RELIGION AND SEX IN THE CAFETERIA

This week we are looking at the biographer of Pope John Paul II, George Weigel. In the interview he not only reflects on the late 20th century Pope from Poland but also on the essence of Catholicism and its prognosis. Religion, sexual revolution, clerical abuse and cafeteria Catholics are some of the touchstones of the chapter. Weigel presents the faith's sacraments and the apostolic succession as the columns built upon the foundation of the person of Christ and his redemptive power for all.
Below are some of his comments:

"To meet Jesus Christ is to meet his church, and become incorporated into that church."

"Catholicism understands itself to be the fullest embodiment of the Church of Christ in history."

"...the priest is...an icon of the eternal priesthood of Christ."

On John Paul II's encyclical: "the church proposes, the church imposes nothing."

On John Paul II's encyclical: "many are saved who are not formally part of the church, but are saved in some sense because of Christ."

John Paul II on marital intimacy: "it is an icon of the interior life of God."

"we are not souls trapped in bodies. We are embodied spirits."

The sexual revolution as left wanting

"(democratic) freedom reconnected to moral truth and pursuit of goodness."

"The clergy sexual abuse crisis as a crisis of fidelity."

"cafeteria Catholicism is simply unserious...(Catholicism) is a complete package,"

"The way out of this is not Catholic lite. It's real Catholicism, full Catholicism."

Walter Morton for Terra Incognita