Theology of the Body
Presented by Fr. Sean Kilcawley, April 5, 2021
Fr. Sean Kilcawley discussed how we can’t understand what’s wrong with porn until we understand what it means to be human and what it means to love. We learn what it means to be human by looking at the love of the Trinity. The Father loves sacrificially, giving himself in love to the Son. The Son receives the love of the Father and in turn entrusts Himself to the Father wholly and completely. And the Holy Spirit is the personification of the bond of love that they share.
The human family mirrors this love in the love of Mother, Father, and Child. Our identity as human beings is rooted in our sonship in relationship to God the Father. We first learn to trust in the context of a family.
However, the devil wants to attack love at all levels, and he does this by sowing distrust. Our relationship to God was severed and distorted by distrust, the belief that God didn’t really want what was truly good for us. Jesus entered into our broken humanity and redeemed it, proving God’s unwavering love for us.
Like the woman caught in adultery, Christ doesn’t join the throngs of people ready to condemn us. He sees us as a child of His and wants us to be free from this sin.
Helping people with pornography often starts by reminding them that their identity is not found in their addiction, but in being a child of God. God loves them unconditionally. When this realization sinks in, healing can begin to take place.
Fr. Sean emphasized that helping people with porn and proclaiming that they are beloved children of God is simply evangelization in a world that has been pornified.
Fr. Sean Kilcawley graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1996 with a BS in Middle East Foreign Area Studies. After serving for three years as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army he entered St Gregory the Great Seminary in Seward Nebraska as a pre-theologian for the Diocese of Lincoln, NE. Fr Kilcawley earned a Masters of Divinity and a STB from St Charles Borromeo Seminary in 2005 and then served the diocese of Lincoln for four years as a High School teacher of religion and parochial vicar. In 2013, Fr Kilcawley completed an STL (summa cum laude) at the John Paul II institute for marriage and family in Rome. He currently serves as Diocesan Director of the Office of Family Life and Evangelization for the Diocese of Lincoln. He also serves on the board for the Integrity Restored network.
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