Catholic talkin' sex<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There, thought that header would get your attention. Christopher West is on ABC's "Nightline" tonight at 11:35. Do check him out; he has a gift for\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/05\/07\/catholic-talkin-sex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholic talkin' sex\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There, thought that header would get your attention. Christopher West is on ABC's "Nightline" tonight at 11:35. 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{"id":9921,"date":"2009-05-07T18:28:27","date_gmt":"2009-05-07T22:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstthings.com\/theanchoress\/?p=9921"},"modified":"2017-03-15T19:09:54","modified_gmt":"2017-03-15T19:09:54","slug":"catholic-talkin-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theanchoress\/2009\/05\/07\/catholic-talkin-sex\/","title":{"rendered":"Catholic talkin' sex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There, thought that header would get your attention.<\/p>\n

Christopher West is on ABC\u2019s \u201cNightline\u201d tonight at 11:35<\/a>. Do check him out; he has a gift for explaining Catholic\/Christian understanding of human sexuality (ala Pope John Paul II\u2019s excellent \u201cTheology of the Body\u201d<\/a>. It\u2019s all \u201csurprising\u201d and \u201cunexpected\u201d if you haven\u2019t been paying attention but\u2026yeah, that\u2019s most of the world.<\/p>\n

Christianity, and Christian understanding, has gotten a bad rap. Some of that is our own fault; when we are strident instead of loving, no matter how charitably we want to instruct, the lesson will be rejected. Some of it is media and societal fault. People have been hearing \u201cwhatever you want is the most important thing\u201d for so long, they are conditioned only to hear \u201cyes,\u201d and thus are closed to a thoughtful \u201cno.\u201d Although the Dalai Lama is as celibate as the Pope, for some reason, only the Pope\u2019s celibacy is seen as an oppressive \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, too, is partly a media construct, I am sure.<\/p>\n

But, as Pope Benedict XVI tells us, \u201cGod wants us to rest in him\u201d<\/a>, and that means trusting him with our sexual matters, too. In that case some of what society hears as \u201cno\u201d is actually an invitation to draw nearer to God, who is the Eternal Yes.<\/p>\n

People don\u2019t understand that, and can\u2019t until they are ready to. The rest of the time, we all hear what we want to hear.<\/p>\n

As Chesterton said, \u201cThe Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"