It’s not that I don’t want to listen, I just think that everything you just mentioned is obvious. Don’t think that I haven’t had my struggles with purity and chastity. As a young adult in college I definately turned my back on the teachings of the church. But, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. I was caught up in the sinful life I was living and refused to listen to my conscience. I made a choice, and I made a choice to repent and come back to the church.
And what motivated that choice to repent? And how did you know exactly what this repentance should look like in your life and in your heart? These are the real questions here.
I can understand society at large would find something new in TOB, perhaps, but shouldn’t the catholic already know these things?
Look back at the history of the Church, particularly surrounding the acceptance of Church teaching on human sexuality, and you will get your answer. What resources did we have in the Church before the TOB? Moral theology manuals were pretty much it. Not that there is anything wrong with moral theology manuals, but it has been pointed out that they didn’t really give the explanation behind the teachings, and rather just stated the teachings themselves. So when Paul VI promulgated
Humanae Vitae, pretty much all that most Catholics had forming their understanding of this area of moral theology were the manuals and previous encyclicals. For a variety of reasons, that just was not enough. Bishops and priests were coming out and flatly saying that the pope was wrong on the issue of birth control! Someone needed to supply a compelling answer as to WHY the Church’s teachings on these issues is what is BEST for the human person, and that is exactly what Pope John Paul II came along and provided.
You can say that they should have just been obedient to the Church, even if they did not understand the reasons why, and I’d agree. But isn’t wholehearted embracing of the entire theology surrounding marriage, sex, birth control, etc. in some ways
better both for the Church and the individual Catholic than either following or abandoning it based upon the degree of obedience which one is able to muster within themselves?
I mean we all struggle with sin and some of us fall now and again, but the 10 commandments are always with us. The sacraments are always with us. The steps we need to take to find our way back are already known to us as catholics. As far as other christians and secular society, doesn’t TOB just fall on deaf ears?
The steps are already known? In basic terms, you are right. But what the TOB does is expand upon the beautiful, rich, sacred meaning of these steps. It shows the beauty of God’s plan for men and women, married and unmarried, and for His Church, in a way which had previously not been done. The information is not new; the explanation is.
Compare it to sacred art and architecture, if you will. Before the Notre Dame Cathedral was built in France, we still had the Eucharist, and we still had the Church. But the beauty of that sacred place directs us to God and helps us to worship Him more fully in spirit and in truth. It helps us to understand His presence, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Eucharist, and to be more conscious of that presence as we receive Him. In a similar way, Pope John Paul II used human language to help make Catholics more aware of the nuptial meaning of the body, the concupiscence that reigns in our hearts, and our redemption, the redemption of our bodies as well as our souls, accomplished in Christ. It is undeniable that the TOB has enriched many marriages, helped many men and women to turn from sin. and has caused a flourishing of respect for life and for the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of marriage and the family in our society.
Sometimes I think that the modern idea of trying to always understand the “why” deflects us from living the faith. We won’t always be able to understand why the church teaches some thing or another. Sometimes we just have to accept and bend our own will. We have to be obedient.
I honestly don’t think it deflects anyone. I think it might not be the best path for every person, but there are many Catholics today who study the faith and do want to know why. Theology is “faith seeking understanding,” and theology is no “modern” invention. Aquinas sure didn’t shy away from explaining why it was most fitting for the human and divine natures of Jesus to be hypostatically united in the Word of God…among other things! His Summas are all about “WHY”.
And in some sense, since so many people today are more literate and better educated in larger numbers than they were before, it is appropriate for the Church to offer these sorts of explanations. Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II, in their wisdom, recognized this. That’s why the CCC in its latest edition is a heck of a lot different than the Baltimore Catechism. Don’t get me wrong, I think the Baltimore Catechism is great for teaching children…but at some point, for many, a mature Christian faith requires more meat, and we find more meat by diving into the Tradition of our faith.
I firmly believe that the TOB–striking in its statement of the truth, goodness, and beauty of human sexuality-- has motivated many people to repent, and has taught them what living virtuously actually requires. It’s not that the teaching itself is different–it’s the same basic thing that was in the moral theology manuals of the Church for centuries. What the TOB does signify is a development in how we EXPLAIN this teaching in a way that will EVANGELIZE. It has brought people into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church, and it is orthodox teaching. I can’t understand, for the life of me, what the problem is.
