COMPLETING THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION

Theology of the BODY

By Lisa Dahm | Special to the Herald

Many believe that human sexuality is a taboo topic in the church. Or at least something you only talk about in a whisper when a child asks embarrassing questions.

Christopher West is here to tell you differently.

The dynamic speaker and author has devoted his life to examining Pope John Paul II’s 129 Wednesday audience messages, delivered from September 1979 to November 1984, dedicated to the theme of human sexuality in the light of Christ.

On May 30, West will give a one-day seminar, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., on the late great pope’s “Theology of the Body” at St. Anthony Parish, Kailua.

West said that since 1993, he has been on a lifelong journey to explore the pope’s work and bring the life-changing message of the church’s true teaching to others.

“I see this with countless lives around the world when people hear this message,” West said in a telephone interview earlier this month.

“Lives are transformed. Marriages are transformed. Our own lives start making sense — we can understand why we made the choices we made, why we are in the pain that we are in. And we have hope for the future. Not for just our own future, but hope for the church and hope for the world.”

Sex, mugs and rock ‘n’ roll Young adults are invited to enjoy the fabulous music of Mike Mangione, meet other Christian singles and hear a frank discussion about Christian sexuality by Christopher West, May 29, 7-9:30 p.m., at the Kamiano Center on the Fort Street Mall next to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace The place will have a coffee house jive with West speaking, Mangione jamming, and coffee and non-alcoholic drinks flowing. There is a $5 cover charge and food and non-alcoholic drinks will be sold. Validated parking will be available in the cathedral lot. While this is a single’s event, married couples will be allowed in too. To get a preview of Mangione’s music, go to myspace.com/mikemangione or mikemangione.com

West said that the Theology of the Body is the teaching of human sexuality and married love, but it is not just for married people. West invites everyone — young, old, married, single, priests, religious, consecrated celibates — to attend the seminar.

“It is a vision of why we are created male and female and why we hunger for love,” he said. “It is an invitation to the banquet that really satisfies the hunger. It is for all of us.”

“We are here to reflect on nothing short of the very meaning of our lives and the meaning of the Gospel,” he said.

West is married. He and his wife Wendy, who live in Pennsylvania, have five children.

West’s seminar is sponsored by InHim Ministries, founded in Hawaii by Marcos Brackins and his wife Kristen. Brackins recently led a six-week series on John Paul II’s Theology of the Body at St. Anthony Parish which was attended by 30 to 40 people. He got such an enthusiastic response that he felt the whole island would benefit from hearing West’s message.

“In our world today we are bombarded with the wrong messages about the human body and sexuality and I don’t think the church’s message is out there,” Brackins said.

Brackins called it a “miracle” that West was able to come to Hawaii to speak. As a national and international speaker, he is booked for up to a year in advance. But he had a cancellation. Brackins said that “never happens.”

Hungry for love

“We are hungry,” West said. “God has put in each and every one of us a hunger for love. And when the banquet is not presented, we inevitably go to the culture’s fast food menu. The culture offers us a promise of immediate gratification for our hungers. But you can only eat greasy chicken nuggets for so long before you start being sick.”

West said that most people who grow up in the church were given the starvation diet, where desires are considered bad and must be repressed. Given the choice between starvation and greasy nuggets, he said, most people, himself included, would choose the nuggets.

“It is only when I discovered this Theology of the Body that I realized there was a banquet that really satisfies,” he said.

West said that the sexual revolution was responding to a legitimate hunger that was not being fed by the starvation diet. The Theology of the Body goes the distance — it completes the revolution.

“The revolution got us talking about our hunger, but it led us to the wrong food,” he said. “This Theology of the Body acknowledges the hunger and leads us to the right food.”

Who should attend the Theology of the Body seminar? West said, “If you are hungry, come.”

“If you are looking for more than what the culture has to offer, come,” he said. “If you thought Christianity was a list of oppressive rules, you will be delightfully surprised.”

Head and heart

Those who do come will get an additional treat: musician and songwriter Mike Mangione.

West met Mangione when Mangione’s girlfriend “dragged” him to one of West’s weekend seminars in 2002. After the event, the two began talking about music and ended up playing together until after 3 a.m.

Music (both are serious fans of the Irish band U2), not theology, was the common language, but Mangione nevertheless got the message.

“That was beautiful for me,” Mangione said. “He was able to meet me at a level I could relate to.”

When West ran into Mangione two years later, he found the musician’s life radically changed by the Theology of the Body. Mangione showed West his new material, based on John Paul II’s thoughts. West asked him to perform with him. Both were on stage together at World Youth Day last July in Sydney, Australia.

“His music has flowered, absolutely blossomed, through the Theology of the Body,” West said. “It has been amazing for me to see the transformation of this guy and the maturing of his heart.”

Mangione will give a concert for single young adults at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace Kamiano Center on Friday, May 29 (See box), in addition to the Saturday event.

Mangione called the mix of West’s talks and his music “a beautiful ebb and flow of head and heart.”

At World Youth Day, West spoke for three nights, attracting more than 3,000 people each night. The sessions were so powerful that afterward he had to be escorted by security guards because people were desperately trying to talk to him.

“It demonstrates the hunger,” he said. “And people, when they hear this vision, respond.”

West said that “anyone and everyone” will feel welcome to the seminar.

“Bring your friends, bring your neighbors, bring people that you would love to expose to the church’s real teaching who have maybe left the church or feel ostracized,” he said. “Bring your Protestant and Evangelical friends. The goal is to present this vision in a language where everyone can feel welcome.”

“Everyone responds to beauty,” he continued. “The goal is going to show everyone the beauty of our own humanity through this teaching and music. Maybe the tag line for the day is the lyric ‘You don’t know how beautiful you are’ (from U2’s new song ‘Get on Your Boots’).”

“My hope is that people will walk away from the day realizing, maybe even for the first time in life, how beautiful they are,” he said.

For more information or to download the registration form, go to www.inhimhawaii.org/tob.html. Or call InHim Ministries at 542-9736. To learn more about Christopher West, go to christopherwest.org.