you know a number of the teaching of the
church are vilified in in parts of the
secular culture but probably none more
so than the Church's teachings on
marriage and sexuality I hear it all the
time the church is characterized in its
sexual teaching as puritanical as
hung-up as life denying as advocating
Bronze Age mythology of primitive desert
people all this business you know and
with church leaders defend the sexual
teaching of the church they're often
characterized as some version of Dana
Carvey Szold routine the church lady you
know sort of fussy and puritanical and
secretly obsessed with sex and all event
well how do we respond to this the
easiest part of that to respond to is
the charge of Puritanism to be sure
Puritanism is a very ancient teaching
you can find it in the philosophical and
religious traditions of the world both
east and west it would say some version
of is that the spiritual is good the
material is compromised or it's negative
and especially that part of the material
that draws us most into the world namely
sexuality is especially suspect the
program of puritanical systems is
usually to escape from Manor escape from
the negative to get to a pure
spirituality okay as I say that exists
east and west but it's not biblical go
back to the beginning of Genesis we find
God creating the whole panoply of things
material from planets and stars and Moon
and Sun to animals that walk on the
earth fish that swim in the ocean even
things that creep and crawl upon the
earth God of the Bible the God of the
Bible says all this is good even very
good now the upshot of that is there's
nothing in the world wrong with bodies
with sexuality with sexual longing and
design
all these things in themselves are good
even very good look now in the New
Testament when Jesus articulates his
view on marriage divorce and so on he
harkens back to the beginning of Genesis
and he says that God made these bodies
male and female and that the two become
one flesh
now notice first the focus on the word
flesh this is a Jew talking Greeks might
have had a hang-up about the flesh but
Jews did more to it the two becoming one
flesh say what you want about that image
that's a pretty sexy image and Jesus
himself puts that forward as the
explanation of what God intends for
Humanity so let me just underscore this
we are not talking here about a
puritanical system okay you make that
point then you say well then what
differentiates the Catholic or biblical
view from let's say the Playboy
philosophy which also celebrates
physicality and sexuality well here's
the difference Catholic teaching wants
to put sexuality which is good in itself
but it wants to place it within the
wider framework of love as I've said a
million times love is not a feeling or
sentiment love is an act of the will to
love is to will the good of the other
Catholic teaching is that not just
sexuality but all of life should be
contextualized within the broader
framework of love hence for example our
business lives think of our economic
lives they've got to be contextualized
by love lest they devolve simply into a
crass materialism think of our
relationships they too have got to be
contextualized within the framework of
love or they will devolve into something
like manipulation even our play our
recreation has to be conditioned by love
lest it devolve simply into a
self-indulgence sexuality is no
exception to this rule it to good in
itself
we're not Puritans but it must be
contextualized by love lest it devolve
into something simply
superficial and self-absorbed now you
want to see the opposite of this you
want to see when Catholic biblical
teaching is not being followed take a
look at the hook-up culture I spoke
about it just a couple weeks ago the
hook-up culture that says now sex should
just be enjoyed for its own sake in the
most superficial way divorced from any
connection to love commitment
relationship all right fine but look at
the effects of the hook-up culture
armies of young people suffering from
anxiety from depression from a sense of
hopelessness and not even cognizant very
often that their errant sexuality is one
of the principal causes of their deep
alienation and their deep suffering
Catholic teaching is sexuality belongs
in the context of love
now take one further step sexuality
context rise by love but then love human
love must be further contextualized by
the divine love as Jesus talks about
sexuality in marriage he says the two
become one flesh yes but then he says
what God has joined together we must not
separate extraordinarily important isn't
it that sexuality relationship marriage
is not simply a matter of sexual
attraction and love it's finally a
matter of divine providence that God has
drawn people together precisely for his
purposes when I was doing work in the
parish full-time years ago I would
prepare a lot of engaged couples for
marriage and I would ask them the
question inevitably why do you want to
get married church and they would have
an haw a bit but they'd usually come up
with some version of well because we're
in love and I would say well I'm
delighted you're in love that's terrific
but that's not sufficient reason for
getting married in church look at me
kind of puzzled but I make this point
that you get married in church when you
say to each other and to the people
gather there and you say before God we
realize that our relationship is part of
God's providence that we were brought
together by God
I see for God's purposes that our
relationship might become an iconic sign
of God's love for the world when you can
say that then you're ready to stand
before priests and stand before God and
stand before the people of God and make
your vows sexuality contextualized by
love love contextualized by the divine
love now that's the biblical Catholic
teaching on marriage sexuality life
denying hardly a Bronze Age desert
morality give me a break
hung up repressive defensive Oh
contraire it's rather a fully-realized
contextualization of sex which is seen
as good in itself
that's the church's view I'll make a
last point what we have today in our
culture is a rampant Nietzschean ism now
here I mean the view propagated by
Friedrich Nietzsche in the nineteenth
century that we are capable of radical
self creation the ubermensch for
Nietzsche the Superman is someone who's
thrown off the shackles of God throw off
the shackles of a restricting morality
and now is able to invent himself or
herself that view which was in the high
culture back in the 19th century has
certainly trickled down and now almost
everybody in the secular world is
functionally a Nietzschean self creation
the church does indeed stand against
that because it stands for this view of
sexuality which is not self creation but
rather self realization through love
ultimately the divine love is he frankly
I am glad that in the midst of this
culture which has tens of thousands of
advocates of practical Nietzschean ISM
I'm happy there's at least one voice the
voice of the Catholic Church that's
calling for a more richly imagined
understanding of sexuality