Pope St. John Paul II devoted about 30 percent of his Theology of the Body (TOB) Catechesis (TOB 24–64) to extensive reflections on Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 5:27–28 regarding the need to avoid “lust” in the recesses of the human heart. St. John Paul II did not focus so intently on this teaching simply to hammer home the evils of lust. Instead, he saw lust as an acute threat to the divine plan for human love, and that plan for love was always his greatest concern. He repeatedly presents the teaching of Jesus not so much as a condemnation of... Read more
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Articles Under: Marriage and Family
Pope St. John Paul II explicitly linked his Theology of the Body (TOB) catechesis [i] with the synod that he convoked to explore “the tasks that Christ gives to marriage and to the Christian family” (TOB 1:5). I n his post-synodal document, Familiaris Consortio , he states, “To bear witness to the inestimable value of the indissolubility and fidelity of marriage is one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples in our times.” In that same section of Familiaris Consortio , he specifically mentions the modern mentality that “openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity,”... Read more
The Theology of the Body (TOB) catechesis [i] culminates with profound teachings on responsible parenthood and a vigorous defense of Humanae vitae , but St. John Paul II equally proclaimed the depth and importance of the unitive aspect of marriage. In fact, nearly half of the TOB reflections are based directly on Jesus’ teachings on the indissolubility of marriage (TOB 1–23, based on Mt 19) and the monogamy of marriage (TOB 24–63, based on Mt 5). While emphasizing the inseparability between the procreative and unitive aspects, a key teaching of Humanae vitae , St. John Paul II also provided a... Read more
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As St. John Paul II concluded his Theology of the Body (TOB) Catechesis in November of 1984, he indicated that the application of TOB could go “far beyond the content of the reflections presented here” (TOB 133:1), while reaffirming the importance of his explicit applications to the teachings on responsible parenthood found in Humanae Vitae. Just three years later, the Magisterium provided its first major example of these wider applications of TOB when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith promulgated Donum Vitae to address medical interventions into the transmission of human life. The teachings of Donum Vitae continued... Read more
Most Catholic parents are so far removed from a rich Catholic culture that living a liturgical season—let alone the liturgical year—can seem impossible. Dr. Tracey Rowland, professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia, describes the scene by saying that young Catholics “find themselves in a situation where they have rarely experienced a fully functional Catholic culture.” She continues, “To find out about Christianity, especially the Catholic version of it, they watch documentaries and movies, they interrogate older Catholics, they google information about the saints, liturgies, and cultural practices. The cultural capital that should follow as a natural endowment upon... Read more
In the book Speaking the Truth in Love , Dr. Petroc Willey offers a triadic framework for transmitting the faith: the heart, head, and hand, where hand is the process of “handing on” the Deposit of Faith. [1] I hope he won’t mind if I borrow this triadic framework and modify it slightly for teaching St. John Paul II’s theology of the body (TOB) to the very young by changing “hand” to refer to “hands-on teaching,” i.e., manipulatives. In this way, all three—head, heart, and hand—can come together in forming the young child’s Trinitarian-Catholic identity. A Mini-Scripture Study Where did... Read more
St. John Paul II dedicated the entire sixth chapter of his theology of the body (TOB) catechesis to reaffirming and deepening the Church’s teaching on responsible parenthood, providing his most direct and extensive application of TOB to the Church’s teachings on sexual morality. Drawing upon the teachings of Gaudium et Spes and Humanae Vitae , St. John Paul II concentrates primarily on the “essential difference” between contraception and periodic continence (in America typically called Natural Family Planning or NFP) as the basis of the ethical difference between them expressed in the teachings of the Church (TOB 122:2). St. John Paul... Read more
In the second chapter of his Theology of the Body (TOB) catechesis, [1] Pope St. John Paul II underscores the special value of TOB for men and women seeking to understand the teachings of the Church in the area of sexual morality (TOB 59:5). The ultimate conclusion of these teachings is that, in order to conform to the demands of human dignity, a sexual act must be procreative and unitive in the context of genuine marital love. The full impact of this conclusion calls for careful reflections on each of the values in play. The special value of TOB rests... Read more
Family life is formed by the decisions made in the first years. Will we use NFP? How many children will we have? How will we educate our children? Will we pray daily? Will we go to Mass every Sunday, no matter how difficult it is? What will be first priority: sports, activities, vacation, a successful career, or something else? What movies will we watch? What will be the place of technology in our home? What kinds of lifelong friends do we want our children to have? We believe that a life in Catholic community with other families is necessary today... Read more
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