BEING CATHOLIC
THE CHURCH doesn’t see sexual relationships as a form of entertainment, a fashion statement, or an itch to casually scratch.
Love and sex are simply divine by Sister Gemma Simmonds,
C.J.
It might be surprising to some, but the church has a lot of positive things to say about intimacy. Sister Gemma Simmonds, C.J. is a sister of the Congregation of Jesus. She is on the faculty of England’s Heythrop College where she is also director of its Religious Life Institute.
I
T MAY SEEM COUNTERINTUITIVE for a nun to be writing about love and sex. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert. But anyone who has tried to live the celibate life with integrity for most of their adult life has had to face the reality of their own struggles for sexual maturity. They have faced the challenges of understanding the interface between desire, love, the need for intimacy, and the attitude to the human body engendered by the culture in which we live. To help us with these challenges is our knowledge of the Catholic Church’s stance on love and sex, which is something we can also impart to others. Out there amid general public assumptions is the notion that the church thinks sex is wrong and sees sexuality primarily as a problem rather than as a gift. This could not be more mistaken. If anything, the church takes sex much more seriously than the media or popular culture does. The church doesn’t see sexual relationships as a form of entertainment, a fashion statement, or an itch to casually scratch. The church only sees sexuality within the context of human and divine relationships, and in that sense it affirms a very positive view of sex.
154 | VISION 2016 | VocationNetwork.org
