that West’s use of iconic secular symbols like Hugh Hefner was but one symptom of a problematic style of evangelization.

“At the heart of the vision of John Paul II is an anthropology of love, including not only the human body, but everything, from the communion of persons and the family to the cosmos,” said David Schindler, the Edouard Cardinal Gagnon Professor of Fundamental Theology and the provost/dean of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.

“My concern is that this rich and comprehensive vision can be reduced to sex, when, in fact, love is the meaning of our profession as Christians,” added Schindler in an interview.

In two public statements posted on the Web, Schindler raised concerns about West’s approach to concupiscence, the inclination to sin that remains throughout the fallen state of human existence. The Church teaches that redemption of the body does not remove us from this state, nor does it place us in a paradisiacal or heavenly state. In an interview, Schindler noted that “even saints continue to live in the state we inherit from the sin of Adam and Eve.”

While John Paul II celebrates the human body and sexual desire as great goods designed, in the proper context, as a sign and a means by which the human person can participate in Trinitarian love, the Pontiff warns about the ongoing threat posed by concupiscence, strongly encouraging the adoption and daily practice of Christian virtue, prayer and reception of the sacraments.

Over the years, reported Schindler, students and diocesan educators had shared their “unease” regarding West’s approach. The source of this unease, suggested Schindler in one public statement, is that an ambiguous treatment of concupiscence could “quickly slide one toward a dangerous imprudence in matters of sexuality.”

 

High-Profile Supporters

The substance and style of West’s emotionally gripping pedagogical methods drew critiques from others, including philosopher Alice von Hildebrand and John Paul II Institute professor Father Jose Granados, co-author with Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, of Called to Love: Approaching John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

In the weeks since the interview, West also attracted high-profile supporters: Janet Smith, the popular author and speaker on Humanae Vitae (The Regulation of Birth) and natural family planning, and Michael Waldstein, the groundbreaking translator of Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body. Both scholars stepped forward to defend West and respectfully questioned the basis for his critics’ arguments.

“Christopher is going to be a flashpoint because he is taking dense and complicated material about sex and trying to deliver it to the public,” said Smith, a professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. “The ‘Nightline’ segment had a lot of good stuff and will have a long-term benefit.”

Smith defended West’s willingness to address controversial issues that rarely surfaced in academic journals, and publicly demanded that his detractors back up their concerns with hard evidence.

In the past, both Smith and Waldstein have joined up with West at public forums showcasing the Pope’s teaching.

But Smith and Waldstein have responded that their experience provided a unique opportunity to evaluate West’s approach.

“In 2005, I went on a sabbatical to Notre Dame to work on my translation of the theology of the body,” recalled Waldstein in an interview. Notre Dame offered no official forum to engage the Pope’s teaching; “the theology of the body was unknown. But I ran into some undergraduates who had been transformed by their encounter with the theology of the body through West.”

Waldstein didn’t dispute that West may have stumbled during the early days of his ministry, when he “dove into the cold water of the culture” and struggled to find a way to reach his audience. “Christopher says himself that he had to experiment and, to some degree, he is still experimenting with his approach,” said Waldstein.

Still, among West’s supporters and critics alike there remains a firm desire to bring the theology of the body to an ever-wider audience of ordinary Catholics. For now, that common goal is likely to keep West’s public speaking calendar filled for years to come — even as theologians and bishops intensify their scrutiny of his methods.

“It’s exciting that this teaching of Pope John Paul II, given to the Church almost 30 years ago, is just now being digested,” said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan. Archbishop Naumann acknowledged that “any effort to popularize a teaching” carried risks. Still, “on balance, West’s contribution has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Joan Frawley Desmond, a graduate of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family,

is a board member of Imago Dei, Inc., which promotes the study guide "A New Language: John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.”

Christopher West Corrected

A few years back, I took my daughter to a presentation on John Paul II''s Theology of the Body by Christopher West at the Catholic University of America. Though I had earned a masters degree from the John Paul II Institute for Studies of Marriage and Family,  I struggled to explain his teaching to my teenage children. I was impressed and pleased with West's ability to simplify the difficult concepts and keep my daughter's attention.  

However, while Christopher West has rightly earned great admiration for his effective popularization of the Theology of the Body (google this term and most of it will be books, presentations and retreats presenting West's synthesis of the pope's teaching),  some bishops and theologians have expressed concerns about his overly sexualized presentation of this new teaching. 

The problem came to a head in an ABC interview in which West compared Hugh Hefner's repudiation of Victorian prudishness with John Paul II's own efforts to confront a dualistic view of human sexuality that rejected the body as an expression of the human person's deepest values. In the wake of the interview,  West sought to correct the misimpression it created, arguing that his comments were "sensationalized."  But the controversy appears to be an ideal time for him to review his approach, in light of the concerns  summarized  by several prominent Catholic theologians.

Postscript: Anyone who is interested in learning more about the late pontiff's Theology of the Body should check out Imago Dei's "A New Language: John Paul II's Theology of the Body" study guide that offers 24 sessions that re-trace the pontiff's own "dialogue between faith and experience." I love this program and have fascilitated several study groups. A New Language study groups have popped up in over 23 U.S. dioceses and seven countries. A Spanish edition will be released this summer.