As the beautification of John Paul II draws nearer (set for Divine Mercy Sunday the week after Easter this year) I have been thinking about the great gifts given to us through our late pope. I am especially grateful for his catechesis on the Theology of the Body (TOB.)
The world needs the wisdom of TOB so badly!!! I regularly see evidence of confusion about why God created us male or female, and today was no exception.
Have you heard about the new doll, Bebe Gloton? It’s causing quite a bit of controversy. I quote from the March 24,2011 Fox news story – “A Spanish toymaker known as Berjuan has developed a breast-feeding doll that comes with a special halter top its young ‘mothers’ wear as they pretend to breast-feed their ‘babies.’”
The doll apparently makes a sucking sound. People were interviewed about their negative reaction to the doll. Most were upset because they believed the doll was not “age appropriate.”
I quite agree that we shouldn’t encourage our preschool age girls to wear halter tops they can lower to pretend to breastfeed, but I don’t see the problem with a doll that helps children to understand breastfeeding. Call me crazy, but I think it is a healthy thing to let children know the real reason God created women’s breasts.
The Fox news story also had an interview with a so-called psychologist who lamented how the doll focused on something only “girls” could do with their bodies, as opposed to using a bottle that both sexes could use to “feed” the doll. Oh brother! Don’t get me started on modern psychologists. (Thank God for Catholic schools of psychology like IPS.) As if my son would have ever wanted to play with such a doll, or any doll for that matter!
My husband and I brought three girls into the world before Luke came, and we had a toy box full of dolls. Luke never touched them, except to move them out of the way to find the one ball at the bottom of the box. I think from this simple example, we might glean that God created women to be mothers and men to be fathers. (A novel concept to our world today…)
John Paul ll’s TOB teaches us to have a true and “redeemed” understanding of what it means to be a man and a woman. Our bodies, though equal in dignity, are different. (Another novel idea to our world today…) As such, our bodies are beautiful, and if we understand our sexuality as God created it to be, these bodies will lead us to eternal truths about God and the Trinity! If you are interested at all in what I’m talking about, I would encourage you to get some materials on TOB or even, if it’s in your budget, to consider attending the Legion symposium at Regina Apostolorum in Rome. It will be well worth your time. Parents, we need to pass this invaluable knowledge onto our children. So badly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for this beautiful article! I love TOB too! I was brought up in a culture where a man and a woman are considered equal but different. We both have powers and roles, we are both encouraged to have achievements, hobbies, etc… but we are to exercise them differently according to the gender. Knowing that the Catholic faith speaks the same message is relieving and that makes me love the faith even more!