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JMJ
In prep for yet another attack on Catholic Dogma, Doctrine and Morals, I'd like to point out an excellent article posted on Rorate earlier this year: "Theology of the Body" explained - a Traditional Catholic view - Rorate Caeli.
To date my only real reaction the 'Theology of the Body' has been that what little I read doesn't 'feel right'. The more specific term for this sensation is Cognitive Dissonance or Cultural Dissonance.
In short, what I read of the basic tenets of 'Theology of the Body' seemed to contradict I believed about the Catholic Church's teaching on the purpose of marriage. The explanations that I received from 'modern' Catholics, didn't do anything to allay my concerns.
This article goes to the heart of why it didn't feel right.
I heartily recommend the entire article and would like to highlight the following counter-cultural Magisterial Teachings such as:
Now the Church teaches that marriage has three finalities: 1) the procreation and education of children; 2) the mutual assistance of the spouses; 3) the remedy of concupiscence (see the Roman Catechism expounded in chapter 10 above). The Church teaches further that the first finality is also the primary finality (see chapter 5 for the relevant declarations of the Magisterium, and for the arguments from Scripture, patristics, and speculative theology).
In opposition to this teaching, certain modern authors hold the view that the good of the spouses (cf. the second finality) is on the same level as, or on a higher level than, the good of the children (cf. the first finality). We refer the reader to chapter 5 of the present book.
This modern view has been condemned by the Magisterium. A Declaration of the Holy See of March 1944 (AAS XXVI p.103) poses the question: ‘Can one admit the doctrine of certain modern writers who deny that the procreation and education of the child are the primary end of marriage, or teach that the secondary ends are not essentially subordinate to the primary end, but rather are of equal value and are independent of it? They replied: No, this doctrine cannot be admitted’. In his Allocution to the Midwives (1951) Pope Pius XII refers to such doctrines as ‘a serious inversion of the order of the values and of the purposes which the Creator has established Himself.’
Despite these declarations, we have seen (in the same chapter 5) how this modern view was re-proposed on the floor of the Second Vatican Council, how it found its way (albeit in covert form) into the texts of Humanae Vitae, and from thence into the New Code of Canon Law, the New Catechism, and Familiaris Consortio, inter alia.
One aspect of the crisis of the Church is the shift in focus from God to Man. 'Theology of the Body' naturally flows from this change in focus.
Marriage is supposed to be oriented towards participation in pro-creation and the raising of souls for God. In 'Theology of the Body' the orientation turns towards each other and, in my opinion, much of the woes suffered by Catholic Marriage stem from this selfish principle.
When the orientation is aligned with God's plan, as proposed by the Teaching Authority of the Church, the principle changes to self-sacrifice.
P^3
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