Saturday, there was a conference, well, not exactly a conference, at the Chicago Theological Seminary titled, “Women in the Catholic Church: What Francis Needs to Know.” Conferences have a certain academic flavor. This event had all the theological sophistication of a high school pep rally. You can find the on-demand video of the event here.
One panel especially caught my attention: “Sex, Sexuality and Other Unmentionables.” I do not know about anyone else, but it seems to me that way too much time within the Catholic community has been spent discussing sex and sexuality. The subject is anything but unmentionable. There is a veritable tsunami of articles and books on the topic. But, as predicted in these pages shortly after the election of Pope Francis, this panel demonstrated the divide within the Catholic Left that Francis has made obvious, between those of us who care primarily about the poor and the marginalized and those who care mostly about pelvic theological issues. The event at CTS was a kind of political convention for the latter group.
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No one, repeat no one, on the panel about sexuality discussed the recent videos of Planned Parenthood executives talking breezily about the dismemberment of unborn children with a view toward harvesting their organs. Indeed, the Catholic Left has been shamefully silent on the subject. Some of our liberal evangelical friends, including Jim Wallis and others, have not been so reticent and they are to be both applauded and mimicked. I am not surprised that a group like Catholics for Choice would prefer to talk about anything else, which is another reason to have nothing to do with that group. It is akin to barring one’s children from reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Why face the harsh reality of what abortion, or slavery, is when euphemisms can cloud judgment and retard justice.