My parish, St. Dominic's in San Francisco, performed Bruckner's Requiem Mass in D Minor for All Souls Day last week. I wasn't at all familiar with the piece, but it was beautiful, and beautifully done by the outstanding choir.
I was introduced to The Body's Grace by Frank from Letters to the Catholic Right in this post , where he quotes Williams saying: It puts the question which is also raised for some kinds of moralist by the existence of the clitoris in women; something whose function is joy. If the creator were quite so instrumentalist in ‘his’ attitude to sexuality, these hints of prodigality and redundancy in the way the whole thing works might cause us to worry about whether he was, after all, in full rational control of it. But if God made us for joy…? I want to talk about the first part of that quote here, regarding the clitoris. I am not aware of any theology that has been done on the clitoris, but there should be. As Williams alludes to, the existence and nature of the clitoris is a theological "problem," especially if you want to hold on to traditional Christian sexual morality. It is especially problematic if you want to hold that sexuality needs to be understood through the...
Chapter 12 is about foreplay. Most everyone acknowledges that foreplay is good, and this chapter is no exception. Popcak makes the interesting but seemingly effective choice to break foreplay down into the various senses. So, for example, under seeing he discusses things like wearing lingerie, under smell he suggests to use scented candles, etc. There is nothing revolutionary or earthshaking here, but the suggestions are solid and reasonable. He also provides an unambiguous defense of oral sex. Some might be puzzled as to why oral sex needs defending, but the traditional position of the Church opposed oral sex--hence the reason it was traditionally grouped with anal sex under the heading of "sodomy." So, Popcak is stepping out a bit on a limb here, and he deserves his kudos for that. He also makes clear that oral sex goes both ways, subject only to the One Rule. Good on him for recognizing the needs of the ladies in this realm. I could...
Chapters 11 through 13 is where we get to the nitty-gritty of Infallible Loving. Chapter 11 is yet another framing chapter, albeit more focused than the previous ones, Chapter 12 deals with foreplay, and Chapter 13 deals with intercourse. Needless to say, this post (and the next one) is going to be the real "Sheer Silence After Dark" portion of the review, so fair warning. Before diving into the three chapters and dwelling on the weird parts, I want to talk about the good parts of these chapters. First, it is clear Dr. Popcak's heart is in the right place. He comes across in these chapters as utterly sincere in his desire to lead couples to have a good relationship and good sex. Whether or not his proposals actually accomplish this is a separate question, but the intention is there. You have to give him credit for trying very hard, particularly as he is fighting the headwinds of Catholic doctrine and practice. Second, it is clear that these chapte...
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