Teens learn John Paul's ‘Theology of the Body’

The teaching of John Paul II on the “Theology of the Body” has described as “a time bomb set to go off in the 21st century” and reverberate in many areas of Catholic dogma.

While unknown or considered difficult by many adults, a pair of religious education teachers have found their teenage students receptive to the lessons of the late pope.

“I love the way the material in ‘TOB [Theology of the Body] for Teens’ delivers the message,” said Vicky Scherer, the religious education teacher who initiated the course for ninth-graders at St. Joseph the Worker parish in West Winfield/Richfield Springs.

“It introduces them to the teachings of the Catholic Church, but it does it through appealing to the ‘God-shaped hole’ in all of us,” she explained. “We all recognize the beauty in the truth and are drawn to it. And if we can present the material in that manner, the kids will be attracted to it.”

Though it is, apparently, rarely used in religious education, Mrs. Scherer and others say the Theology of the Body is eminently practical and appealing for youths.

Papal legacy
Between 1979 and 1984, Pope John Paul II delivered a series of 129 talks on the dignity of the person and of the body. He described God’s relationship with people through their bodies as a mystical foreshadowing of that relationship in heaven, and explored how this objective truth can be personally experienced.

The teaching came to be known as the Theology of the Body. It was initiated to counteract the “consumerism of sex” in society since the sexual revolution of the 1960s and ‘70s.

The title’s corporeal reference may make youth, and many adults, squirm. But the teachers have found the material to be straightforward and accessible.

“The class is not explicitly sexual,” Mrs. Scherer noted. “The kids don’t need graphics. They see that in games and movies. They already know. We talk about relationship. TOB really does free you about relationship and God’s plan for it.”

To see anew
TOB reframed Church teaching on human life and gives us “a different lens to see the world,” said Mrs. Scherer. Human beings are to be loved, not used, and the late pope explored how this is expressed through people’s bodies in all vocations — whether married, single or vowed to celibacy.

John Paul II explained that the body is “sacramental” in that it makes visible what is invisible: Humans are created in the image of God and are destined for union with Him. No human action, sexual or otherwise, takes place without the body.

Expressions to others of love, friendship, giving and receiving, and in the conjugal union in marriage are ultimately expressions of a desire for God.

“It’s about relationship to God and to yourself,” Mrs. Scherer said of TOB. “God is love. That is why we are drawn to it all, why it is all so attractive. It’s being a part of God. God is relational — Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

A colleague elaborated.
“Marriage is an image of the Trinity,” said Joanne Sirtoli, a nurse who teaches the course St. Joseph’s. “The Holy Spirit is the love between a man and woman. Conjugal love is a faint glimpse of what it will be like to be in union with God. It’s so awesome.”

Timely intervention
She said it was important to start teaching the course in ninth grade to head off competing messages from secular society and popular culture.

“Kids are more mature in 12th grade and able to grasp concepts, but it is too late by then. They are already taught human sexuality in school, and they are totally saturated with the culture. So we teach this in ninth grade.”

Mrs. Scherer agreed. “They are bombarded in schools about diseases and contraceptive methods. But [schools] can’t teach it with any moral background. I wanted to tell kids what the Catholic Church has to say.

“TOB for Teens gives them the rationale and reason,” she continued. “You know the rule; this is the reason. In our culture, the rule doesn’t make sense. It’s about pleasure and what you can get out of another person. But TOB focuses on the positive and on what’s in the heart. You know in your heart you want to be treated with dignity.”

The youths learn that dignity is demonstrated through modesty, chastity until marriage, the refusal to use artificial contraception, and treating others as persons, not objects. Movies, TV, music and fashion send a different message.

Well-armed
“Our culture is stripping away their modesty,” Mrs. Scherer said of today’s teens. “Kids don’t know where to draw the line any more.”

Mrs. Sirtoli believes young people “are taught perversions before they know normal. It’s sad. God wants more for them.”

Mrs. Scherer contended that something “more” is not supported by the culture, including in some school situations.

“Kids believe the teachers have the training to teach this stuff, not their own parents,” she stated. “So it is good to hear from another authority figure that reinforces what the parent is saying. Parents can fall back on this teaching.”

Mrs. Sirtoli encouraged priests and catechists to get involved: “Don’t be afraid to teach what the Church teaches.”

She called Theology of the Body “a deep truth.
“It takes a lifetime to unravel it completely. It’s a beautiful, wonderful concept of what sex can be.”

(10/29/09)