XII. Sex
by ironiccatholic ~ May 15th, 2008. Filed under: Theology.Catholics like sex.
OK, now that you have picked yourself up off the floor, dusted yourself off…one would have surmised this surprising fact from the post Catholics Like Babies, eh? Because, you may have noticed, the first often leads to the second. Like it is some kind of natural consequence or something. Wild.
But Catholics liking sex is a huge surprise to many. After all, look at those celibate priests and sisters and brothers. They are clearly repressed, right? I don’t care if they look happy. It’s not natural, I tell you!
Since I teach young people between 18-21, that is, at the height of their sexual urges age-wise, let me make this simple:
1. Catholics like sex because God created it, and it’s a great gift both to humanity and within a married relationship, to each other.
2. When rightly engaged, sex is ordered to growth in holiness. That’s right. A married relationship that is faithful, fruitful, and total helps each person grow in holiness. Sanctification, baby. A married couple could look at each other, flutter eyelashes, and say “Hey sweetie. Up for sanctification tonight?”
3. Some people voluntarily give up sex and its attendant relationship as a way to move more directly into union with God, which is where all of us are going anyway. You don’t “give up” what you don’t like. Who gives up brussel sprouts for Lent? Only those without taste buds. Who gives up chocolate? Yum: half the Catholic Church. So, for the sacrifice to be meaningful, it must something reeeealy good you are giving up. Get it yet? Celibates recognize that sex is good.
As in most things, misunderstandings come from somewhere. In this case, they come from, well, my favorite theologian-saint of all time, Augustine. Augustine had a few teeny-tiny sexual issues in his adolescence and young adult life. Teeny-tiny like the state of Texas. And he said he couldn’t fathom how to convert because of his attachment to “woman” (his word), and sensed that to convert to Christianity, he would have to be celibate. People have since pounced on that: the Biggest Baddest Church Father of all time hated women and sex! The thing is, Augustine knew that in his particular case (and he was careful to speak for himself alone), he needed to make a clean break from what he did everything but call an addiction. And it was never sex as God intended anyway (cue Theology of the Body music). But he did humble himself to receive celibacy as a gift, and lived it out with grace, continuing to be a doting father to his son, Adeodatus. Nice.
Ah, don’t ask me about Origen, though.
(7 votes, average: 3.86 out of 5)
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May 15th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I get so many questions why we “force our priests to be celibate” – I LOVED this reply. I mean, any blog post that starts with “Catholics like sex.” is gonna be pretty cool.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Popcak’s new book “Holy Sex – A Catholic Guide to Toe Curling, Mind Blowing, Infallible Loving” is a perfect example of Catholics not only liking it, but being MUCH better at it than anyone else!
Check out my review
http://cumgranosalis70.blogspot.com/2008/05/book-review-holy-sex.html
May 16th, 2008 at 7:34 am
I still fondly recall the homily in which my pastor recommended that all married couples have more sex. I was a teenager at the time and his encouragement flabbergasted me. But I’m so glad he was bold enough to proclaim the greatness of the marital union!
For those new to this concept, I highly recommend everything that Christopher West has written about Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. If you prefer listening to reading, his “Naked without Shame” CD set (less than $5) from The Gift Foundation is fabulous.
Oh, and I am currently reading Dr. Gregory Popcak’s new “Holy Sex!: A Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-Blowing, Infallible Loving”. So far, it’s a great practical application of Theology of the Body (he gets very specific in faithfully answering all the questions you might have about sex).
May 16th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Very nice! I like the analogy to giving up chocolate. It is understandable far more than most explanations.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:30 am
“Because, you may have noticed, the first often leads to the second. Like it is some kind of natural consequence or something.” So that’s why that keeps happening! I was wondering why all these small people kept coming to live with me.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I always smile when reading but this literally had me laugh out loud:
“Augustine had a few teeny-tiny sexual issues in his adolescence and young adult life. Teeny-tiny like the state of Texas.”
Yeah, I was grinning from ear to ear as I read the first sentence. But the Texas reference, that was good. Nice work.
(signed, your friend from texas)
May 16th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Don’t ask me about Origen though.
That is why Augustine is a Saint and Origen ain’t. (well among other things but that is a BIG ONE).
May 24th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
[...] Sex 2. Babies 3. Baptism 4. Holy Water 5. Making Saints 6. Non-Catholics Wearing Catholic Stuff 7. [...]
February 25th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
‘I read in a “high-class” review of Miss Rebecca West’s book on St.. Augustine, the astounding statement that the Catholic Church regards sex as having the nature of sin. How marriage can be a sacrament if sex is a sin, or why it is the Catholics who are in favour of birth and their foes who are in favour of birth-control, I will leave the critic to worry out for himself.’
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-thomas-aquinas-by-g-k-chesterton-04/
Origen is in Becker’s litany of saints.. even though he isn’t one =D
http://forums.catholic-convert.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=87136&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=20
March 24th, 2010 at 7:54 am
Check this out!
“Is There Sex in Heaven?” by Peter Kreeft
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/sex-in-heaven.htm