In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the water –Genesis 1.2
It’s very easy to become depressed in the Natural Family Planning world and arena of Humanae Vitae Evangelization. It usually happens that one becomes enthused over the discovery of NFP and the beauty of Humanae Vitae and signs up for the cause, only to be shot down by a stranger, a friend, your parish staff or pastor. It sometimes seems that the NFP world is without form and void, and that darkness is everywhere. It’s very easy to wonder, “Where is the light in this crazy arena of promoting true love and life?”
We see the light sometimes in the fruit of what we do, and we are grateful. However, more often than not, we watch the news, we get criticized, and we receive denial and humiliation in the form of excuses for what is actually just spiritual and pastoral pusillanimity from our leaders. And it’s hard.
In the first and previous article in an “NFP & Marketing” article in Family Foundations, I introduced NFP’s credibility crisis, which, briefly reviewed, goes something like this: NFP usage is low; NFP awareness is low; misunderstanding of NFP is high. Not shocking, is it? I followed my dark inauguration of the facts, however, with a brief look at some of the things NFP advocates are doing right, ranging from grassroots newsletters to researched radio campaigns and encouraging comments from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s queen bee of NFP, Theresa Notare.
There definitely is good news, as I am quick to remind disheartened apostles and crestfallen friends. More and more people are discovering the Church’s teachings on marriage and sexuality. They give up contraception and often reverse their sterilizations. They return to the sacrament of reconciliation, and embrace marital chastity. It is truly awesome. Realistically, though, they are the exception, and not the rule.
It’s been over forty years since Pope Paul VI, whose baptismal name was John the Baptist, played the cultural John the Baptist with Humanae Vitae. He affirmed the constant teaching of Jesus and His Church, and predicted the consequences of the contraceptive revolution. Yet, we are still in desert with NFP amongst Catholics, and we wonder what can we do?
At the core of this crisis is spiritual contraception—a crisis of faith, and the subject of numerous articles from your favorite spiritual writers. However, this is also a crisis of personal initiative, creative solutions and professional finesse. We’re falling short as promoters and marketers of NFP. As a former full-time NFP Coordinator and Promoter, I was and am still often asked, “What on earth can we do to curb this crisis?” Read the rest of this entry »
“No true fiasco ever began as a quest for mere adequacy…a single green vine shoot is able to grow through cement…the Pacific Northwestern salmon beats itself bloody against the current with a single purpose: sex, of course, but also…life.” (Drew Baylor, main character in Elizabethtown)
I love movies, and I love music. I especially love films that weave music gorgeously into the plot. If there ever was a person who could do this, Cameron Crowe is your man. If you’ve seen Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous or Elizabethtown, you may know what I’m talking about. This man’s an artist.
What does my taste in film and their directors have to do with NFP? Well, it’s all in film. Check it out. You'll laugh, cry and appreciate Cameron Crowe. You’ll have to see it to know how this quote fits into the film, but it’s an inspiring piece of work that has revealed itself more and more profound in my life. It’s not a PG film, so don’t expect it to be a cinematic lesson in morality. No, spiritual lessons are much more subtle in Hollywood.
Ok, he’s not exactly pronouncing his love for Humanae Vitae, but perhaps he’s on the right path?
The last post I had on the West-Schindler-VonHildebrand controversy points out some simple but frank points of examination on Christopher West’s work, with link to Jimmy Akin’s reasoned response. Who can top Jimmy Akin?
I like Janet Smith a lot. Not only is she incredibly smart, but in a debate or discussion, she’s a heat seeking missile of clear thinking. She sums up a lot of things in a relatively short space. She doesn’t demonize David Schindler because she disagrees with him, and even offers that she would be interested in a more sustained explanation/ discussion on his critiques.
Update: I just spoke with my husband who just heard from personal friends of Christopher West who asked for prayer for West and his family. He’s evidently under personal and spiritual attack in addition to the professional critique he’s received. Please note that while I advocate a healthy and humble dialogue about this controversy, uncharitable remarks or attacks of a personal nature are unacceptable, which, as Fr. Geiger aludes to when he talks about “lock ‘n load comboxing.”
“It is likely to turn into something like a Harry Potter debate: the Chris West Haters vs. the Chris West Groupies. Eventually we won’t even remember the real issues at hand.”
His main criticisms center around what appears to be a discontinuity hermeneutic of West’s presentation of TOB, a “concupiscence light” approach–underestimating our weakness in the area of sexuality, and an apologetic approach that doesn’t dig deeper into a catechetical and contemplative approach.
“Is my interpretation of West a bit facile? But this is the problem with trying to popularize a work of deep theology and philosophy. It is not even clear to me whether West is engaged in apologetics or catechesis. The two are not the same thing. Apologetics is a kind of preamble to catechesis that elicits the assent of faith in respect to difficult truths by way of arguments that are easily understood and appealing to someone who has no basic understanding of revelation. Catechesis is sacramental preparation or ongoing education, based on faith already elicited.”
Again, while I am grateful for West’s work in spreading the Gospel with Theology of the Body, I have seen a lot of CW “groupies” who show a real infatuation with Theology of the Body. They’ve experienced an initial conversion, perhaps, but they’ve not dug deeper, and often times continue to make grave mistakes in their spiritual and relational lives. Surely this is not completely West’s fault, but I think we as well as West have take a close look at these criticisms, and do a serious examination of conscience on TOB and our own lives.
Perhaps we’ll see that we’re in a balanced and thriving place, but perhaps we have a lot of room to grow…and suffer.
If you’ve been interested in the Theology of the Body, of have studied it but not really dug in, there’s a three-week online course through Catholic Distance University that might interest you:
Marriage and the Complementarity of Men and Women (Noncredit)
Online Seminar – July 13 – Aug. 3, 2009
This online interactive seminar course will focus on the complementarity of man and woman as revealed in marriage, in the roles of motherhood and fatherhood, and in the community of the world, Church, and family. John Paul II’s exhortations, letters, and encyclical related to the family will be integrated with each of the themes. Students who complete this seminar course should be able to describe the complementarity of man and woman in relation to the marital act, to the receiving and welcoming of new human life, and to the locus of authority in the family.
General Information: This three week interactive online seminar can be accessed day or night at your convenience. Participants will be given a weekly presentation to read, a weekly reflection question to answer, an opportunity to present questions to the instructor, a chapel meditation to consider, and a social area to meet and exchange ideas with participants from all over the English speaking world.
Marriage and the Complementarity of Men and Women (Noncredit) Online Seminar – July 13 – Aug. 3, 2009
This online interactive seminar course will focus on the complementarity of man and woman as revealed in marriage, in the roles of motherhood and fatherhood, and in the community of the world, Church, and family. John Paul II’s exhortations, letters, and encyclical related to the family will be integrated with each of the themes. Students who complete this seminar course should be able to describe the complementarity of man and woman in relation to the marital act, to the receiving and welcoming of new human life, and to the locus of authority in the family.
General Information: This three week interactive online seminar can be accessed day or night at your convenience. Participants will be given a weekly presentation to read, a weekly reflection question to answer, an opportunity to present questions to the instructor, a chapel meditation to consider, and a social area to meet and exchange ideas with participants from all over the English speaking world.
The instructor of the course is the distinguished Dr. William May. Now, you may be thinking, how is a man teaching a class on complementarity between men and women? It turns out, behind every great man is a great woman, so even if you don’t see Mrs. May in the classroom, she’s there.
But guess what? It was brilliant. Zero trace of anti-Catholicism, and several money moments for telling the Good News of Sex and Marriage, complete with married couples’ testimonies, the bulimia-contraception analogy, and the mutual climax quote from John Paul II (You’ve got to see the clip or read the books to know what I’m talking about).
A downside in trying to pack in so much in ten minutes is that you leave out all of the dimensions of the Theology of the Body, like the beauty of vocation, celibacy and consecrated life, its implications for art, liturgy and beyond. As I said recently to a friend, sometimes people get the idea (as it would be easy to) that TOB is “Theology of the Genitals,” when, in fact, it’s Theology of the Body, Soul and entire person.
Another critique I have, which is probably a critique that many have of Christopher West, is that if you didn’t know Christopher West, Theology of the Body, and the context, he might come off a little like a sex maniac. However, if you know how far he’s come in his personal and professional development, you get it. West is really good at what he does–communicating and getting one’s attention so that he can share Theology of the Body. This is a message people need to hear, and one that has affected the lives of so many already.
I was trying to find some video of a dynamic Natural Family Planning, contra-contraception, or Humanae Vitae talk on YouTube, and I couldn’t find anything! (Yes, I know, the seminarians are there, but the novelty is wearing off.) There were a couple of decent homilies, but they weren’t the speed I was looking for for the blog.
So you know what I found instead? This jazzy cartoon:
Are you just so *sold* on World Contraception Day? Well, naturally, I was curious and checked out their web site, YOUR-LIFE.COM (note to self: future Humanae Vitae site will be HIS-LIFE.COM). There was the usual mis-information about natural methods of family planning , although it wasn’t as ridiculously incorrect as it usually is, and there weren’t any cartoonsmaking fun of it. Overall, though, it was an all-around cool site, anti-fertility, anti-family messages notwithstanding. I really liked the FAMILY/TEACHERS/PRESS bars on the side, giving information to parents on how to talk to their kids about said travesty (“Listen Son, you’re beginning to have special feelings, so I want to teach you about something that has divided your mom and I so that you, too, can objectify and poison that special someone.”) teachers about how to give workshops (“Hey kids! Here’s women’s lib’s gift to you: poisoned relationships between the sexes, higher STI rates and a massive correlation to the world’s highest divorce rate. C’mon!”), and press all sorts of media-related goodies–videos, photos, press releases, etc.
WHAT A GREAT RESOURCE if you don’t believe that contraception is the greatest societal cancer to women, children and families, the fallout of which we’re just now experiencing!
But seriously, folks. This is great media presence here, particularly for the youth/ young adults and their parents/ mentors. The million dollar question (or mostly likely the ten thousand dollar question) here is: WHY DON’T WE HAVE THIS KIND OF MEDIA PRESENCE FOR HUMANAE VITAE, THEOLOGY OF THE BODY AND NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING!? Now, to give credit where it’s due, there is good web presence for Theology of the Body & Chastity (but it could be better) and a few good sites for Natural Family Planning and at least one fair site for Humanae Vitae. (I won’t name my personal taste here because there will be a firestorm of comments from such-and-such a group/NFP method/diocese/whomever complaining that I’m being unfair and they’ve gotten really good feedback from their favorite techie. Good for you, but sometimes, “Hey, it’s a great web site compared to all the lame churchy web sites” is not a qualifying statement for the great web site awards. As you know, the artistic bar in the Church is not set too high in most places.
Back to the question: Why does our media suck–especially for such vital evangelization efforts as marriage and sexuality–and what can we do about it? Do you know of an off-the-hook web site, brochure or media campaign? Let me know!
I maintain that John Paul II is the foremost feminist of our time, and here’s a little commentary on why: Last year I forced myself to read Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” It was a distressing literary pilgrimage, and I would advise anyone thinking about reading it to proceed with prudence. It is not a work for the faint of heart, mind or soul.
I read it for the same reason I went to the feminist art lecture in my morally misguided town, and for the same reason I want to go a lecture on gender at a local college “in the tradition of” a certain Universal faith. I have been wounded in many ways by this postmodern, relativistic culture that we live in. I was starving for most of my life for truth: truth about God, truth about my existence and purpose, and truth about my dignity and sexuality, and I want to learn from this culture how we can communicate the gold of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body with an edge. It is an interesting irony that Ms. Ensler’s first name should be Eve, don’t you think? While she is the progenitor of theatrical genital controversy of the last decade, it would be a real stretch to call her mother of the living. She is world-renowned for her brash creativity and shocking sexuality. Celebrities flock to her, support her, love her for what she stands for. But what does she stand for? An organ? More specifically, part of an organ? Perhaps a sign of the fruitfulness of Ensler’s work is that it is not until the last chapter or so that she writes about child birth. She even expresses shock that she performed the one-woman play for over two years before she even thought to incorporate something about pregnancy and childbirth. If this is not a sign of the great divorce of fertility from fecundity and the triumph of a contraceptive mentality, I am not not quite sure what is. I agree with Ensler that we should cherish our bodies. We should care for them, nourish them, protect them and love them. I agree that violence against women is gravely immoral. Women should, indeed, be feel happy, balanced and beautiful. But we are not just our biology; we are integrated persons of body, mind and soul.We were created not for our own pleasure, but for a divine destiny. This destiny is engraved into our very being as woman or man, and finds its fulfillment in spousal relationship, either with God or with a spouse of complimentary (read:opposite) sex. Susan Brinkman summed it up so well in Columbia magazine (fittingly a men’s magazine), “Men and women were not created to compete with each other but to complete one another. They were not meant for separation, but for union.” The feminist art lecture I went to was replete with Ensler’s errors of creative narcissim and false dichotomies. I learned from the enlightened professoress sex has very little to do with our biology and inherent masculinity and femininity, and more to do with society’s imposed gender construction. She proceeded to describe a feminist dialectic, where woman is the thesis, man is the anti-thesis, and radical feminism is the synthesis. She used very Marxist terms, focusing on “access to resources” and “who has the authority,” talking very much in battlefield language about the relationship between woman and man. The exhibit she lectured on featured a number of pieces by a feminist art group called the Guerilla Girls. Founded in 1985 in New York City, these self-styled revolutionaries use tactless attack ads to bring to light the disparity between [white] men and women and people of color in the art world. One ad, featuring a lifelike naked statue, “Do women have to be naked to get [their work] into the Met?” and “Free the women artists!” Equal dignity is where it’s at, and I like just compensation as much as the next person, but this sort of aggressive artistic affirmative action is antithetical to the grace, beauty and glory that is the feminine genius. Also, if the women artists are freed, to what or to whom are they freed? To become truly free, we must discover God and who he has made us to be, including our sexuality according to the Divine Plan. God is calling us each to be artists of our own lives, so we have an obligation to find our vocation and the purpose of our life. God needs apostles now more than ever in a world grown dark and despairing. In order to heal the wrenching wounds of our culture, we have to abandon the instinct to be Guerilla Girls and Eve Enslers. We can be fiery, witty, intrepid, controversial or devastatingly original. But we cannot—absolutely cannot—initiate the great work that is to be ours of our own accord and hurl it into society like urbane savages. No, we must become the feminine principal in our relationship with God (yes, men too), receiving what He urgently wants to give us. When we overcome the spiritual obstacles, pronounce our yes, greatness is born for the salvation of the entire world.
“MATERNITY CARE IN THE UNITED STATES IS IN CRISIS.”
“I saw that nowhere does the tension between technology and nature play out more dramatically than birth.”
This excerpt from director Abby Epstein’s statement on the official movie web site of “The Business of Being Born”, and I think it’s a tremendous understatement. This film doesn’t just tackle the tension between technology and nature; it shines an interrogation lamp on the corporate and political tug of war that takes place in hospital board rooms and plays out on the fertile field of maternity wards.
I wouldn’t have thought twice about having a “traditional” hospital birth when I have my first child, but I found out that choosing a “traditional” hospital birth now means probably a nice volley of Pitosin and epidural that results in a 43% chance of C-Section–which is major surgery! My favorite part–which is also in the trailer–is when Ricki asks some OB nurses how often they see a natural childbirth (i.e., sans drugs), the question is met with an awkward silence and questioning faces rapidly searching their memories. After the…yes…..pregnant pause, the nurses answer with, right–you got it–”Rarely” and “Almost never.”
By the way, this film isn’t styled as perfect-pitch journalistic piece, so don’t expect the most balanced account ever. This is a film, and it’s meant to question, to prod, to provoke and instigate a conversation about birthing that hasn’t been taking place.
This vignette is honest, raw and authentic. It made me cry because more than anything I’ve seen about birth–even in the Natural Family Planning World–showed maternity is such a visually visceral way. It showed life as it IS–painful, wry, witty, wonderful, passion-filled, surprising, sexual, gorgeous and embracing. It portrayed midwives as compassionate trained medical professionals, rather than backwoodsy grannys armed only with hot water, a towel and ignorance. Seeing what midwives go through to get trained (I have a friend studying midwifery right now actually), and seeing their level of preparation and experience, this is something I would be prepared to seriously consider and do when it comes to be my time, God willing.
The only creative smudge on the film was a character flaw of the nurse wife Cara. While I totally respect her profession, her credentials, and her passion, I didn’t dig what seemed to be her primary motivation for being a midwife. She spoke from a fundamentally flawed radical feminist perspective. What I perceived from her is that woman needs to “take back” her uterus and all its associative powers, including childbirth, from men and the Man. There seemed to be a dissonant dialectic between the sexes, rather than an equal and complimentary relationship, as taught in the more authentic feminism of Theology of the Body. Despite the proclivity to proletariat maternity politics, Cara was a very real person, and I liked that about the whole film. It just seemed elegantly real. May I strive to be that–elegantly real–in my daily life, and when it comes to my time for welcoming my first child into the world, may I be as natural and authentic as the women in this film.
While
