It has been over a decade since I first read Christopher
West’s Good News About Sex and Marriage
and then made it required reading for the RCIA program I coordinated. I couldn’t help myself. If there was one area in which people seemed
most confused it was the Catholic vision of sexuality and I had not seen anyone
unpack John Paul II’s Theology of the Body with the understanding and sincere
joy of Christopher West. West has of
course authored a number of books since, with his newest Fill These Hearts: God, Sex, and the Universal Longing
due out in
January. He is also about to embark on a
2013 national tour for Fill These Hearts unlike
anything we’ve seen before – using the beauty of music, art, and the spoken
word to unmask the human longing for God.
Christopher was kind enough to answer my questions about his new book
and outreach as well as TOB in general.
Shane Kapler: What do you say when someone completely
unfamiliar with Theology of the Body asks you to explain it to them for the
first time? What are maybe the three or four main points that you want
them to walk away remembering?
Christopher West: Although JP II’s most famous catechesis is
quite long and complex, its main idea is quite simple: Our bodies tell a story,
the most beautiful story imaginable. Our
bodies, in fact, tell the divine story –that’s what makes them theological. What is that story? God himself is an eternal exchange of life-giving
love and we are destined to share in that exchange as male and female. The yearning for love and union that we all
experience both in body and in soul is ultimately a cry of the heart for union
with God and with all of creation. And
that’s what God wants to grant us – an eternal bliss of union with him, and
with everyone and everything. Scripture
calls it the “Marriage of the Lamb.” The
call of man and woman to become “one flesh” tells the story of God’s desire to
take on flesh and become one with us. And
that’s precisely why the devil is
hell-bent on distorting our understanding of sexuality. When he twists it out of shape, we can no
longer read the story, and our understanding of Christianity is placed in great
jeopardy. At the heart of our faith is
the Incarnation: God in the flesh. So it’s critical to understand that the TOB
is not just about sex and marriage. It
takes us to the heart of the Gospel itself.
Kapler: I know that many of us parents would like to
hear your advice on how to introduce our children to TOB. How did you
begin with your own children? How did you gradually unfold this vision
and when/how did you know it was appropriate to fully explain what is
meant by the “marital embrace”?
West: First, we must recognize what a critical
responsibility we have as parents to pass on the glory of God’s plan for the
body and sexuality to our children. Silence
is not an option. When we say nothing, the
culture fills the void with its terribly distorted message. But we can’t give what we don’t have. As parents, before we can pass the TOB on to
our children, we have to immerse ourselves
in it.
The Church teaches that education in God’s plan for
sexuality must begin in the womb, and
continue uninterrupted throughout all the ages and stages of development. So, obviously, we’re talking about much more
than just giving our kids “the talk” when they reach a certain age. We’re talking about a way of living and of
embracing life that is itself an education in the meaning of sexuality. We’re also talking about engaging in an
ongoing conversation about the meaning, purpose, and dignity of being created
as male and female in the image of God. One
of the things my wife and I have done with our kids is put this ongoing education
in the context of our nightly prayers.
Every day since they were born my kids have heard me thanking God for
making Mom to be a woman and making me to be a man; for calling us to the
sacrament of marriage; and for bringing each of them into the world through Mom
and Dad’s love. Then I ask God to help
the boys grow into strong men and the girls to grow into strong women and I ask
God to teach them how to give their bodies away in love as Jesus loves. Then I pray for their future vocations. Eventually, as they get older they start
asking: “What does it mean that I came into the world through your love?” That’s when we start taking the conversation
to the next level – based on their age level and understanding – and it unfolds
fairly naturally from there.
If we are presenting God’s plan in all its splendor and in
age-appropriate ways, there is nothing to be ashamed of here. There is nothing to be squeamish about or
embarrassed about. If we find ourselves
clamming up and unable to talk about these beautiful truths with our children,
that’s an indication, I think, that we ourselves are in need of some healing in
this area of our lives. Taking up a
study of JP II’s TOB is a great place to start on that journey.
Kapler: I would
like to hear about the growth of your interior life. You obviously have
a deep appreciation of the Carmelites. When and how were you introduced
to their writings? Who do you consider your great teachers?
West: I first got turned on to Carmelite
spirituality in the writings of John Paul II.
When JP II speaks of prayer as a journey toward “nuptial union” with the
Lord, he speaks by name of Saints John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. That’s what encouraged me to start reading
their works. To be honest, I had already
been speaking and writing about the TOB for several years before I really
started pursuing a deeper interior life.
It’s one thing to be able to speak and write about the theological ideas
in your head. It’s another thing
altogether to allow those theological truths to penetrate and transform your
heart. Life has a way of compelling you
on that journey, but we often resist it because transformation demands
purification and that’s painful – it means passing through fire, through trials
and dark nights. Not fun. But oh so rewarding, and so necessary for our
souls! In 2004 I started seeing a priest
for spiritual direction and I’ve been seeing him regularly ever since. He’s immersed in the mystical tradition of
the Church and has helped me tremendously in developing a deeper interior life. I’d say that he and my wife – and, of course,
John Paul II – have been my greatest teachers in that regard.
Kapler: When I hear your name I immediately think of
the Theology of the Body Institute. When your book At the Heart of the Gospel was released, however, I discovered that you
had launched a new apostolate called The
Cor Project. Readers would love to know more about it. What
are its goals? Does it mean less time working with the TOB Institute?
West: I co-founded the TOB Institute in 2004 with
two other colleagues and was involved for several years in its administration
as the Institute was solidifying its mission and programs. We’ve attracted a top-notch faculty – including
Janet Smith, Peter Kreeft, Bill Donaghy, John Haas, and Michael Waldstein – and
students come from around the world to take the week-long intensive courses
that are part of the TOB Institute’s Certification Program (www.tobinstitute.org). I continue to teach about four of these intensive
classes every year, but I’ve stepped away from the administrative side of
things to pursue a new global initiative called The Cor Project.
“Cor,” of course, is Latin for heart. At the heart of culture is the relationship
of man and woman. It’s an illusion to
think we can renew culture unless we reach this “cor” with a healing,
redemptive vision of life, love, and sexuality.
I’ve spent nearly 20 years spreading TOB in Catholic circles, and I’ll
continue to serve in that way. But The
Cor Project is working with culture-shaping individuals and organizations
around the world – artists, musicians, screenwriters, playwrights, Hollywood
and Broadway producers, businessmen and women, experts and pioneers in online education
– to take the message to a wider audience.
We feel urgently compelled by Christ’s call to “go into the main streets
and invite everyone to the wedding feast.”
Kapler: You and
some of the Cor Project team just returned from Haiti. What did you see
the Lord doing among the Haitian people?
West: We were invited to educate the priests, but
we also had the chance to be among the poorest of the poor. We spent some time with a lovely Irish
missionary nun, Sr. Anne, who, as part of her rounds, took us to meet a
paralyzed teenaged girl who lives in a small shack on the side of a
mountain. You would think this girl –
who has nothing and lives a life of great suffering – would be tragically
depressed, but she radiated joy. Sr.
Anne asked her why she was so joyful and the girl said, “I talk to Jesus all
day long, and he talks to me.” That was
the most memorable experience of the trip.
Kapler: In At the Heart of the Gospel you pointed out, and I would argue rightly
so, that we cannot change the culture through a merely intellectual
presentation of the Truth, nor one that starts simply by attacking error.
Instead we need to focus upon the beauty and power of the Truth as it comes to
us, for example, in John Paul II’s TOB. But what does that look
like? How should I respond when I am at work and my coworker begins
talking about how bigoted it is to oppose same-sex “marriage”?
West: Yes, where to begin? I think it’s important to look for common
ground before discussing differences.
For instance, everyone yearns for love.
Everyone feels that “ache” inside for fulfillment. Start there.
Affirm it. Catholic teaching is
so often presented merely as a list of prohibitions rather than as a path by
which to pursue the satisfaction of the deepest desires of our hearts. In my experience, if people know that you are
with them in affirming that deepest yearning of the human heart – if they know
that you feel that yearning too and are a true seeker of answers to life’s
deepest questions – then we can begin a civilized conversation about what fulfills that yearning and what
doesn’t. In other words, we need to love
people right where they are and approach them not with an agenda to prove a
point or win an argument, but with love, compassion, understanding, patience,
and as a fellow seeker in the human quest for answers to life’s questions.
Kapler: I
understand you have a new book about to be released, Fill These Hearts. What is the focus?
West: Actually, it’s about precisely what we were
just discussing – that “ache” inside that we all feel for fulfillment. The subtitle is God, Sex, and the Universal Longing. The Greeks called that longing “eros.” Fill
These Hearts explores the ancient but largely forgotten idea that the
restless, erotic yearning we feel at the core of our being is actually our
desire for God, for “the wedding feast” that Christ promises in the
Gospels. I try to show that true
satisfaction of our hunger lies not in repressing eros, nor in indulging it lustfully,
but in learning how to direct our desire
according to God’s design so we can
safely arrive at our eternal destiny:
bliss and ecstasy in union with God and one another forever. The Gospel in a nutshell is this: there is a
banquet that corresponds to the hunger we all feel inside; there is a sweet
wine that corresponds to the thirst we feel inside; there is a balm that
corresponds to the “ache” in our hearts.
Life, yearning, suffering, love, our cry for intimacy and union – all
begin to make sense when the Church’s teaching is properly framed and presented
as the beautiful invitation that it is.
Kapler: Fill These Hearts is more than a book, it’s also a live event. Would you tell us about that?
West: Sure. I’ve
been in dialogue with a team of creative thinkers and artists for several years
now, all of the “JP II generation.” Each
of us has been impacted by art and music as much as by our study of
theology. We were especially inspired by
JP II’s Letter to Artists in which he
insists that the Gospel cannot be presented in all of its splendor without the
help of art. With that as our
inspiration, The Cor Project has been developing an artistic event that
integrates my presentations with the live music of indie folk-rock group Mike
Mangione and the Union (www.mikemangione.com)
along with other artistic elements like movie clips, classical and contemporary
paintings and icons and thematic imagery projected on large screens.
Kapler: So this
is quite different from the church seminars you’ve done in the past?
West: It’s much more like a night at the theater, a
kind of living, moving performance. The
art, the music, and the spoken presentation are all woven together to create a
cohesive whole. I’ve always tried to
keep my presentations lively, but you can only go so far with the spoken
word. Art is the language of the
heart. A song, a melody, a movie clip, a
beautiful painting projected on the big screen takes the message to an entirely
new level. And the highlight of the
evening for almost everyone is the sand-painting. If you’ve never seen this form of art before,
you won’t want to miss it. It pierces
the heart and communicates the message at a much more profound level than a
mere lecture ever could.
Kapler: Who is
your target audience for this event and where can people learn more?
West: We want
this event to be something that Catholics can invite their fallen-away or even
un-churched friends and family to. This
is one of the reasons we typically hold these events in theaters rather than
churches. It is certainly intended to
enrich the faith of those who are already active in the Church, but we also
want to reach out to those who might not be inclined to attend a “church
event.” We have one more event in 2012, in
Sylvania, Ohio, on Nov 17. Then we’ll be
launching a national tour in 2013 in tandem with the release of the book. If you’d like to attend or inquire about bringing
one of these events to your area, you can learn more at www.fillthesehearts.org.
