Graphene is the thinnest, strongest material known to man, and was first isolated at the University of Manchester in 2004. Imagine what incredible things could be accomplished with this material! Stronger bridges, buildings, even lightweight but virtually indestructible rooftops for the poor and vulnerable in third world countries who are susceptible to mudslide or earthquake: the possibilities are endless! But according to Bill Gates and a band of scientists, Graphene could serve even a "nobler" purpose: contraception.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is awarding the men that can harness the power of Graphene and morph it with latex condoms a cool $100,000. Dr. Papa Sow, a senior program officer on a HIV research team, said a "redesigned condom that overcomes inconvenience, fumbling or perceived loss of pleasure would be a powerful weapon in the fight against poverty.”
A powerful weapon against poverty? Doesn't he mean against the fecundity of women and the life-giving potential gifted to every man? How about crafting us a weapon against lust, misogyny, adultery? How about a weapon that can aid in the quest of honor, virtue, purity of heart?
As a good friend of mine always says, “The best form of birth control is self control.” The visionary Dr. Sow seems to envision man as some kind of animal, incapable of self-mastery, who needs the unbreakable power of graphene to shield him from his own weakness when it comes to the sexual act. He continues… "If this project is successful, we might have [an everyday] use which will literally touch our everyday life in the most intimate way."
Intimate? Yes. Nothing says "I love you and want to be a total gift to you” like a barrier made of the thinnest, strongest material known to man, holding back what’s emblematic of his total gift of self; a man’s seed.
In all actuality, the strongest material on earth is the heart filled with grace, ablaze with the virtue of purity, with eyes that can see the glory of God shining in the human body and calling that heart to freely and fully give of itself. That kind of self-awareness leads, as St. John Paul II writes, to a whole-hearted self-giving in which man is “reconciled with his natural greatness.” The weakness at the center of a contraceptive mentality is the fearful heart that shrinks from the wild adventure of life, of total giving, of children, of love and responsibility. Only the strong-hearted, united to Christ, can build a unbreakable and saintly civilization of life and love. And that is worth more than $100,000. It’s truly priceless!
"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless - it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."
As the Catholic Church prepares to close its special Year for Priests, which focused on the gift and call of the priesthood, a disturbing story has surfaced on NPR (as if we haven't heard enough disturbing stories about the priesthood from NPR, and everyone else for that matter).
The gist of it is that a group of 40 Italian women have written an open letter to Pope Benedict XVI revealing their various affairs with some Italian priests (allegedly, it's common in Italy to hear of priests who have mistresses - women who passed as maids or relatives). In their letter, the women announce that "ours is a voice that can no longer continue to be ignored." They are calling for the removal of what they call "the tattered shroud of mandatory celibacy." A priest they say "needs to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved."
Now aside from the fact that this was akin to adultery, the breaking of a vow, involves great deception and is completely inappropriate, the idea of priests being allowed to marry is one hot button issue. Some say it should be a choice, others say it would solve the sex abuse scandals (crimes, really). If we're honest and open, even the most orthodox of Catholics might have the thought slip in, whispering "hmm, wouldn't it be nice if Father was married, because then he could better relate to what we're going through. He'd have a better understanding of the 'real' world if he had a wife and children."
Isn't it true, after all, that a celibate needs "to live with his fellow human beings, experience feelings, love and be loved." In fact, take a look at this stunningly beautiful quote about love!
“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it..."
Amen to that! The funny thing is though, this quote was written by Pope John Paul II, who was a celibate priest. And much to the dismay of his opponents, he staunchly defended and articulated just why celibacy is a beautiful and vital vocation, intimately linked to the priesthood.
I guess the deeper question is, and this comes from my own experience as a married man, is sex the "be all and end all" of human existence? Is this the golden crown that everyone must have in order to be fully and truly happy? Is there anything more to life than sex? For those who are married, ask yourself, as beautiful as this kind of intimacy is, does it complete you? Or does Love complete you? And don't you love people you don't have sex with? The assumption seems to be that to experience love you must experience sexual intimacy. But what is your personal experience? Where has love been "revealed", "encountered", "experienced" and "made your own..." in your life?
For those living promiscuous lives, those locked in various sexual addictions like porn, is it sexual contact that brings you deep down, soul shaking joy? Is it the answer? Or does it seem to be pointing to Something Else? Something Eternal, something that you know runs right into your very core as a person? Don't you feel you are made for a bigger communion than even that of two bodies joined in "one flesh"?
For a moment I'd like to look at what this group of Italian women, God bless them, and any advocates of dispensing with celibacy are actually assuming; namely, that those who are celibate (men and women, right?) are
1. not "living with their fellow human beings,"
2. not "experiencing feelings,"
3. and not "loving and being loved."
Their assumption is rather clear; if you are not sexually active and sexually intimate with someone, you are not really living. You are chained up, wearing a "tattered shroud," and what a poor miserable man you are! But look around! Who is truly happy? Who is truly free?
Whenever sin raises its ugly head in the priesthood or (more often) in the people they serve, be it alleged or actually true, my heart breaks. We are a messed up people, and some of us messed up people are in messed up marriages, and some of those married to the Church, and messing it up. That's a sad fact. But even "sadder" is the complete misunderstanding of what celibacy (and sex for that matter) is really all about; from the priests to the people, mind you.
It seems far too many do not have a clue as to what celibacy is truly supposed to signify (literally "be a sign of"). It's a coming attraction, a teaser trailer, glimpsing the Bigger Picture of what Heaven will be; A Marriage Feast! Those who are celibate are not called to be somehow asexual, neutered, or repressive regarding their sexuality. They are actually more fully realizing their masculinity or femininity by giving it completely to God, the Divine Love our hearts were made for! Passionately in love with God and His Bride the Church, their love cannot be contained, but arcs out in an heroic embrace of all men and women. They skip the sacramental sign of earthly marriage to one spouse, as beautiful and grace-filled as it can be, in anticipation of the Wedding Feast with the Divine Spouse that is to come. They remind us in their celibate love that sexual intimacy is a temporal sign, and such a beautiful one, of God's intimate and passionate desire to "marry us!"
"For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cling to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I mean it in reference to Christ and the Church." (St. Paul, Ephesians 5)
The "problem" with celibacy is that it challenges our views, our assumptions, maybe even our addictions regarding sex and the body. It lifts up our eyes from a false idolatry of the body and even perhaps of marriage, towards a new light streaming through the body - seeing it as an icon of the heavenly marriage! In this light, we are invited to a whole new appreciation of not only chastity for the Kingdom but reverence for the gift of sex within marriage here and now. The key is always to see the "marriage" of our biology with our theology. If we divorce one from the other, we either see sexual desire as an "itch" that must be scratched, or as an evil that must be stuffed down and repressed. Both are unhealthy approaches to our God-given eros, or desire to love. In this regard, we needs discipline and sound teaching, not escapes and compromises.
Finally, I know that this vision of God as the ultimate Spouse of our hearts (for celibates as well as the married) may well be a paradigm shift for those who see God simply as "The Big Guy" with the Big Book with lots of names of those who were naughty or nice here below. But let's wake up America (and Italy)... we're not in third grade anymore. Read the Prophet Hosea, read the Song of Songs, read the whole Bible in context, and the saints and mystics and you'll see. Really living celibacy for the Kingdom is actually a most romantic way to live your life.
(The videos embedded in this post show a more articulated and contextual unpacking of key points in the Pope's teaching on the Theology of the Body and are a necessary addition to the news interview mentioned below. I hope they help!)
In the past week since ABC Nightline aired a 6 minute video interview on Christopher West, articles have tried to articulate, posts have posited, and Twitter has been twittering with people's reactions to its content. Many have been overwhelmingly positive, seeing through the roughly 10 substantial distortions and misquotes from the 6 minute piece (each clarified by Christopherhere), grateful that even a glimmer of the Church's beautiful teaching slipped through the mainstream to potentially 4 million viewers. Others have used up large pockets of cyberspace to attack and belittle one of their own rather than the slanted ABC interview.
Samples of this attack:
"He (Christopher West) is one of the many self-help gurus out their that market their perspectives, attract people who are spiritually foundering, and make a living off their presentations, books, and dvd's... In my diocese (that would be Philadelphia, folks), all those into West have no real spiritual foundation. They follow cultural phenomenon, become spoke people for this "New" understanding and wind up in the end with the usual nothing... Give him time, and he will self-destruct like the rest of them."
- GM
“I’m shocked and horrified by the words that he uses. His mere mention of Hugh Hefner is to my mind an abomination.”
- AVH
"From what I have read, both in the article and from respondants to it, Mr. West has become inflated by the success of his venture. Humility and purity go hand in hand, and it seems he has lost both virtues."
- C
I felt a deep sadness and frustration in reading some of these comments. It seems the Pharisees are alive and well in the Church today. Here is a deeply faithful, prayerful, humble, and yes, very passionate man who has given his life to unpacking the very dense and philosophical truth in the Theology of the Body for hundreds of thousands of people who may never have had the chance to read or hear it, while some of his brother and sister Catholics sit in their pews and criticize him.
Jesus was called a drunkard, he was mocked for eating with tax collectors and sinners and talking to prostitutes. He was completely misunderstood and misrepresented by the religious leaders of His day. And every person who follows in his footsteps and tries to engage the culture and bring them the Water of Life gets the same wagging finger from the self-righteous.
Of course the media gave a skewed reading of this teaching. The lens with which it looks is still cracked. But some of the Truth could still be seen through that camera, and it has cut like a surgeon's knife right into our Manichean tumor that has thought the body evil or dirty, and sex something we shouldn't talk about in public. But if the Church doesn't speak of this beautiful mystery of human sexuality, who will? We all know the answer to that question.
The silence on sex in the pulpit and from many of our parents regarding sexuality since the 60's has not prepared any of us well for the media tidal wave that is sweeping away another generation. I say God bless Christopher for speaking this truth.
Has he perhaps gone too far south in his work? Is he too "vulgar"? Well the word means the "folk speech, the common tongue." Maybe going south is exactly where the Spirit is leading him. Deep south... into the heart...
The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter...
- Pope John Paul II
Some who severely critiqued Christopher rather than the interviewers have clearly never read the Pope's words, let alone Christopher's. They are crucifying a man based on a distorted 6 minute news clip. Read the Theology of the Body. Be still with it, pray... and pray for God's flawed and faithful servants who have the courage to face the culture, and speak to its heart.
