On July 8-10, Franciscan University of Steubenville partnered with the Veritas Amoris Project for its second “Truth of Love” conference, discussing the virtues of fatherhood and motherhood and the meaning of sexual difference.
Stephen Hildebrand, professor of theology and dean of the school of theology and philosophy at Franciscan, and Stephan Kampowski, professor of philosophical anthropology at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences in Rome, were in charge of the conference.
“We have a lot of personal and professional ties with Veritas Amoris,” Hildebrand said. “When the project got started, Franciscan was very happy and delighted to collaborate with a team of such wonderful scholars with such a noble mission and vision.”
In his theology of the body catechesis, St. John Paul II places great emphasis on the “spousal” meaning of the body: “The body, which expresses femininity ‘for’ masculinity, and, vice versa, masculinity ‘for’ femininity, manifests the reciprocity and the communion of persons.”
Namely, sexual difference reveals the call to a reciprocal gift, according to Hildebrand and Kampowski. Following these insights, the conference approached the topic of sexual difference by examining the virtues of fatherhood and motherhood.
“We wanted to take a particular approach to sexual difference because sexual difference seems to be a very crucial issue today,” Kampowski said. “Many are wondering, what does it mean to be a man? What does it mean to be a woman? Is there anything in between? Can a man become a woman? Can a woman become a man?”
“We didn’t name the conference, ‘The difference between man and woman,’ although that’s obviously part of it. We chose fatherhood and motherhood precisely because fatherhood and motherhood are the fulfillment of sexual difference,” Hildebrand said.
Even though there are many men and women who will never become fathers or mothers in the flesh, those men and women are called to spiritual fatherhood and motherhood, and in that, they can also find masculine and feminine fulfillment, Kampowski said.
Full story at NC Register.
Chastity used to be a matter of practical necessity because access to artificial contraception and abortion just didn’t exist to the extent it does today. It was far less of a thing of virtue than it was self preservation in culture and society. Now chastity has ascended to the level of heroic virtue as those that practice it really must own it. Consequences of unchaste living have been so mitigated as to be regarded as non-issues and no consideration when engaging the world of recreational sexual behavior. That ship has sailed. As far as the ‘world’ goes, there are no more reasons to live a chaste life and it’s a really hard sell convincing anyone otherwise.
Chasity is still a good teacher for learning self-control. Additionally, it is a necessity for walking on the path with Jesus.
No. Many younger people of today, are extremely selfish and immature– they are taught by the Death Culture to relish very cheap, childish, and dangerous “escapes” of dope, alcohol, and sex. Very, very cheap, sinful– the lowest of the low– straight into the gutter! Many have no intellectual, social, moral, and emotional development. And no religious and moral training at all. No morals, no manners, no good judgment, no common sense, no decent limits to anything, no respect for anyone or anything — total “outlaws.” Older generations had a great deal of intellectual, social, religious and moral training, and were taught their manners and their morals, and how to live sensibly, decently, and respectably, with maturity and Self-Control. Older generations were taught to respect God and society, and respect Marriage. They were taught manners and morals in dating, how to be a lady and a gentleman. They dated to select a proper marriage partner. A filthy, lawless, immoral boy who was out looking for trouble– seeking sex outside Marriage– was shunned as an immature jerk. And nice boys shunned dirty, immoral girls. Chastity was a respected virtue.
A self-respecting person of any religion –or none– is always proud to live by excellent standards, and uphold Chastity in their life. When they date, they will seek to respect themselves and their date, by dressing and behaving maturely, and chastely. Act like a gentleman, act like a lady. For Christians, and all others, too– the virtue of Chastity, and of Self-Control in all areas of life, is very important. You are not a mature adult if you have not learned these things.
This is confusing.
Are we overthinking this?
I am not in anyway interested in motherhood. Never married a man, never wanted to have children, and no I don’t want to serve men or be owned by them. I am happy in my home, doing work I love. I even have a female dog, and even that makes a difference. Nope, the Catholic church is ruled by men, so they have nothing to say to me as a powerful woman. Nothing at all, they need to talk to men, and educate men to take care of their children, and to stop beating their wives or terrorizing their families. Women are not born to serve men or kow tow to them, we are born with our own unique personalities, and in the US women are still relatively free. We need to constantly fight for the right to this freedom, and not be controlled by theocracy or male ideas of women.
A few weeks ago I heard a podcast about how poorly described female anatomy was in medical textbooks until just a couple of decades ago. It was like the male professors said ‘well if we don’t have those parts they aren’t worth studying’. Our entire theology is still based on the notion that women are only a receptacle for male life giving energy. We all agree that is silly yet our systematic and moral theologies have not even begun to catch up. Be any wonder our pews are devoid of career mothers.
YFC, you are way, way off. You need to take a class in Catholic theology! At least, read the works of Pope St. John Paul II.
Audrey Lockwood’s rantings are the result of believing a very bad caricature of what the Catholic Church actually teaches. Hers is the adolescent and fourth-hand account of what the Church teaches about the beauty of sex, sexuality, womanhood, masculinity. Hers is the same anti-Catholic, anti-religious, anti-male angry ranting sadly promoted in many of our so-called institutions of higher learning, for which, pathetically, many of our young people have earned diplomas. I suspect that her ranting is a set-up, in order to allow folks like “Your Fellow” to post his own erroneous understanding of Catholic theology and morality. Pitiful these two.
The truth of love is we need to get rid of gay stuff. Gay isn’t love.
What a sad, pathetic comment, Audrey.