Editor's Desk: Notable Series

By Michael F. Flach
Herald Editor
(From the issue of 5/20/04)

This week’s Graduation Issue also contains the sixth and final installment of Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde’s series, "Love, Freedom and the Person: Sexuality and the Catholic Church" (see page 10). The bishop started the series with Genesis. He then examined Pope John Paul II’s "Theology of the Body," which was followed with columns on the dignity of marriage and the family, contraception and natural family planning and homosexuality. The final article is on the virtue of chastity.

Bishop Loverde wants readers to reflect with him "on how we, as Catholics audacious enough to believe that our human bodies will someday be resurrected just as our Lord and Savior’s was, might renew our culture. Ours is a culture profoundly affected by a misunderstanding of the human body and of sexuality. In these weeks, let us carry the joy of Christ’s resurrection, so fresh in our minds and hearts, into a reflection on who we are as made in God’s image."

The bishop has attempted to show that Church teaching — so often misunderstood as a litany of prohibitions — is grounded in a holistic understanding of the human person. It opens the door to an authentic understanding of love and freedom.

In part two of the series, Bishop Loverde encouraged readers to take a closer look at the Holy Father’s "Theology of the Body." This series of papal reflections on the nature of human love in the divine plan of salvation was presented by the Holy Father from 1979-84. "Spanning 130 general audience addresses, the pope examined the ways in which our bodies and our sexuality shed light on who we are as persons made in God’s image," the bishop said. "His positive, holistic view of the human person merits our close attention, since we are part of a culture in which sexuality and the human body are often objectified, abused and misunderstood.

"Collected in The Theology of the Body: Human Love in the Divine Plan, these reflections, which one writer has described as a ‘theological time bomb’ yet to go off, demonstrate the ‘personalist slant’ which the pope has brought to so many aspects of the Catholic tradition," the bishop said.

All six parts of the bishop’s series can be found on the HERALD’s Web site at www.catholicherald.com.

Find Your Vocation

Speaking of the Holy Father, at the recent commencement ceremony at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, papal biographer and columnist George Weigel provided some keen insights into John Paul’s early life in Poland.

"John Paul II, as a young man, struggled — really struggled — to discern his vocation, his unique place in God’s scheme of things," Weigel told the graduates. The future pope pondered a career in the theater or as a professor. He developed "serious friendships with young women," Weigel said.

"Don’t think of your life simply as a career. Think of your life as a vocation. God has something unique in mind for each of you. There is something singular that each of you brings to the making of history."

A new book written by Russell Shaw and Germain Grisez entitled, Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone by Name, delves deeper into the question: "What does God want you to do with your life?"

Thousands of young men and women are preparing to make life-changing decisions this graduation season. This small book, published by Our Sunday Visitor, provides encouragement with a Catholic perspective. — M.F.F.

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