THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

THEOLOGY OF THE BODY STUDY GROUP NOTES
Fr. Thomas Loya, November 14, 2009
[Sr. Helena's useless comments in brackets]

for archived video of this class and past classes:

www.ustream.com/channel/theology-of-the-body

This TOB series is applying TOB to everyday issues. We've covered "gay marriage," healthcare, women and priesthood, etc. We can apply a sacramental/Catholic worldview to everything.

Since the 16^th century, we have a veil over our eyes and don't see things in a sacramental worldview any more. We see everything ONLY through a scientific-rationalist lens [which is minimalist and impoverishing!] So now we don't have the right view of nature, the human person, reality, anything! We no longer see things as integrated: body and spirit.

It's interesting that atheists and the sexual revolution say the same thing we're saying: "I AM my body." But they stop there. We would continue and say "I AM my body AND my soul. Together." My body delivers my WHOLE person.

We have taken love/sexuality/body out of the heart of the Trinity and divorced it from any context, and so we can do whatever we want with it: redefine, use, abuse, etc. AND we've left a gaping hole in the Trinity so our view of God is incomplete, and we don't understand how these two "things" could possibly go together. Sex is dirty and God is holy, right?

Passage from "Book of Tobit" in the Bible—Sarah and Tobias' wedding night. [You've gotta read this whole book!] Tobias: "You know I don't take this wife of mine for lust." Lust is always bad—it's treating someone as an object for our own self-gratification; it appropriates the object of lust. Desire sees that something/someone is good and wants it, but always with respect, boundaries, treating persons as persons.

Even in the "good old days" (pre-Vatican II) of the Church's past, marriage was sometimes seen as a just a place to legitimize your lust*, unbridled concupiscence [especially on the part of the man]. This attitude caused true abuse of wives and thus even pushed women toward contraception!

___________________

*This was never part of Church teaching, but rather an attitude and practice.

There were some good things about the approach of the pre-Vatican II Church to sex and even the sexual revolution got some things right (emphasis on the person, the personal, mutuality).

It's all about INTEGRATION.

p. 606 TOB text: The language of the body is the language of the liturgy. Because both have their source in God.
p. 612 TOB text: The language of the liturgy elevates marriage. "Conjugal life, in some sense, becomes liturgy."

The ONE FLESH UNION finds its context in the EUCHARIST which finds its context in the SACRIFICE OF THE CROSS which finds its consummation in the HEAVENLY WEDDING FEAST. Everything is all about one thing: THE SPOUSAL MYSTERY (GOD'S LOVE). LITURGY is where this is all played out. That's why THE EUCHARIST is the "source and summit" of our life.

[We can just vaguely talk about God's love, but how does God love?] Spousally!!!! God loves us freely, fully, faithfully and fruitfully.

God recreated the human race in Jesus and Mary, mystically. Fulton Sheen: "How did old humanity begin? Nuptials. How did the new humanity begin? Nuptials. Jesus, the new Adam, looked down from the Cross at the new Eve. The Church was born from His side. The blood and water from Jesus' side was the seminal fluid of the new Church." "Marriage bed of the cross was one of pain, not pleasure."

When did Jesus call Mary "woman"? At WEDDING of Cana and on the CROSS. (Two weddings.)

Icon (triangle)—Jesus, Mary, John (John represents the new offspring) "Behold your mother." "It is consummated."

Mary and Joseph were living the heavenly marriage on earth. It was a virginal marriage. [Virginal means totally God's, body and soul. Marriage means total union, body and soul. We will be able to do both in heaven, but not on earth!]

The imagery of the Passion is Christ the Bridegroom, stripped, crowned, hands bound. We tend to look at it very literally: he was being tortured. But what was it mystically? In Eastern Church, Holy Week is "week of the Bridegroom."

"Christ emerges from the tomb like a bridegroom coming from the bridal chamber and fills the women with joy." –Eastern Easter Sunday liturgy, written by saints.

[Everything is not the same. That's why we need to integrate it.]

Church architecture is patterned after the Jewish temple. The Eastern Church has retained this. [And didn't God give the directions for the Temple?] [Fr. Loya describes the interior of the Eastern churches.]

The priest only went into the holy of holies for the loftiest of reasons.

Liturgy is about "something" on high coming down to us.

The priest faces East [all churches were built facing the East, but now Latin Rite doesn't do it any more] and only turn to the people for the Word, the Eucharist and the Blessing. These 3 things are the acts of insemination: planting something in the Bride.

The very architecture, rhythm of the liturgy matches REALITY, bodily and mystically.

Father Loya highly recommends book "Spirit of Liturgy" by Cardinal Ratzinger, p. 78 & 79: "The idea of priest facing the people is a misunderstanding of the Roman basilica, the Last Supper. In antiquity, the presider never faced the people. The table was horse-shoe shaped. The way we are doing liturgy now is over-emphasizing the role of the priest and lessening the role of God." Ratzinger: liturgy becomes a "self-enclosed circle." The circle model is more feminine. The male role drops out and we LOSE THE SPOUSAL MEANING / REALITY / ACTION. [By overemphasizing the male role, everything else gets out of whack, the feminine pushes back, perhaps even takes over, and then there is a power struggle.]

[We see things literally, one-dimensionally and so we lose the mystical reality. And "mystical" means "the MOST real."]

If liturgy goes well, everything proceeds forth from that. Liturgy informs life.

Posture/gesture/sound, everything in liturgy is meant to get us to participate in the spousal reality.

The Tridentine Mass had abuses creeping in—the priest/altar boy were doing their own thing. The people were doing their own thing. Vatican II wanted to fix that. Latin is still the language of the Church. But vernacular is OK. We weren't supposed to change the fundamental nature of the liturgy, the theology of the liturgy.

We need to listen to God / the Church / the Bible about our Church, not what the world says about our Church.

[We can't be "all one" in the sense of a radical egalitarianism because we're NOT all the same and we know that instinctively and so we struggle to be distinct when that distinctiveness is obliterated.]

[It's not just "balance," it's "integration."]

#1617—CCC—Everything is about the nuptial mystery!

Everything IS "sexual" in the sense of the Spousal Mystery.

Evdokimov—good Russian theologian to read (book on womanhood, book on love) but he does go off on contraception (won't say it's ALWAYS instrinsically evil)

Love hurts…..

Gender is theology, theology is gender. Gender is everything. "Male and female he created them." The order of creation is clearly gendered. Are their all kinds of gender confusions and disorders? Yes! But there are all kinds of other disorders in creation as well.

You can't change the divine order, you can only pretend!

The husband must love the bride, not understand her.

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POPE BENEDICT AND THE NEW MEDIA (HE TOTALLY GETS IT)

Church must adapt to the way media are impacting culture, pope says

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) --

New media are not just instruments for communicating, but they are having a huge impact on culture -- on the way people interact and think, Pope Benedict XVI said."This constitutes a challenge for the church, called to proclaim the Gospel to people of the third millennium," the pope said Oct. 29 during a meeting with members of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. The content of the Gospel message remains unchanged, he said, but the church must learn how to transmit that message to new generations and must do so by taking advantage of the new technology and new attitudes toward communications. Pope Benedict said one of the marks of the new media culture is its multimedia and interactive structure.

New technology is not leading to developments only in television or radio or the Internet, but is "gradually generating a kind of global communications system" in which media are used together and the audience participates in generating content, he said. "I want to take this occasion to ask those in the church who work in the sphere of communications and have responsibility for pastoral guidance to take up the challenges these new technologies pose for evangelization," the pope said.

Pope Benedict encouraged all producers and users of media "to promote a culture of respect for the dignity and value of the human person, a dialogue rooted in the sincere search for truth (and) for friendship that is not an end in itself, but is capable of developing the talents of each person to put them at the service of the human community. "The pontifical council, he said, is called to study the new media culture and offer Catholics ethical guidance so that they recognize the importance of the communications media and use it effectively to spread the Gospel.

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MOVIES: "THE 13TH DAY" (OUR LADY OF FATIMA)

This is a triumph of a film. And I don’t think I’ve ever used that word for a film before. “The 13th Day” was screened here at the 1st Annual John Paul II Film Festival in Miami: http://www.jp2filmfestival.com/. British producer Natasha Howes (birthday: May 13, feast of Our Lady of Fatima) was present.
I was prepared not to like this film, and very apprehensive about not liking it because I was a panelist. Two friends had already seen it and didn’t seem to know what to do with the film, how to react to it. I knew it was in black and white, and not only that, it was presented in the noir genre. Although I’m a fan of b/w, I know that the younger generation is not, and I fully expected something sensationalized, and perhaps amateurish. I also love the oldie-goldie movie “Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima,” and consider it definitive. I couldn’t imagine anything topping it or even coming close. All of my fears were unwarranted.

“The 13th Day” was created to spread the message of Fatima (a wealthy benefactor is making this his life’s mission, and approached Natasha who connected him with the Higgins brothers, Ian and Dominic, who wrote, directed, shot and edited the film). It was going to be a ten-minute informational short, but it morphed into a feature film. The Brothers Higgins (our new Catholic Coen brothers?) have a very particular artistic view and have combined older film-making techniques and sensibilities (think “Passion of Joan of Arc,” “Citizen Kane,” “Diary of a Country Priest,” with a pinch of Westerns thrown in) with modern digital film making capabilities. The result? Stunning genius and a truly intense religious and spiritual experience. This would make an excellent retreat film.

I don’t particularly care for the above-mentioned films from which “13th Day” draws. However, “13th Day” has made me appreciate this style of film and actually enjoy it. That’s talent. (Much the way the movies “Moonstruck” and “Life is Beautiful” changed my mind about opera and made me understand it and like it.)

This is a highly stylized film. Ultra-dramatic blocking, soft focus, chiaroscuro, use of surreal, almost-colorized color, all help us focus on what CANNOT be seen. The choice of a kind of serious, spooky, supernatural thriller tone (replete with requisite ravens) is rigidly adhered to. And why not? We’re talking grave spiritual warfare here: World War I, World War II, hell—what matters could be more weighty? And real? However, the film doesn’t feel stiff. It is luminous. The actors get to emote as the camera lingers on the human face. The three children are first generation Portuguese non-actors, and they give natural, realistic performances, almost in contrast to their more polished adults counterparts. Our Lady’s face is beautiful, luminescent and glimpsed through bright white light. This film portrays Our Lady of Fatima almost as Our Lady of Sorrows. But it makes sense—the world was enduring incredible suffering during the Great War, and Our Lady could see, in God, the future suffering of the 20th century.

The clothing, especially, is utterly realistic. The story is told in a simple, straightforward, increasingly spell-binding way. (Some in my theater who did not know the story of OLF missed a few pieces of the story—their fault; but the “3 secrets” are only visualized without explanation that these ARE the secrets—moviemakers’ fault.) The audio is crisp and staccato.

The voiceover of adult Sr. Lucia (now a Carmelite nun) draws us through the events, and although I usually would have agreed with one panelist (who dislikes voiceover, and as a film purist myself, voiceover is NOT the visual medium of film: “show, don’t tell”), I found that this extraordinary visit from heaven adapted itself well to a spiritual memoir—“This truly happened to me. I saw her with my own eyes….” It makes the supernatural less at a remove—“A long time ago, three little children….” I am curious now to know how much of the narration was Lucia’s actual account.

Another panelist (a professional in the field, as was the other panelist) who works in Catholic young adult ministry was disappointed that the film wasn’t more “mainstream.” He seemed to think that it wouldn’t appeal to young adults. But judging from the little sprouts in the audience (see below), this might not be the case. “13th Day” is something so entirely different, it grabs attention.

My two favorite scenes are: 1) when Jacinta dances in prison (a foretaste of heaven—when saints and repentant sinners unite)—and weren’t all the sacrifices and penances the children were making FOR sinners? 2) the old woman who doesn’t fear the miracle of the sun because she knows her God is good. What an image of standing, enduring the “day of the Lord”! (When you hear the “poof” of the flashbulbs and see the still photos of the miracle of the sun, those are real pictures from 1917.)

The special effects are exciting and made me think: why SHOULDN’T we be using SPFX for the Divine? (And not just for monsters, explosions, witchcraft and destruction.) I love the SPFX in the movie “St. Patrick” when St. Patrick duels it out with the druids.

There is much time for reflection during the deliberately-paced shots and scenes. One can’t help but examine one’s conscience, but not in a morbid way. When Lucia is asked: “Are the secrets bad or good?” She pauses: “Bad for some, good for others.” That’s just a fact. And one may find oneself wishing to pray more, to make sacrifices to save souls as Our Lady asked. This film truly communicates faith, communicates the reality of God, the eternal stakes—a difficult task for the screen. And perhaps we should learn to be afraid of what is true horror.

And now, about the kids in the audience. There were a lot of tweens (9-12 yr olds), and one little girl, Lulu, was even celebrating her birthday with her friends at the film. It dawned on me that the protags were kids! (I would have loved to have made it more "spiritual" by questioning them: “What would you have done if Our Lady appeared to you?” “Do you think you would have the courage to go through what those kids went through?” etc., but I tried to keep to more strictly “film criticism.”

ME: “You guys (kids) aren’t supposed to like black and white. Did you like it?”

KID: “The black and white was OK. It was a very emotional experience for me.”

ME: “Were you ever scared?”

KID: “Yes, a little—when the ground opened up to show hell, and when the hand from hell grabbed her.”

The kids really wanted to talk about the movie, and when producer Natasha was fielding questions, the young people wanted explanations about what different scenes meant. I kept thinking: “Wow—wouldn’t it be great if we had religious film festivals like this all over the country and got the kids in the audience talking?”

This is not a terribly fanciful film. The characters of the children were researched along with various anecdotes that find their way into the movie.

I could go on and on about this film. But when you buy the DVD this December, make sure you watch it with your friends on a big screen. And pray a rosary afterward. Mary asked for 1) the rosary to be prayed for world peace 2) prayers and penance for the conversion of sinners 3) conversion of Russia. We need to continue to pray for Holy Mother Russia today. 75 years of communism decimated the country in many ways. Today, Russia is losing 1,000,000 Russians every year to abortion, immigration, and death from old age. Check out Mary, Mother of God missions, rebuilding the Catholic Church in Eastern Russia: http://www.vladmission.org/

OTHER STUFF:
It’s appropriate that an Our Lady of Fatima movie be shown at a “John Paul II” film festival. He was truly THE Fatima pope.

--JP2G was shot (it is believed by the Russian KGB working through a Bulgarian hit man) on May 13, 1981—anniversary of first apparition. The bullet is now in Our Lady’s crown in Fatima.
--Recuperating, JP2G became convinced that the only way to achieve world peace and to combat atheism was through the consecration of the world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
--May 12, 1982, a second attempt was made on JP2G’s life IN Fatima by a mentally-ill Lefebvrite priest who managed to stab JP2G with a bayonet (JP2G hid his non-life-threatening wound and went on with the Mass). This attempt was caught on camera and is in the JP2G documentary: “Testimony.”
--JP2G finally consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, 1984, in union with all the bishops of the world (AND the Orthodox bishops) as Our Lady asked. (Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to IHM in 1940 & 1953, but he did it alone which Lucia said did NOT fulfill Our Lady’s request. Paul VI also consecrated the world, alone, in 1964.) Sr. Lucia said that the 1984 consecration fulfilled Our Lady’s request, and said: “Now, God will keep His word.”
--1989, the Berlin Wall came down (due also to JP2G’s anti-Communism efforts in Poland)
--1989, Gorbachev visits the Vatican and promises JP2G that there will be religious freedom in Russia. Gorbachev states that the Russian people need spirituality.
--October 13, 1989, Gorbachev receives Nobel Peace Prize.
--October 13, 1991, Catholic Archbishop of Moscow travels to Fatima for celebration. It’s televised in Moscow.
--June 26, 2000, JP2G directs that the 3rd message of Fatima be promulgated (it involves a bishop in white being shot). See “The Message of Fatima” at http://www.vatican.va/
--Lucia died the same year as JP2G: 2005

See http://www.fatimafamily.org/ for more information. There’s also an awesome, lengthy, uncontested entry for JP2G in Wikipedia that includes interesting facts about JP2G, Fatima, Russia and communism!

Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said that the Muslims will be converted through Our Lady of Fatima (“Fatima” was the daughter of Mohammed, Muslims already have a great devotion to Our Lady, and in parts of the world, Muslims are already joining Catholics to pray to OLF).

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MOVIES: “MOTHERHOOD”

I almost gave this movie a "DNR" (Do Not Recommend), but I stuck it out, and the ending was worth it.

"Motherhood," starring Uma Thurman as Eliza, a fortysomething aspiring writer living in trendy Brooklyn with her husband Avery (the balding Anthony Edwards, who gives a solid, convincing performance) and two small children, examines the modern (or timeless?) conflicting desires of, well, mothers with small children. I was eager to see what filmmaker Katherine Dieckmann would do with this conundrum. Whither feminism? New solutions? How would she avoid clichés and tired depictions of tired Mommies? Any Theology of the Body?

"Motherhood" floundered from the start. Although throwing herself into the role of pleasantly-frazzled, borderline-ditzy Eliza, Uma—sporting a crazy-fountainlike-updo throughout--is just too classy and elegant to pull it off in my estimation. And don't expect any high drama here. Eliza is happily married and adores her adorable kiddos--check out the majorly gap-toothed Clara (Daisy Tahan): a face NOT only a mother could love. The relative familial harmony is a welcome relief from TV shows and movies about marital/parenting strife. A couple in love with each other and with their kids that act like they're in love? What a concept!

However, the film's tone is uneven (mostly a light comedy), scenes are in need of serious editing/shortening, and I never bought for one minute that Eliza was actually stressed, although the whole story is an episodic series of Eliza sweating the small stuff. There is a tedious (unfunny) obsession with the challenge of parking in Brooklyn. Eliza's interactions with friends and neighbors is affected, and the entire pace of "Motherhood" drags and often feels more like a play.

I'm sure many women will relate (or commiserate) with Eliza and find the movie amusing and even consoling: You are not alone! There is a great sisterhood of motherhood and we're all having a bad day together! The theme, question and thread throughout is: "What IS motherhood?" or rather, what does Eliza think motherhood is? She must answer this question for a Mommy blog contest she's entering—if she ever gets enough time to sit down and write.

So, when does "Motherhood" get good? When Eliza and her husband have a heart to heart, and he helps her get in touch with her truest beliefs about maternity. Eliza and hubby Avery are not on parallel tracks or living in their own pragmatically intersecting worlds. Eliza can only really define herself in relation to him and the kids and vice versa. Here's an important point for feminists: Men, husbands and fathers also define themselves in relationship to women (or should). When Eliza is envying Avery's seemingly easier life, he reminds her of all the sacrifices fatherhood requires of him, his own dashed dreams, and how they made their decisions TOGETHER to lead the life they're living.

Today's women are smart. They are grappling with the often unattainable dreams of "having it all," and the realities and requirements of motherhood. There's a new T-shirt that riffs of the 70's women's lib anthem: "I am Woman. I am strong. I am invincible. I can do anything. I am tired." Many women are unapologetically opting out of the workplace to be stay-at-home mothers, at least while their children are young. When Clara begs her Mom not to get a "real job," Eliza asks her why it's OK for Daddies but not Mommies. Her daughter answers: "Because Daddies just do some things, but Mommies do everything." (And Eliza had been wondering if her kids even noticed all she did for them!)

It's a serious concern that "Motherhood" raises: How DO women retain some time for themselves, maintain a personal creative outlet (that will make them better Moms) within "ridiculously tiny wedges of time"? You'll have to see the movie for suggestions! (Hint: kids have a lot to teach us.)

Theology of the Body is evident in the mutuality of Eliza and Avery's relationship. But "Motherhood" is nonplussed about how to deal with sex, so it goes with the present culture: sex is trivialized. BUT always with that "echo" and longing and intuition that maybe it does mean more than simply "wanking off."

The cinematic ending of "Motherhood" is not perfect, it's not spectacular, but it's "good enough," like many moms. The ending of "Motherhood" is bumpy and uneven and messy, and there are a few things I would like to redo in it, like motherhood. Ultimately, motherhood is not a career, it's a relationship. It's family.

OTHER STUFF:

--One of my close friends, a single mom, tells me: "Motherhood was NEVER meant to be done alone!"

--In a sense, "Motherhood" deals with the opposite problem of "The Feminine Mystique's" ennui!

--The punk-y soundtrack ain't bad, but it's sometimes employed in a disjointed, mildly intrusive way.

--"Collins makes her strongest case, and showcases her finest writing, on the subject of what feminism has not been able to do. It is not easy to attentively raise your children while holding down a good and demanding job. Feminism did not remake the world of relationships. It did not change the fact that when Julia Roberts's adorable hooker was carried off by Richard Gere's handsome businessman at the end of "Pretty Woman," none of us would have preferred to watch him rest his silvery head against her lovely shoulder, snuggling, safe at last in her strong arms. Feminism did not resolve the conflicting desires for passion and domesticity, familiarity and romance." (Amy Bloom's review of new book: "When Everything Changed—The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present" by Gail Collins.)

--"I used to write fiercely lyrical prose, now it's mostly everyday stuff." –Eliza bemoaning her lack of time for writing. "It is more original to give life than to create." –JP2G, "The Irradiation of Fatherhood." "Art should be an affirmation of reality, not a denial of it." –Sr. Helena

--"I believe that women themselves, with their energy and strength, with their predominance, so to speak, with what I would call their 'spiritual power,' will know how to make their own space." –Pope Benedict XVI (re: the fact that, according to canon law, the power to take legally-binding decisions is limited to sacred orders)

--"When she has catered adequately for her home, then and only then can woman look outside it to enlarge her influence for doing good. By doing this, women, who constitute what is often erroneously termed 'the weaker sex' become the hidden, true creators of a nation's strength, prosperity and progress. 'Cherchez la femme—look for the woman' says the well-known French proverb. Would you understand any country aright? Then study its women, for no nation can rise higher than the daughters of Eve who are found within it." ---Blessed James Alberione, SSP, Christian feminist

--For men, women are the way to God. For women, men are the way to God.

--Clara's 6^th birthday party: Women ARE memory, nostalgia, sentimentality. Women remember. "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:18-20

--Why do we (women especially) have such a hard time defining "the mission of women," "motherhood"? I have experienced this in Theology of the Body study groups, and suffer from this myself!

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THEOLOGY OF THE BODY: CHRISTOPHER WEST FINALLY RESPONDS TO HIS CRITICS

(OVER HIS APPEARANCE SEVERAL MONTHS AGO ON "NIGHTLINE")

What is the alternative to an effective sexual redemption? If man remains bound by his lusts, is he even capable of loving with a pure heart? Marriage, in this view, comes to be seen and lived as a “legitimate outlet” for indulging our disordered desires and the celibate life comes to be seen and lived as a life of hopeless repression. And we end up “holding the form of religion” while “denying the power of it” (2 Tim 3:5)? “Ne evacuetur Crux!” – John Paul II exclaims, “Do not empty the Cross of its power!” (see 1 Cor 1:17). “This,” he said, “is the cry of the new evangelization.” For “if the cross of Christ is emptied of its power, man no longer has roots, he no longer has prospects: he is destroyed” (Orientale Lumen 3).

Mature Purity
The teaching of John Paul II is clear: liberation from concupiscence – or, more precisely, from the domination of concupiscence (John Paul II used both expressions) – is not only a possibility, it is a necessity if we are to live our lives “in the truth” and experience the divine plan for human love (see TOB 43:6, 47:5). Indeed, Christian sexual ethos “is always linked . . . with the liberation of the heart from concupiscence” (TOB 43:6). And this liberation is just as essential for consecrated celibates and single people as it is for married couples (see TOB 77:4).

It is precisely this liberation that allows us to discover what John Paul II called “mature purity.” In mature purity “man enjoys the fruits of victory over concupiscence” (TOB 58:7). This victory is gradual and certainly remains fragile here on earth, but it is nonetheless real. For those graced with its fruits, a whole new world opens up – another way of seeing, thinking, living, talking, loving, praying. But to those who cannot imagine freedom from concupiscence, such a way of seeing, living, talking, loving, and praying not only seems unusual – but improper, imprudent, dangerous, or even perverse.

Why, we should ask ourselves, does such a cloud of negativity and suspicion seem to hover over the realm of sexuality? The distortions of sin are, of course, very real. But through the grace of redemption, can our sexuality not become in our practical, lived experience the realm of the sacramental and the holy? Can it not become the realm of a truly sacred conversation? “To the pure all things are pure,” St. Paul said (Titus 1:15). But to those bound by lust, even the pure seems impure. Oh, how tragic when we label as ugly that which is beautiful!

full text: http://bit.ly/23C15x

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CARING FOR CREATION

Presentation:
"FOOD AND FAITH:

So, Eat Like a Catholic, Already!"

October 27, Tuesday, 7—8PM
(light supper at 6:30)
Holy Name Cathedral Cafeteria
(corner of State and Superior—Chicago—free parking
at HNC parking lot)
All are welcome!

Enthusiasm for cooking shows, "slow food," locally grown food, vegetarianism and organic food is on the rise. But what does it all have to do with our Catholic Faith? Lots! The Judaeo-Christian tradition has always had much to say about "food and faith."

We are privileged to have Christine Gutleben with us from the Humane Society of the United States' "Animals and Religion" program to screen the 26-minute film: "Eating Mercifully." The HSUS promotes more humane farm animal legislation and encourages corporations to adopt higher farm animal welfare standards. We will learn how everyone can make a difference for farm animals by making simple changes that support more humane farming practices. Christine has been interviewed recently on Relevant Radio.
Sr. Helena Burns, fsp, from the Daughters of St. Paul / Pauline Books & Media will give an introduction from the Scriptures and Church teaching regarding our relationship to animals.

"Animals, too, are God's creatures and even if they do not have the same direct relation to God that man has, they are creatures of His will, creatures we must respect as companions in Creation." –Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger "God and the World," Ignatius Press, 2002

Christine Gutleben is Director of the Animals and Religion program of the Humane Society of the United States. She has an M.A. from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where she studied theology and the interplay between food and faith, and a B.A. in religious studies from UC Davis. She has experience farming in the Central Valley of California, and developed an understanding of the mechanics of sustainable agriculture.

Sr. Helena Burns, fsp, is a member of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international congregation founded to communicate God's Word through the media. She is finishing her M.A. in Media Literacy Education, has a B.A. in theology and philosophy from St. John's University, NYC, and gives workshops on John Paul II's "Theology of the Body." She is the movie reviewer for "The Catholic New World," Chicago's Archdiocesan newspaper. She was going to be an ornithologist (birds) but God had other plans.

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COMING SOON: COMPREHENSIVE DVD ON PORN PREVENTION AND RECOVERY FROM THEOLOGY OF THE BODY PERSPECTIVE!

www.theologyofthebody.net

DVD: "Face the Darkness--Illuminate the Night"

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