Monsignor Charles Pope posted an excellent piece on the Archdiocese of Washington blog entitled “The Politician and the ‘Private’ Sin: Christine O’Donnell Runs Afoul of the ‘New Morality.’” Msgr. Pope uses the “controversy” generated by recent airing of old video showing O’Donnell denouncing masturbation as a springboard for a discussion of the Catholic view of sexuality and masturbation. Please follow the link above and read his full article. Msgr. Pope’s teaching is spot-on and delivered with excellent pastoral care and wisdom.
I’m firmly convinced one of the greatest causes for a negative reaction against the Catholic Church today and for producing dissent from Church teaching by many “Catholics” is the very “closeness” of the Church herself. Because the Church is so “familiar,” many people believe they’re complete experts on what the Church teaches based on nothing more than their own opinions and hearsay, particularly “Catholics” who vaguely recall Sister So-and-so (often a feminist dissenter – such as in my “Catholic” grade school) saying something about something in grade school Catechism class during the 1970s or 1980s. Yet, what they think the Church teaches has little to no connection to her actual teaching. Sexuality is a prime example.
Most people, and far too many “Catholics,” believe the Church teaches that anything connected with the body or with sex is “evil” and “dirty” – and that we should feel “guilty” for having any sort of “sinful” thought or feeling about sex. This is pure rubbish! Nothing could be further from the truth regarding actual Church teaching on human sexuality and the human body.
The Church has consistently taught that because Jesus was fully divine and fully human (two natures in one person), the human body is not inherently “dirty” or “evil.” Any teaching to the contrary is heresy – and in fact the Church has fought many heresies founded upon the notion of the human body as “dirty” or “evil” since the days the early Church. God would not have become fully human if He viewed our bodies and our sexuality as “dirty” and “evil.” Instead, He gave us our bodies and everything associated with them, including our sexuality, as a gift of His free will. Therefore, the Church has always held the body, and sexuality by connection, are wonderfully beautiful gifts from God.
The Church teaches that, as a gift from God, we should treat our sexuality with the utmost reverence and respect as we’d treat any other great gift given us by someone who cares deeply about us (and no one cares more about us than God). As part of caring for and treasuring this gift, we should keep it oriented towards its divine purpose – the physical union of man and woman in marriage to produce children. We don’t like to hear it today, but orienting our sexuality towards any other purpose goes against its nature and against God’s intention.
Instead of treating our sexuality with such respect, many of us discard it to the dung heap. In a perverse twist of reality, our secular society claims this dung heap is “good” while Church teaching (which is the message of God and not man) is “bad.” Secular society completely objectifies sexuality. We are consistently taught, particularly through pornography, to treat people as nothing more than sexual objects for our self-centered sexual pleasure – including even our own bodies. We’re taught to not worry about the true purpose of sexuality (little lone its beauty) by using contraceptives, and if those don’t work, “eliminating” the “accidental” “product” of a sexual encounter “gone wrong.” After all, as Barack Obama believes, we wouldn’t want to “punish” anyone with a baby for a “mistake.”
We’ve truly become blind people wondering around in the dark eating from the trash heap while believing it’s a gourmet meal. God offers us true light, true vision and a Heavenly banquet, yet we refuse His offer, believing we know better than Him the purpose of our humanity and sexuality. The Church offers a guiding hand to help lead us blind souls into the light, yet we slap it away. Why have we allowed Satan and his demons to blind us so?
It’s not a new problem. It’s actually a very old and very simple problem. From the time of Adam and Eve, humans have acted like unruly children by “playing God” and thinking they know better what’s best for them than the Father. The solution is likewise abundantly simple. We must submit our wills to the will of God. We must trust that the Father does know what’s best for us. Only in this decision do we find true freedom and authentic expression of our humanity and sexuality.
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Masturbation and the Catholic Church
Posted in Commentary, Philosophy, Sexuality, Theology, tagged Abortion, Archdiocese of Washington, Barack Obama, Catholic, Charles Pope, Christine O'Donnell, Commentary, Faith, Holy Ghost, Human, Humanity, Jesus, Magesterium, Masturbation, Meditation, Philosophy, Prayer, Sex, Sexual, Sexuality, Theology, Tradition on September 27, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Monsignor Charles Pope posted an excellent piece on the Archdiocese of Washington blog entitled “The Politician and the ‘Private’ Sin: Christine O’Donnell Runs Afoul of the ‘New Morality.’” Msgr. Pope uses the “controversy” generated by recent airing of old video showing O’Donnell denouncing masturbation as a springboard for a discussion of the Catholic view of sexuality and masturbation. Please follow the link above and read his full article. Msgr. Pope’s teaching is spot-on and delivered with excellent pastoral care and wisdom.
I’m firmly convinced one of the greatest causes for a negative reaction against the Catholic Church today and for producing dissent from Church teaching by many “Catholics” is the very “closeness” of the Church herself. Because the Church is so “familiar,” many people believe they’re complete experts on what the Church teaches based on nothing more than their own opinions and hearsay, particularly “Catholics” who vaguely recall Sister So-and-so (often a feminist dissenter – such as in my “Catholic” grade school) saying something about something in grade school Catechism class during the 1970s or 1980s. Yet, what they think the Church teaches has little to no connection to her actual teaching. Sexuality is a prime example.
Most people, and far too many “Catholics,” believe the Church teaches that anything connected with the body or with sex is “evil” and “dirty” – and that we should feel “guilty” for having any sort of “sinful” thought or feeling about sex. This is pure rubbish! Nothing could be further from the truth regarding actual Church teaching on human sexuality and the human body.
The Church has consistently taught that because Jesus was fully divine and fully human (two natures in one person), the human body is not inherently “dirty” or “evil.” Any teaching to the contrary is heresy – and in fact the Church has fought many heresies founded upon the notion of the human body as “dirty” or “evil” since the days the early Church. God would not have become fully human if He viewed our bodies and our sexuality as “dirty” and “evil.” Instead, He gave us our bodies and everything associated with them, including our sexuality, as a gift of His free will. Therefore, the Church has always held the body, and sexuality by connection, are wonderfully beautiful gifts from God.
The Church teaches that, as a gift from God, we should treat our sexuality with the utmost reverence and respect as we’d treat any other great gift given us by someone who cares deeply about us (and no one cares more about us than God). As part of caring for and treasuring this gift, we should keep it oriented towards its divine purpose – the physical union of man and woman in marriage to produce children. We don’t like to hear it today, but orienting our sexuality towards any other purpose goes against its nature and against God’s intention.
Instead of treating our sexuality with such respect, many of us discard it to the dung heap. In a perverse twist of reality, our secular society claims this dung heap is “good” while Church teaching (which is the message of God and not man) is “bad.” Secular society completely objectifies sexuality. We are consistently taught, particularly through pornography, to treat people as nothing more than sexual objects for our self-centered sexual pleasure – including even our own bodies. We’re taught to not worry about the true purpose of sexuality (little lone its beauty) by using contraceptives, and if those don’t work, “eliminating” the “accidental” “product” of a sexual encounter “gone wrong.” After all, as Barack Obama believes, we wouldn’t want to “punish” anyone with a baby for a “mistake.”
We’ve truly become blind people wondering around in the dark eating from the trash heap while believing it’s a gourmet meal. God offers us true light, true vision and a Heavenly banquet, yet we refuse His offer, believing we know better than Him the purpose of our humanity and sexuality. The Church offers a guiding hand to help lead us blind souls into the light, yet we slap it away. Why have we allowed Satan and his demons to blind us so?
It’s not a new problem. It’s actually a very old and very simple problem. From the time of Adam and Eve, humans have acted like unruly children by “playing God” and thinking they know better what’s best for them than the Father. The solution is likewise abundantly simple. We must submit our wills to the will of God. We must trust that the Father does know what’s best for us. Only in this decision do we find true freedom and authentic expression of our humanity and sexuality.
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