Karol Wojtyła Memorial Lectures

 

The Nature of Marriage and Family
in the Teachings of Karol Wojtyla – Pope St. John Paul II

 

Prof. Jove Jim S. Aguas

University of Santo Tomas – Manila, Philippines

 

The John Paul II Institute

The Faculty of Philosophy

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin

 

May 15-22, 2023  30 Hour-Course  2 ECTS Points

9.10 am – 11:40 pm & 3 – 4.40 pm

Room C-220

 

ONLINE https://bit.ly/2023_karol_wojtyla

 

 

The Seminar on the Thoughts of Karol Wojtyła - John Paul II

on the Anniversary of the Birth of Pope John Paul II

 

May 18, 2023 5.00 PM

 

 

Abstract

 

Marriage and the family are two of the most significant human institutions; without them, there would not be a human society or community. The Church recognizes “the great value of marriage and the family and their deepest meaning” (Familiaris Consortio -FC). However, in today’s world, the meaning of marriage and the family is constantly being redefined, or at least there is an attempt to give it a different definition. Consequently, understanding the institution of marriage and the family and how they are practiced is also undergoing certain modifications. Pope St. John Paul II, in the Familaris Consortio, noted that “the family in the modern world, as much as and perhaps more than any other institution, has been beset by the many profound and rapid changes that have affected society and culture.” Stressing that marriage is part of the divine plan (Theology of the Body), and the family as a domestic Church (Love and Responsibility), Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II has extensively and profoundly focused on marriage and family in his many writings – pre-pontifical and pontifical. At a time when these two divinely planned human institutions face many challenges and difficulties, it is important and critical to highlight their real meaning and value based on the thoughts of Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II.

These lectures will then focus on the thoughts or teachings of Karol Wojtyla/Pope St. John Paul II on the nature of marriage and family. The primary sources for these lectures are the Acting Person (Person and Act), Love and Responsibility, Familiaris Consortio, and the Theology of the Body.

 

Topics of Lectures

 

1. Monday 15 May, Lecture 1 – Man’s Original Status. This lecture will focus on Karol Wojtyla/St. John Paul II’s notion of man’s original status that he explained in the Theology of the Body. In the beginning when God created man in His own image. The institution of marriage is based on the fact that man was created, male and female. Being created in the image of God is an indication of the basis of man’s relationship with God. Man’s original status signifies the original innocence and happiness, and the original unity of man and woman. In the original state of man, there was solitude and innocence; there was also the unity between man and woman, wherein the fullness of the interpersonal relationships between man and woman, the man and the woman with their respective bodies are seen as “gifts” to each other.
2. Tuesday 16 May, Lecture 2 – Man After the Fall. This lecture is a continuation of the previous lecture and will focus on Wojtyla/St. John Paul II’s discussion of the state of man after the fall. After the fall of man, after man’s disobedience, man had a new experience of his body. Because of the fall, man’s eyes were opened to the realization of their nakedness; there was a radical change in the meaning of nakedness, especially in the relationship of the man and woman the first effect of sin is the loss of innocence. In the original state of innocence, nakedness represents full acceptance of the body in its personal truth. After the fall, shame, lust, and domination enter into the relationship between man and woman.
3. Wednesday 17 May, Lecture 3 – The Nature of Sexuality and Love. This lecture will focus on Karol Wojtyla/St. John Paul II’s thoughts on the nature of sexuality and love, which he first discussed in Love and Responsibility. There is a significant and existential relation between love and human sexuality; Wojtyla’s view counters the negative perceptions, orientations, and attitudes towards love and human sexuality. Such a view restores not just the real end of love and sexuality but also the dignity of the human person. Wojtyla’s notion of love and sexuality is grounded on a clear notion of the human person as a being and subject.
4. Thursday 18 May, Lecture 4 – The Nature of Marriage. This lecture will focus on Karol Wojtyla/Pope St. John Paul II’s thoughts on the nature of marriage. This will highlight the philosophical foundation of the notion of marriage and the original unity of man and woman as discussed in the Theology of the Body. This first community of persons established the unity of marriage and its consequent - the indissolubility of marriage. The establishment of the institution of marriage ensures the proper use of the procreative power that God bestowed on man. Marriage becomes the lifelong and irrevocable union of one man and one woman.
5. Friday 19 May, Lecture 5 – The Nature of the Family. This lecture will focus on Karol Wojtyla/Pope St. John Paul II’s thoughts on the family, which he articulated mainly in the Familiaris Consortio. The traditional family is at the heart of what St. John Paul II calls the “civilization of love,” a domestic church. The “authentic and mature communion between persons within the family is the first and irreplaceable school of social life…” the Christian family welcomes, respects, and serves every human being as a child of God, an imago Dei. Marriage and family then are intimately and fundamentally connected because of the love between man and woman marriage is formed, and because of the conjugal union resulting in that love, children are procreated, and the family is consequently formed.
6. Monday 22 May, Lecture 6 – The Challenges of Secularism and Relativism to Marriage and Family. This lecture will focus on the challenges of secularism and relativism to marriage and family. Because of relativism, materialism, and the secular ideals that prevail in modern societies, the religious character of marriage and family is being undermined. The secular ideals pose challenges to the way we understand and practice marriage based on its spiritual foundation and religious significance. This particular challenge is manifested not only in the attempts to redefine the meaning of marriage and family but in an effort to set up laws and policies that undermine the very foundation of marriage as the union of man and woman and the composition of the family based on this union. Some quarters that advocate same-sex marriage are trying to redefine marriage as the union between two individuals undermining that these two individuals must be of different sex. Karol Wojtyla/Pope St. John Paul II constantly reminded us to safeguard marriage and family from these material and secular ideals.