Use John Paul II to guide us on matters of sex

by Letters Editor · November 17, 2011

From Jan Kalinowski, Assagay, KZN

Father Ron Rolheiser OMI (God, sex and Leonard Cohen, October 26) gives the impression that Pastor Rob Bell in his book Sex God has found the solution to combining earthly human sexuality with an anthropological, biblical and Christian perspective that properly honours both the earthiness and the holiness of sex.

He further expounds on pastor Rob’s use of echad (oneness) to bring oneness into the world. Is that not what the sacrament of marriage is supposed to do?

In his two major works, Love and Responsibility and Man and Woman He Created Them, Pope John Paul II gave the Catholic world the definitive understanding of an anthropological, biblical and Christian perspective on human sexuality. This study, commonly known as the Theology of the Body, is being unpacked by numerous authors, each one taking a different angle on the subject.

One author in particular, Fr J Brian Bransfield in his book The Human Person According to John Paul II, begins by showing where things went awry via the industrial, sexual and technological revolutions; he then gives an overview of the theology of the body and ends with St Paul’s exhortation for us to live according to the Spirit and not the lustful flesh. He more than adequately demonstrates how this can be achieved by applying the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the beatitudes and the virtues to our daily lives.

Sex indeed is holy. Pope John Paul introduced the Catholic Church to a passion-filled and chaste view of sex. We now need to spread this message to the rest of the world.