This is an excellent article from Steve Pokorny at Catholic Exchange. A bit of an intro: Throughout human history, since Adam and Eve, there has been the temptation to want to take the powers of life into our own hands. There is the insidious idea that is floated through our fallible minds that if we manipulate things to our liking, … Read More
TOB Tuesday: Sex, Life and Death
In a column for Catholic Exchange not too long ago, Dr. Mark Dendrickson commented on the increasing incidence of men killing their pregnant lovers and how the “culture of death” has progressed this far. The driving force: Another powerful anti-life undertow was generated by the “sexual revolution.” For many, the Judeo-Christian concept of sex for procreation was eclipsed by the … Read More
TOB Tuesday: Read Humanae Vitae!
As I was reading through some of JP II’s writings on the Theology of the Body for today’s TOB Tuesday post, I came across this passage: The theology of the body is not merely a theory, but rather a specific evangelical, Christian pedagogy of the body. This pedagogic character comes from the character of the Bible and above all of … Read More
TOB Tuesday: TOB Video Series
I found a great little video series on the Theology of the Body from Fr. Roger Landry of the Diocese of Fall River Mass. – excellent for anyone picking up the teaching for the first time. Here is part one: See part II, part III, part IV, part V, part VI, part VII and part VIII TOB Tuesdays
TOB Tuesday: Sex and Natural Law
JP II comments on Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae and the nature of the marital act: “The Church…teaches that each and every marriage act must remain through itself open to the transmission of life. That teaching, often set forth by the magisterium, is founded upon the inseparable connection, willed by god and unable to be broken by man on … Read More
TOB Tuesday: The Pivotal Question
Last weekend Christopher West finally offered his reflections on the criticism that started after his appearance on Nightline this May.** One of the main things West was criticized for was his supposed dismissal of concupiscence and the human propensity toward sin. To which he responds, in part: The pivotal question as I see it is this: What does the grace … Read More
TOB Tuesday: Is Celibacy a Life of Sexual Repression?
Christopher West has a great article up at Catholic Exchange: The difference between marriage and celibacy…must never be understood as the difference between having a “legitimate” outlet for sexual lust on the one hand and having to repress it on the other. Christ calls everyone – no matter his or her particular vocation – to experience redemption from the domination … Read More
TOB Tuesday: The Body Speaks of God
In the preface to Carl Anderson and Jose Granados’ new book about Theology of the Body, Called to Love, Livio Melina, President of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, writes: For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you , for you are fearful and wonderful. … Read More
TOB Tuesday: Understanding Marriage
JP II beautifully explains the institution of marriage and what it symbolizes – something our modern society is trying its best to dismantle on a daily basis: They key for understanding marriage remains the reality of the sign with which marriage is constituted on the basis of man’s covenant with God in Christ and the Church: is is constituted in … Read More
TOB Tuesday: Time for a Sexual Counter Revolution!
This is a great article from Jennifer Hartline at Catholic Online: With our government on the verge of passing health care legislation that, absent explicit language placed within it prohibiting Federal funds from being used for abortion, will mandate abortion coverage paid for by you and me, I figure now’s a good time for a radical discussion about sex. We’ll … Read More