- Feb 5, 2002
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So I guess Pope Francis said that the Church’s “catechesis on sex is still in diapers.” People have asked me what I think of that. My honest reply is, I’m sorry, but I don’t know what that means, any more than I know what it meant when that woman at Stanford asked, “Is the juice worth the squeeze?” When I read that, I thought to myself: Well, judging from the popularity of juice, I take it a lot of people think the juice is worth the squeeze. It seemed a little like asking, “Is the fruit worth the harvest?” The obvious answer would be, yes.
But after a lot of years of having people make dramatic statements like this, and me saying, “What does that mean?” and the speaker rolling his eyes as though to say, “You just don’t get it” (which is fair enough because, clearly, I don’t), I have come to the painful conclusion that these statements just aren’t meant for me.
So, for example, when someone says that the Church’s catechesis on sex “is still in diapers,” I wonder, why? Is it because the present situation of sex in the world is really crappy, and the Church is continually having to clean up the poop and replace it with a clean diaper? Well, that’s sort of true. It’s an odd way of putting it, I suppose, but not wrong.
It would be a little like St. Paul telling the Corinthians: “I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able; for you are yet carnal.” In other words, because you are so “carnal,” you’re like children, and we have to treat you like children. When you grow up, we can start giving you adult food. For now, we have to cut your food up into little pieces, and you still fling it everywhere. Again, that’s not entirely untrue, but maybe a little harsh. I’m not saying that’s what Francis meant, though, because, as I already admitted, I don’t know what he meant.
Continued below.
www.thecatholicthing.org
But after a lot of years of having people make dramatic statements like this, and me saying, “What does that mean?” and the speaker rolling his eyes as though to say, “You just don’t get it” (which is fair enough because, clearly, I don’t), I have come to the painful conclusion that these statements just aren’t meant for me.
So, for example, when someone says that the Church’s catechesis on sex “is still in diapers,” I wonder, why? Is it because the present situation of sex in the world is really crappy, and the Church is continually having to clean up the poop and replace it with a clean diaper? Well, that’s sort of true. It’s an odd way of putting it, I suppose, but not wrong.
It would be a little like St. Paul telling the Corinthians: “I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for you were not able as yet. But neither indeed are you now able; for you are yet carnal.” In other words, because you are so “carnal,” you’re like children, and we have to treat you like children. When you grow up, we can start giving you adult food. For now, we have to cut your food up into little pieces, and you still fling it everywhere. Again, that’s not entirely untrue, but maybe a little harsh. I’m not saying that’s what Francis meant, though, because, as I already admitted, I don’t know what he meant.
Continued below.
Whose Diapers? Whence Rationality? - The Catholic Thing
Randall Smith: You can’t insist we protect nature when it comes to the environment and then ignore nature when it comes to human sexuality.
www.thecatholicthing.org
