Franciscan at Home

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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 the application of TOB to the theme of responsible parenthood but directed it to the question of how couples can seek to grow their family in a morally sound way when they are experiencing challenges with their natural fertility. 

Echoing the main teachings of Donum Vitae, this installment of the series summarizes how the anthropological and moral principles of TOB support the proper use of medical science in the exercise of responsible parenthood, while highlighting the grave evils of artificial reproduction. 

Procreative Love and Responsibility 

Within the TOB framework, procreation essentially means providing the dignified and just context for God’s creative action, and the essence of responsible parenthood centers on the commitment of man and woman to provide that context out of love for each other and with a sense of obligation before God. Responsible parenthood means being fruitful in a way that does justice to all involved precisely in order to fulfill the privileged role of man and woman in the mystery of creation, thus preserving the truth of procreation as an essential aspect of the love to which human sexuality is ordered. 

Procreation springs from the heart of conjugal love, rather than being something added on to the love of the man and the woman, and represents an utterly unique way for them to express their love and commitment to each other. Through procreation, man and woman give motherhood and fatherhood to each other and thereby give themselves to each other with an unsurpassed depth. For that reason, those who love in this conjugal way deeply want to give motherhood and fatherhood to each other and to see new life spring from their loving communion. Therefore, it is natural and fitting that a man and a woman in conjugal love seek medical help whenever they are experiencing infertility. Likewise, the teachings of the Church recognize with great compassion the pain of infertility precisely because it frustrates the deep currents of conjugal love. 

However, along with the deep desire to give children to each other, married couples stand before God with an obligation to cooperate with him in the transmission of life. Married couples should feel that same sense of obligation to seek proper healthcare if they experience infertility. In other words, a couple that truly loves each other and that wants to fulfill their obligations before God cannot remain indifferent to infertility. 

There are natural limits to human fertility within God’s plan for human sexuality, but medical science generally says that more than twelve months of sexual intercourse in the fertile phase of the woman’s cycle without conception would be a cause for concern. According to the meaning of responsible parenthood, a couple in that situation should seek fertility care out of love for each other and with a sense of obligation before God. 

We should keep in mind that this medical care does not always lead to very complicated or invasive procedures or expensive treatments; sometimes very simple observations and changes can be made to help a couple overcome their infertility. However, no matter how simple or complicated their fertility issues may be, the couple should feel a moral obligation to try to overcome their infertility within the bounds of prudence and within the meaning of the same language of the body that governs all responsible parenthood. 

By seeking fertility care in line with the principles of responsible parenthood, couples say to each other, “Because I care so much about you, I can’t act like I don’t care about our infertility. Sharing parenthood with you means so much to me that I am willing to take the time and effort to seek help and to accept the physical and emotional costs of trying to overcome our infertility. I am not willing, however, to do anything that degrades our bodies, contradicts the meaning of our spousal communion, or violates the dignity of the children we seek to give each other. The treatment we seek must be dignified and loving in order to genuinely express the movements of my heart toward you.” 

Fortunately, TOB offers couples a clear basis for understanding the criteria by which treatments would be dignified and loving and thus within the proper meaning of responsible parenthood. 

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.

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 my inspiration for teaching young children TOB arise from? It started with my son, Michael, at age ten. We were sitting at the dinner table, and the parental catechist in me decided to take him through a mini-Scripture study of Genesis 1 and 2. We started with Genesis 1:27 about being made in God’s image and likeness; then continued with Genesis 2:7, on imaging God by being both body and spirit; and capped it off with Genesis 2:23–24 with an explanation of how we’re made for union and communion through a gift of self.

His ten-year-old eyes immediately told me I’d overshot his ability to comprehend. So, I grabbed what I had at hand, my hands, and created my first TOB visual aid: I put my hands together in a prayer position and said, “We’re made from one nature” and then I dropped both hands down with two fingers protruding from each hand (like two legs) “embodied in two ways”, then interlaced my fingers while saying “for the purpose of union and communion” and turned my hands outward as if giving a gift and said with a triumphant finish “through a sincere gift of self!” By George, I think he got it! I’d “handed on” a critical portion of the faith in a seminal way to a ten-year-old.

Twenty-four years later, I’ve graduated from merely using my hands (although I’ve taught thousands of people this “gift formula” using the hand motions) to a bevy of visual aids that can double as manipulatives for preschool age. And my favorite among them are gift bows. But just how young can we begin to teach TOB? Enter my one-year-old granddaughter, Sutton.

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 II clearly wants to correct the common misconception that they are both just types of “birth control” listed on medical pamphlets or that they differ only inasmuch as one uses “artificial” methods to control births. However, he primarily employs the major tenets of TOB to describe how contraception degrades the human body and corrupts the sexual intimacy of those couples who introduce it into their relationships in sharp contrast with the way that NFP fosters respect for the human body and the kind of self-mastery that promotes greater love between man and woman.

In the second chapter of his Theology of the Body (TOB) catechesis,[i] 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 in giving a basis for these reflections that allows people to see the interpersonal significance of each of these values in light of the personal dignity of the body.

More to the point, TOB helps people see why the sexual act must be a marital act, open to life, monogamous, free of lust, and so on because it helps people understand the profound difference that each of those points makes in the sexual life of a couple. In turn, this helps people understand how radically different certain sexual acts can be in terms of affirming the value of the person and expressing the heartfelt recognition of someone’s dignity and worth.

This installment of the series begins exploring the relationship between TOB and the central questions of sexual morality by applying the TOB paradigm to the procreative aspect of human sexuality.

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?

"Y le anunciaron la Palabra del Señor a él y a todos los de su casa" Hechos 16,32.

En la primera parte establecimos la razón fundamental por la cual el sabio proceso del RICA debe de tomar la delantera de nuestros esfuerzos por evangelizer y catequizar a familias enteras. Guiándonos del Directorio para la catequesis, nuestro enfoque es “una catequesis de inspiración catecumenal para aquellos que han recibido los Sacramentos de Iniciación Cristiana, pero que aún no están suficientemente evangelizados o catequizados, o para aquellos que desean reanudar el camino de la fe”[1]. Este artículo explora los elementos involucrados en el desarrollo de un proceso que incorpora la evangelización y catequesis pos bautismal para padres de familia, inspirado en el modelo del RICA.

Primero lo primero

Es esencial agendar una cordial bienvenida que prevé tiempo para conversar con los padres de familia al comenzar nuestra relación con ellos. Otramente dicho, el modelo más conocido de “apuntar” o “inscribir” al niño para su preparación a los sacramentos no funciona en esta situación. En este momento, lo que más nos interesa es conocer a los padres de familia y establecer con ellos una relación.

Ya que se haya establecido con los papás una relación con cierto grado de confianza y entendimiento, es esencial determinar por qué los padres de familia creen que es importante llevar a sus hijos de edad catequética a bautizarse ahora y dónde están ellos en su itinerario de Fe. Es crítico que se empiece a sondear cuál ha sido la experiencia de “iglesia” que han vivido para determinar cuál (si es que la hay) relación tienen con la Persona de Cristo. A menudo, encontramos un puente de confianza con la Iglesia misma por medio de la recepción de los sacramentos como niños, o por los familiares, etc., pero no con Jesucristo. De alguna forma, perciben la llamada de Dios, pero frecuentemente son incapaces de articularla. Nuestra misión es llevarlos desde el punto dónde están, colocarles en los brazos misericordiosos de Jesús, y formarles para ser Sus discípulos para que ellos, a su vez, puedan formar a sus hijos.

Developing a Process

“And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house.” Acts 16:32

In part one we established the rationale for the wise process of the RCIA to move to the forefront of our endeavors for evangelization and catechesis of entire families. Taking guidance from the Directory for Catechesis, our focus is on a “catechesis of catechumenal inspiration for those who have received the sacraments of initiation but are not yet sufficiently evangelized or catechized or for those who desire to resume the journey of faith.”[1] This article explores the elements involved in developing a process incorporating post-baptismal evangelization and catechesis for parents, inspired by the RCIA model. 

First Things First

A warm welcome with time set aside for conversation with the parents is essential as we begin our relationship with them. In other words, the more familiar model of “signing up” or “registering” the child for sacramental prep does not work in this situation. At this point we are most interested in meeting the parents and establishing a relationship.

Once a rapport has been developed, it is essential to determine why the parents believe it is important to bring their children of catechetical age to be baptized now and where they are in their faith journey. It is critical to begin looking into what their lived experience of “church” has been to determine what (if any) relationship they have with the person of Christ. Often, we find a bridge of trust with the Church itself through reception of sacraments as children, through relatives, etc., but not with Jesus Christ. They somehow sense God’s call but are often unable to articulate it. Our mission is to take them from where they are, bring them into the merciful arms of Jesus, and form them to be his disciples so that they, in turn, can form their children.

[1] Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, Directory for Catechesis (Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2020), no. 62 (hereafter cited in text as DC); emphasis original.

Because of the pandemic, instead of working directly with children, many parish catechists are helping parents gain confidence in preparing their children for sacraments without traditional classes. I believe this new process can ennoble families to better assume their role in society.

“Ennoble,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, means to “make noble or elevate.” (“Ennoble,” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ennoble.) Kings and queens elevate or “ennoble” a “commoner” to the status of “noble.” One cannot ennoble himself. He receives his nobility either through family inheritance, marriage, or as a gift bestowed by the proper authority.

As Catholics, our ennoblement begins at Baptism when we become members of God’s kingdom family with Christ as King. The liturgical rite itself is an ennobling gift received from the Church. The sacramental signs of candle and flame, water, oil, and white garment are gifts. So are the words of Sacred Scripture, the sign of the cross, and the renewal of baptismal promises.

At the baptism of our youngest grandchild, obligatory facemasks could not diminish the solemn dignity embodied by each member of baby Oliver’s family as we witnessed his two oldest siblings step up as godparents. Three generations were united by word and creed as we left the earthly realm of time and space to enter into the sacred liturgy and Oliver became a child of the King.

We could discuss in detail the ennobling qualities we receive in each of the Church’s sacraments, but let’s turn our attention instead toward ennobling practices Catholics can receive from the Church and adapt to family life.