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PAGE 7—October 30,1980
The Need For A More Positive Theology Of Sexuality
VATICAN CITY (NC) -- Here is the written text of an
intervention by Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin of
Cincinnati at the world Synod of Bishops on “The Need
for a More Positive Theology of Sexuality.” A shorter
version of the paper was delivered orally to the synod
Sept. 29.
At least in many parts of the world, the church today
faces an enormous problem, the existence of a significant
gap between its teaching on sexual morality and the ideas
and attitudes on the same subject held by many of the
laity and even many priests. Reputable surveys in the
United States, for example, have documented this reality.
We have also learned in the last 10 to 15 years that simply
restating our position has minimal effect. This constitutes
a serious crisis for the church, intellectually, spiritually
and organizationally. Not only is this a problem as far as
teaching about sexual morality is concerned, but
undermining the church’s credibility on this important
issue will lead -- indeed, already has - to undermining its
credibility in many other areas. What can be done to
reverse this situation?
Two needs must be addressed. The first concerns our
manner of conceptualizing and presenting our teaching on
sexuality and the ethical and moral norms which flow
from that teaching. The second has to do more with
motivation - with helping people not only to understand
the teaching more fully but to respond to it in an
affirmative way. Let us consider the teaching first.
The church’s moral teaching on sexuality has perennial
validity. A more positive theology of sexuality is needed,
not to replace this moral teaching with a substantively
different one, but to help people see more clearly why the
tradition takes the positions it does. Few people today
accept moral teaching solely on the basis of authority.
Generally, they accept it only if they perceive it as
reasonable and persuasive, and only if they can relate it in
a positive way to their own experience.
A brief paper such as this cannot fully develop a
theology of sexuality. Nor can the synod. But it is useful
and important to highlight some elements which might be
part of a more positive theology of sexuality, as a basis for
further study and development. It is in this light that I
offer the following ideas.
(1) Sexuality is a gift from God. Therefore, it is good
in itself and, used as God intends, enriching and
ennobling. This point must be stressed so as to counteract
dualistic thinking of the past and also of the present
which denigrates the body and sexuality.
(2) Sexuality is a relational power. It is not merely a
capacity fot^ performing specific acts. It is part of our
God-given natural power or capacity for relating to others.
It colors the qualities of sensitivity, warmth, openness,
and mutual respect in our interpersonal relationships. In
this connection, it is important to note that human
sexuality also has a social dimension. As a constituent part
of our nature, it influences our societal relationships and
well being, as well as our personal relationships with other
individuals.
(3) Understood in this way, sexuality cannot be
equated with genitality, which is a narrower concept
referring to the physical expressions of sexuality leading
to genital union. The special context of marriage is needed
for the supreme physical expression of sexuality to serve
human love and life generously and without the deception
that premarital and extramarital relations contain.
(4) It cannot be taken for granted that people
understand and accept a natural law ethic, or that citing
natural law principles and formulae, as found in our
traditional manuals, will be persuasive or even
comprehensible to people unaccustomed to thinking in
these categories. This does not mean that the natural law
tradition should be abandoned. It should not. But this
tradition needs to be expanded, enriched. One way to do
this is to work toward a more holistic approach to
sexuality and conjugal love, within the context of natural
law. In such an approach, the body is understood not only
in relation to the physically identifiable purposes of its
parts (e. g. genitals for reproduction) but also as an
expression of what it means to be in God’s image. The
complementarity of sexuality (male and female) and its
urgent inner dynamism toward union is seen as reflecting
in human terms the dynamic unity within the triune God.
Thus the difference between the sexes clearly is good,
willed by God from the beginning as an integral part of his
self-revelation; and light is shed on the need for both
physical and psychic integrity in the act of sexual union
through which spouses express and accomplish self-giving.
Pope John Paul seems to be taking this approach in his
weekly audience talks on the first three chapters of
Genesis, where he has developed what he calls the
“nuptial meaning of the body.” The following passages
reflect his thinking in this regard.
“Man became the ‘image and likeness’ of God not only
through his own humanity, but also through the
communion of persons which man and woman form right
from the beginning . . . Man becomes the image of God
not so much in the moment of solitude as in the moment
of communion. He is, in fact, right ‘from the beginning’
not only an image in which there is reflected the solitude
of a person who rules the world, but also, and essentially,
an image of an inscrutable, divine communication of
persons ...” (1) “Precisely the function of sex, which is
in a sense a constituent part of the person (not just ‘an
attribute of the person’), proves how deeply man, with all
his spiritual ‘solitude, with the uniqueness, never to be
repeated, of his person, is constituted by the body as ‘he’
or ‘she.’ The presence of the female element, alongside the
male element and together with it, signifies an enrichment
for man in the whole perspective of his history, including
the history of salvation.” (2) “Man and woman
constitute .. . two different ways of the human ‘being a
body’ in the unity of that image (of God).” (3) “The
human body, with its sex, and its masculinity and
feminity, seen in the very mystery of creation, is not only
a source of fruitfulness and procreation . . . but includes
right ‘from the beginning’ the ‘nuptial’ attribute, that is,
the capacity of expressing love: that love precisely in
which the man-person becomes a gift and - by means of
this gift - fulfills the very meaning of his being and
existence.” (4) “The awareness of the meaning of the
body (from Genesis) - in particular its ‘nuptial’ meaning -
is the fundamental element of human existence in the
world .. . the body has a ‘nuptial’ meaning because the
man-person, as the (Second Vatican) Council says, is a
creature that God willed for its own sake, and that, at the
same time, can fully discover its true self only in the
sincere giving of itself.”
(5) As the development of a more positive theology of
sexuality proceeds upon such lines as these, it should
become both more urgent and more simple to situate
within it our traditional teaching on such issues as
premarital sex, homosexuality, and contraception. This
can be done by linkirtg the “nuptial meaning of the body”
with the human procreative potential (in the marriage
context). Then, in this context, the high value placed on
the child as an expression of the parents’ love and
generosity can be emphasized. Pope John Paul expressed
this beautifully and forcefully in his homily at the
Washington Mall last October: “In the sacrament of
marriage, a man and woman - who at baptism became
members of Christ and hence have the duty of manifesting
Christ’s attitudes in their lives - are assured of the help
they need to develop their love in a faithful and
indissoluble union and to respond with generosity to the
gift of parenthood ... In order that Christian marriage
may favor the total good and development of the married
couple, it must be inspired by the Gospel, and thus be
open to new life - new life to be given and accepted
generously.”
The approach outlined here also brings into clearer
focus the incompleteness and therefore the basic disorder
of masturbation, premarital sex, and homosexual acts. It
provides a much more credible foundation for our
teaching. Moreover, if a theology of the body and of
sexuality is developed along these lines, it will go a long
way toward disabusing people of the notion that the
church has nothing to offer relative to marriage other than
prohibitions - e.g. against divorce and contraception -
and making it clear why the prohibitions themselves are
essential safeguards of positive values.
(6) While the fullest realization of the “nuptial
meaning of the body” is the procreation of children in the
marriage context, as noted above, it is also realized -
admittedly in a different way - in those who are single or
celibate for the sake of the kingdom. A single or celibate
person must also be generative, life-giving, and
life-producing, not in a genital, physical sense but in a
genuinely personal sense through a wide range of loving
relationships. Too frequently we have tended to define
celibacy in negative terms (one who is not married in
order to . . .) It would be much more productive for the
church if we could look upon celibacy in a more positive,
enriching way. This would be more in line with our
understanding of sexuality as a relational power which is
the basis of intimacy and can be made fruitful in many
different ways.
(7) Finally, an integral theology of sexuality must also
take into account the reality of original sin and its
concomitant, concupiscence, without, however, slipping
into a Jansenistic mentality. Whatever aspect of original
sin one chooses to emphasize, it is a limitation and
deficiency. It results in a tendency toward defective
relationships both with God and with our fellow human
beings. This is because original sin, as well as actual sin,
causes an inner disintegration of the elements of our
personhood. Theologically, we use the term
concupiscence to describe this disintegration or
fragmentation. (And concupiscence is thus not
synonymous with sensuality or sexual desire). When
sexuality, which is so expressive of the person, contributes
to the integration of our inner selves - in a way consonant
with God’s plan and vision for the individual and society -
it is healing and good. When, however, sexuality is
expressed in a way that runs counter to the God-given
orientation of the human person, it contributes to
disintegration; it becomes destructive.
We now turn to the question of motivation. Most
institutions in recent years have suffered from a
credibility problem. People no longer accept at face value
the pronouncements of institutions or the rationales
which they give for their policies or programs. People have
become much more independent in their thinking. They
want reasons for adopting a position, and they reserve the
right to decide for themselves whether or not they will
accept the reasons and embrace the position.
As noted, the church faces a similar situation in the
area of doctrine. We believe that one of the church’s most
important responsibilities is teaching. And we hold that
the teaching authority of the church, as exercised in an
official way by the holy father and the bishops in union
with him, receives special guidance from the Holy Spirit
so that God’s message will be preserved in every era. It is
that teaching which forms the core of religious
education’s doctrinal content. Today, however, much of
the church’s teaching is challenged and even contradicted.
This is especially true in the area of morality. The
church’s teaching concerning human sexuality, marriage,
and social justice, for example, simply does not have the
impact it should on many people.
Let us reflect for a moment on one aspect of this
difficulty and then offer a suggestion. Too many people
look on our moral teaching as a laundry list of do’s and
don’ts based more on historical accident or institutional
concern than a Gospel mandate. So they pick and choose
what they want and reject the rest. In confronting this
problem a greater evangelistic effort is needed. Without
minimizing the intellectual dimension - the necessity of
well-reasoned arguments - we must recognize that this
alone is not sufficient. Before people can fully live by the
values Jesus taught us, they must experience conversion.
They must come to know and love the Lord. They must
experience him in their lives; his love, mercy,
understanding, and compassion must be real to them.
Only then will they be willing to commit themselves to
him and accept the demands that he makes. Only then
will they be ready to make that surrender which is
expected of every Christian. It is true that one cannot
precisely “motivate” people to undergo conversion, but it
is possible to motivate them so to dispose themselves as to
be open to the grace of conversion.
Persons who have experienced conversion begin to
understand that we are called to a totally new way of life
involving new personal and societal responsibilities - a
way of life, furthermore, which runs counter to many of
the values of our contemporary culture. They also find
that the demands of the Gospel, which humanly speaking
are impossible, are not only possible but can indeed be
accepted willingly and joyfully in consequence of God’s
grace and the strength which it confers. Even when,
because of human weakness, one does not live up to the
Lord’s expectations, one does not despair. One asks for
forgiveness and starts over again.
Seen in the context of our living, personal relationship
with Christ, doctrine takes on a deeper, richer meaning.
Learning more about his message can then become a very
exciting adventure, for one grasps the fact that fidelity to
Christ’s teaching is an important measure of personal
fidelity to him, while infidelity or indifference to what he
teaches calls into question the authenticity of our
commitment to him.
Footnotes
1. L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 19,1979 p. 3
2. L’Osservatore Romano, Nov. 26,1979 p. 1
3. L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 7,1980 p. 2
4. L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 21, 1980 p. 1
1. L’Osservatore Romano, Jan. 21,1980 p. 5
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