---

Like the question posed in the song title "What's Love Got to Do With It?" many Catholics might ask, "What's sexuality got to do with spirituality?"

Yet this is the topic Brother James Zullo, FSC, will be tackling during a talk March 10 at 7 p.m. at Christ Sun of Justice parish in Troy, part of a series of Lenten talks on various aspects of faith.

Brother James, a clinical psychologist from Northwestern University in Chicago, is calling his presentation, "Developing a Sexual Spirituality: Exploring the Possibilities."

He said he will invite people "to rethink what it means to find the spiritual dimensions of our sexuality through the body, through the experience of pleasure, and then the experience of relationship, intimacy and friendship."

Sex central
At the outset, Brother James will give a clear meaning of sexuality.

"Ultimately," he remarked, "the definition I use is the one I believe in: The divine intentionality that God created us as sexual human beings to basically bring us up close to one another in relationship."

He continued: "When sexuality is healthy, it is always in the context of relationship. Where it is unhealthy is when it tends to be isolated from relationship or from commitment or mutuality or respect."

Nationally known as a speaker on celibacy to groups of clergy and seminarians, Brother James said he doesn't modify his message on sexuality "at all" when addressing clergy versus laypeople.

He conceded that "part of the problem in the Church is that we have been very repressed in terms of looking at these questions."

Brother James pointed to the most recent surfacing of the clergy abuse scandal in Ireland as another manifestation of the Church's silence on the topic.

"We wouldn't talk about it," he said. "And consequently it blew up in our face!"

Brother James advocates an opening up of the Church's leadership to an ongoing conversation on such issues as abortion, contraception, stem cell re-search, in-vitro fertilization and sexual orientation. He believes that many of the faithful no longer blindly accept "a unidirectional movement in terms of sexuality."

Further, said Brother James, "The Church, as an institution, does not dialogue. It simply pronounces, and that model has to change if we are to have any credibility."

One solution Brother James recommends is for the hierarchy to hear the real circumstances behind the choices people make and not condemn them.

"The Church needs to be with the people who are in crisis," he said. "We need to listen to the stories so that we can offer that compassion that Jesus offers in the Gospel."

In addition, he challenges celibate men in general to tap into the wisdom of today's women theologians and couples whose writings present fresh views on sexual spirituality.

Brother James asked: "Can we be taught by the faithful members of the mystical body of Christ who are sexually active?" He continued, "We need to hear the voice of these groups that can speak from their experience of intimacy, of pleasure, and their understandings of the movements of the body."

All in one
His presentation will mention several religious practices that are time-tested methods of helping people to achieve a greater integration of body, mind and spirit.

For example, solitude - spending even five minutes a day in silence - can be helpful. Journaling can serve as a powerful tool, he said, for people to learn about their hopes and their dreams. Spiritual reading, private prayer, attendance at Mass or other religious services can help the individual to develop a deeper spiritual consciousness.

Brother James urges people to enjoy nature and creation. He remarked, "I'm big about encounters with art, with music, with any of those kinds of sensuous things which bring us out into the larger world."

Another effective practice is to connect with people on a deeper level as they will serve as mirrors to the soul. Heart-to-heart conversations with important people in our lives, he said, "can help us unpack and reveal some of those deeper longings and desires that we all have."

Ultimately, the goal of his Lenten talk, he stated, is "to bring a synthesis to the concepts of sexuality and spirituality."

BROTHER JAMES. The Lenten speaker series at Christ Sun of Justice parish in Troy includes Mass at 5:30 p.m., a meatless pot-luck supper at 6:30 and speakers at 7. For information, call 274-7793 or go to www. chapelandculturalcenter.org.

(03/04/10) [[In-content Ad]]

---