Bill Donaghy to lead Theology of the Body workshop Sept. 11 in Jefferson City

By Jay Nies

“You’re Called to Greatness!” will be the theme of Bill Donaghy’s Sept. 11 workshop on Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body. It will be held from 9 a.m. to noon in the Alphonse J. Schwartze Memorial Catholic Center, 2207 W. Main St. in Jefferson City. “This is an education in being human, a reflection on the meaning of life,” said Mr. Donaghy, an internationally renowned lay evangelist from the Theology of the Body Institute.

Hosted by the diocesan Family Life and Diaconate Formation offices, the workshop is recommended for anyone from high school through adulthood. It will include time for questions and answers.

Pope John Paul II preached the Theology of the Body over the course of 135 Wednesday weekly audiences during his first five years as Pope, and referred to it frequently throughout the rest of his 26-year pontificate. “It’s deeply soaked in Scripture and also rooted in human experience,” said Mr. Donaghy. “It’s the harmony of God’s revelation and our human experience.”

Part of the teaching is that all people are created as a gift, and that the longing that a man and a woman experience for an intimate, fruitful union with one another is a reflection of their even greater desire for God. In fact, every human heart’s longing for beauty, truth and goodness comes from God and can only be fulfilled through a communal relationship with Him. “This revolutionary teaching reunites the body and the spirit, the way God intended, and calls us to see the beauty of God in each other,” said Mr. Donaghy, a husband and father of a 2-year-old and a recently adopted newborn.

The “Called to Greatness” theme for the workshop comes from one of the late Pope’s books, Love and Responsibility, in which he states, “We must reconcile ourselves to our natural greatness.” “John Paul II is telling us, ‘Wake up and see that stamped right in your body, as male and female, is a call to greatness — a call to God’s image, itself in us,’” said Mr. Donaghy. For Pope John Paul, that image of God reflected in man and woman is love and communion. “He says we’re the only creatures in the visible Universe that can reflect this love and communion,” said Mr. Donaghy. “As splendid as the Universe and all the creatures in it are, only men and women are created in the image God. We’re like the climax of the whole creative symphony that God spilled out in Genesis.”

This message is essential, especially for inhabitants of a culture in which everyone is tagged as a number, a consumer, a producer, a cog in a giant machine. The greatness to which God is calling people through the teaching in the Theology of the Body lies specifically in being human, according to Mr. Donaghy. “This takes it right back to the beginning,” he said. “Man and woman being created in the image of God is from Eden — all the way back — and it remains true. It’s stamped onto our very being, in the theology of our bodies.” The perversion and commercialization of this search for love and communion leads to distorted attitudes about the sexual union. But Christ entered the world to heal and restore humanity to its origins of greatness, and His grace transcends those distortions.

Wide audience

Mr. Donaghy also plans to give an hour-long introduction to Theology of the Body to the students at Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City on Sept. 10. “It will be a positive, affirming, joy-filled presentation on the gift of human sexuality — which high school kids typically don’t get from our culture,” he said. To prepare for either or both presentations, Mr. Donaghy suggests thinking about how the gift of sexuality is reflected in popular culture — movies, TV and music — as well as in context of each individual’s upbringing.

He also suggests listening to the music on any radio station.“The wrestling match with love and human dignity — that’s going on everywhere,” he said. “Put your ears to the radio and you’ll hear a universal cry for communion, for ‘Look at me! Listen to me! I want something more!’” That “something more” can only come from God, Mr. Donaghy emphasized. “Come with these thoughts in the mind and the heart,” he said. “Come open and come questioning.” He also suggests checking out the resources on the Theology of the Body website: http://theologyofthebody.com.

The $15-per-person registration fee includes the seminar workbook and morning refreshments.
Call Pat Reinkemeyer at (573) 635-9127 for information, or e-mail: communitymin@diojeffcity.org.