Washington D.C., Jan 6, 2025 / 15:20 pm
The “theology of the body” was a central theme of the SEEK25 conference held in Washington, D.C., last week, with several speakers drawing on the teachings of St. John Paul II in their talks at the flagship Catholic event for young adults.
Speakers including Nebraska priest Father Sean Kilcawley and Samantha Kelley, president of FIERCE Athlete, a Catholic women’s organization that “promotes true and authentic femininity in sports,” called on young Catholics to dive deeper into their understanding of human sexuality and their identity as sons and daughters of God.
Several attendees at the conference, sponsored by Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), told CNA they had limited exposure to the theology of the body and had been surprised and moved by John Paul II’s teachings. From 1981 to 1985, the late pope devoted his Wednesday general audiences to catechesis affirming the dignity of life.
A ‘nose-dive’ into John Paul II’s reflection on creation story
“This one probably hit me the hardest,” Meredith Cole, 20, a student at Virginia Tech, told CNA after Kelley’s talk, which was titled “Theology of the Body: Understanding Who You Are.”
Standing in line to meet the FIERCE president, Cole told CNA she felt Kelley “spoke to exactly what I needed to hear and what I’ve been praying with the past couple of days.”
“It’s important to know theology of the body because it teaches us about the way that God views us and views our bodies,” she said, noting that while she had some exposure to theology of the body through campus ministry at Virginia Tech, Kelley’s talk had “nose-dived into it.”
Kelley underscored the importance of first seeking a relationship with God to find fulfillment, a theme touched upon by Bishop Robert Brennan, Dr. Matthew Breuninger, and Father Chase Hilgenbrinck on the opening day of the conference.
She then delved into John Paul II’s teachings on human sexuality through the lens of the creation story.
“St. John Paul II was really wise,” she said, “and he wrote this teaching, theology of the body, while he was in the throes of the sexual revolution, so there was a lot of confusion around masculine roles and feminine roles around sexuality, around relationships.”
“Sound a little bit familiar? We’re still dealing with this today,” she told a conference hall full of young Catholics, priests, and religious on Saturday.
“This is not how it’s supposed to be. But in order to discover how it is supposed to be, we need to look back at God’s original plan,” she said.
Kelley drew from John Paul II’s teachings on the “original solitude” of man, which states that he “is alone” in the midst of creation, completely unique from the visible world and the other living creatures God had made.
In this original state of man, Kelley explained, “before Adam could be in relationship with another, he needed to be in perfect relationship with God.”
And when God determined Adam should not be alone and created Eve, Kelley pointed out, Eve’s first human experience was “being gazed at” by God and Adam, receiving their love.
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Ultimately, Kelley explained, theology of the body is rooted in the way God originally created men and women.
“Men, you are external, you are called to give yourself to your bride, and so the height of your masculinity, what you’re called to, is sacrifice,” she said, adding that for women, “the height of our femininity is our receptiveness and our ability to bear life.”
As a former Division I athlete, Kelley recalled struggling with feeling feminine, since societal standards dictate that “if you are a girl and you like sports, you’re a tomboy.” But “it’s a lie,” she said: “Men, the fact that God created you as a man makes you masculine, period. Women, the fact that God created you as a woman makes you feminine, period.”
“We are God’s masterpiece,” she told the audience. “And so when you’re not the person that God created you to be, when you’re some facade of it, you distort God’s original plan.”
‘Original solitude’ as a way of healing
Kilcawley spoke on “Living the Fullness of Love: The Healing Power of the Theology of the Body.”
Joshua Kamenitzer, a 19-year-old student at the University of Iowa, told CNA that before the conference, he had not been aware of John Paul II’s teachings.
“I thought it was really good,” Kamenitzer told CNA. “I had no expectations going into it. I thought it was going to be more about marriage, but then it ended up being more about just healing your relationship with God before you start doing anything outside of that.”
Kilcawley had also focused on John Paul II’s idea of “original solitude,” telling the young Catholics gathered for his speech: “It should be enough that God delights in us.”
“That’s what that sense of original solitude means,” he said.
While Kelley’s talk focused on John Paul II’s teachings on sexuality and relationships between men and women, Kilcawley approached the theology of the body from the perspective of his priesthood and how John Paul II’s teachings on identity helped him to heal childhood wounds.
Kilcawley had lost his mother at a very young age and described struggling with his identity and failing to seek after God’s love, having struggled in his relationship with his father.
In the concept of original solitude, Kilcawley explained that he became more fully aware of God’s “delight” in him, which helped him begin healing.
“In hearing about that concept and then letting it toss around in my heart, and knowing that it agitates me, that’s an invitation to healing,” he said, “knowing that it leads to Our Lord continuing to do his work over and over and over again.”
“At the end of the day,” the priest concluded, “the theology of the body is supposed to be lived out every day.”
The sold-out first-ever SEEK satellite event kicked off in the nation’s capital earlier this week with over 3,500 registered attendees, held at the same time as conferences in Salt Lake City and Cologne, Germany.
The two U.S. locations for SEEK25 brought in a record-breaking 21,115 attendees hailing from all over the United States and Canada. Hundreds of priests attended, with a total of 617 in Salt Lake City and Washington, D.C., combined.
