The Danger Lurking Offline: SSPX Conference to feature Novus Ordo ‘Theology of the Body’ Expert

“Fr.” Sean Kilcawley invited to speak…

The Danger Lurking Offline: SSPX Conference to feature Novus Ordo ‘Theology of the Body’ Expert

The semi-traditionalist Society of St. Pius X is once again bending over backwards to demonstrate just how much it desires to be integrated into the Novus Ordo mainstream.

In the United States, its Angelus Press Conference is scheduled to take place from Oct. 4-6 this year, and it includes as a featured speaker the Rev. Sean Kilcawley, a Novus Ordo priest who teaches John Paul II’s so-called “Theology of the Body”. This should do more than just raise Lefebvrist eyebrows, especially since the main theme of the conference is, “Defense of the Family: Fortifying Catholic Marriage.” Other speakers scheduled for the event include Bp. Bernard Fellay, Fr. Jurgen Wegner, and Dr. John Rao.

No, “Fr.” Kilcawley wasn’t invited to promote the Theology of the Body at that conference — although one may surmise that it will influence in some way, perhaps even significantly, the topic he will be speaking about: the dangers of online pornography and how to overcome an addiction to it (his talk is entitled “The Dangers Lurking Online: Pornography Addiction and how it destroys Hearts, Minds, and Souls”). While such a topic is quite legitimate to talk about, of course, the fact that the SSPX decided to have a presbyter from the Vatican II Sect address it is shocking, especially when considering that the man is a champion of the Theology of the Body, the man-centered sexual pseudo-theology of “Pope” Karol Wojtyla.

SSPX promo of Kilcawley’s lecture at this year’s conference

To learn about Mr. Kilcawley’s background, we turn to the biographical blurb provided by the web site of the Novus Ordo diocese for which he works, that of Lincoln, Nebraska:

Fr. Sean Kilcawley is a nationally recognized speaker on Theology of the Body, Human Love and pornography addiction.  He was ordained a priest in 2005 for the Diocese of Lincoln.  He served as assistant pastor at St. Joseph and North American Martyrs and taught Theology of the body at Pius X High School [!] from 2005-2009.  In 2013 Fr. Kilcawley completed a License in Sacred Theology at the John Paul II institute for marriage and family studies in Rome and returned to the Diocese of Lincoln as director of Religious Education.  Fr. Kilcawley currently serves as the Director of the Office of Family Life and theological advisor for IntegrityRestored.com — a non-profit organization that seeks to restore the integrity of families affected by pornography by providing education and resources to individuals, spouses, parents and clergy; to both heal and prevent wounds inflicted by the sexualized culture.

(Source)

The official online promotional page of the Angelus Press Conference introduces Mr. Kilcawley thus (notice that the phrase “Theology of the Body” found in the blurb above is conspicuously absent, having been replaced with the smoother-sounding “Catholic anthropology”):

Fr. Sean Kilcawley is an internationally-recognized specialist on Catholic anthropology, focusing on the problem of pornography. For the past five years as the Director for the Office of Family Life in the diocese of Lincoln, NE, Fr. Kilcawley has relentlessly worked to educate clergy and parents on the dangers and harms of pornography and the path to healing for individuals, spouses, and families. He has facilitated training for clergy in over 30 dioceses in the United States, Italy, as well as the dioceses of Hong Kong and Macau in China. He has lead many recovery groups for men, women, and their spouses, and has experience facilitating intensive healing workshops for addicts. Given the facts that the average age of exposure to pornography is between 8-11 years old and that this problem is equally pervasive among Catholics everywhere, we have asked Fr. Kilcawley to share his experience with us at this year’s conference. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.” It is our sacred duty as priests and laity alike to protect and preserve the vision of God for all, especially our youth. Fr. Kilcawley will provide insight and tools that we may use to protect and guide our children as we raise them to be chaste and faithful to Christ in the midst of our hypersexualized culture.

(Source; formatting changed from all caps.)

Kilcawley’s talk is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 4, and is anticipated to last up to 45 minutes. That the SSPX apparently couldn’t find a more fitting individual than a Novus Ordo priest who is imbued with the principles and ideas of John-Paulian sexology to instruct people on this topic, is as tragic as it is telling.

On YouTube, the Novus Ordo diocese of Lincoln has published a 12-session video series of Kilcawley’s lectures on the Theology of the Body. We make the link available not so that people would seek instruction from these videos but merely as documentation:

But, just what is the Theology of the Body?

The Theology of the Body is essentially a kind of “theology of sexuality” or “sexual theology”, in which the human body, precisely in its sexuality, is claimed to be a source of God’s self-revelation. It is based on the philosophical school of phenomenology and was dreamed up by “Pope Saint” John Paul II, who taught it in a long series of Wednesday Audience catecheses from 1979 until 1984.

Although most of the functions of the human body have nothing to do with reproduction or sexuality per se, the Koran-kissing John Paul II effectively reduced “body” to “sex” — an association the youngsters he corrupted were no doubt quite happy to make. This false theology has been called “the Pope’s Sexual Revolution” (see cover page of Christopher West’s Theology of the Body for Beginners), and it is a revolution indeed, for it is novel — unheard-of in 1,900 years of Church history — and it overturns traditional Catholic theology.

Without getting into too much detail, for fear of offending against the virtue of modesty, or worse, we can say that among some of the rotten ideas of the Theology of the Body we must number the following:

• that a man can commit adultery with his own wife
• that husband and wife must be mutually subject to each other
• that celibacy is not superior to the married state (which is a heresy; see Denz. 980)
• that the human body is prophetic
• that there is a connection between sexuality and liturgy (please pardon the obscure circumscription here but anything else would be too outrageous and nauseating to put)
• and something about God we just don’t want to elaborate on

Among the fruits of the Theology of the Body we can list the then-“Fr.” Victor Manuel Fernandez’s 1995 book Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing, John Paul II’s love of nudity among the indigenous (caution!), and Vatican-promoted explicit sex education for teenagers, to mention just a few.

Lest anyone think that opposition to this wickedness is only a “sedevacantist thing”, however, we are happy to point out that the Wojtylian Theology of the Body is rejected or criticized even by many non-sedevacantists, including Rev. Pietro Leone (see Appendix A in his book The Family Under Attack, pp. 205-218), Mrs. Randy Engel, the folks at Tradition in Action, and — amusingly — even the SSPX itself!

In the March-April 2013 issue of The Angelus, the official SSPX periodical of the U.S. District, the Lefebvrists provide a basic critique of some of the salient concepts taught by the Theology of the Body:

• “Theology of the Body: John Paul II and the Genesis of Confusion” (Ann Marie Temple)

In it, the author harshly rebukes John Paul II, pointing out that “his principles and manner of proceeding are so flawed that they effectively demolish all possibility of relationship between man and God” — a scathing indictment! She shows how the Theology of the Body “is devastating in its effects because it acts on the very core of theology, replacing the meaning of the philosophical terms it uses.”

Clearly, then, the SSPX is quite aware of the serious theological poison that is inherent to the Theology of the Body, and yet they are now inviting a man who advocates and teaches it, to speak at their conference — about sexual purity!

Alas, dangers to the soul aren’t just lurking online; they’re lurking offline too.

Some even come dressed as priests.

Image sources: lincolndiocese.org / Society of St. Pius X, U.S. District
Licenses: fair use / fair use