How Should We Love?

How should we love?

In the sixth chapter of The Truth of Catholicism, George Weigel discusses the widely talked about topic: how should we love? The chapter discusses the church’s feelings toward matrimony and sex. According to the text, The Church taught a theory about the purposes of marriage “that too often turned into a denigration of sexual love.” “According to this theory, the ‘primary end’ of marriage, and of sex, was the procreation and education of children” (Weigel 93). Even though The Church continues to say that they are unfairly criticized for their theories, I often wonder if they have done anything to help defend them.

Weigel states right away in the chapter that, “the judgment that the Catholic Church is both prudish and sex-obsessed is deeply entrenched in the Western world today” (Weigel 92). He continues to say that even Catholics believe the judgment. In my opinion, if the Catholic followers also believe it then The Church isn’t doing much to show that it is untrue. Of course the media has much to do with the criticism that the Church receives, but I also feel that it could be unavoidable.

If The Church teaches that the ‘primary end’ of marriage is to have children, then it makes me wonder if it believes that men and women need to be in-love to have a marriage. It often seems that the Catholic Church views that sex should only be present for procreation. However, in my mind and in the minds of many others sex is also an intimate act between two people who love one another. Therefore, it seems to me and many others that for the Catholic Church, sexuality is far more “a matter of legal prohibitions than of love” (Weigel 93). Does this have anything to do with the many loveless marriages that exist in our society?

In conclusion, the idea of how we should love doesn’t really seem to be answered by The Church. It often seems that they do not want to touch on the subject of sexuality, and that it is much easier saying that the only use for sex is having children. It often seems that the Catholic Church doesn’t care if two people are in love or not. It only seems to matter that they bring children into the world and educate them with the Catholic traditions. Maybe its time to rethink the teachings on sex and marriage because Jesus asked us to love one another not to feel obligated to marry and have children because it’s the ‘right thing to do.’ I believe we have lost sight of that so it is time to bring it back into our lives.