The Gadfly Vol. XVI, Iss. I
“To persuade and reproach” - Socrates, The Apology
January 26, 2012
Of God and Body: Why modesty is more than what you wear In 1638, one Cornelius Jansen, a French theology professor and bishop known for his controversial Calvinistic teaching, dictated a lengthy manuscript from his deathbed. Little did he know that this single document would quickly take the Catholic world by storm. The document proposed Jansenism, the concept that, if something has the capacity to be used as evil, it is evil. This included, but was not limited to, sexuality, certain articles of clothing, and even the human body. The document would later stand in direct contrast to Pope John Paul II‟s „Theology of the Body‟,
but though it would later be condemned as heresy by two popes, Pope Innocent X in 1653 and Pope Clement XI in 1713, Jansenism would quickly spread across the Catholic world, going from France to Ireland, and later arriving in the United States. Heartbreakingly, the Jansenistic heresy has settled here at Franciscan University. Despite the best efforts of our last two Popes, Jansenism continues to plague Catholic youth as they innocently but toxically confuse it with the virtue of modesty. Now don‟t get me wrong, I can‟t blame them: in our oversexualized culture, it’s easy to go overboard and mix up mod-
esty with Jansenism. Jansenism is, by its very nature, Satan‟s evil twist on modesty. That is why, in this article, I will attempt to separate Jansenism from modesty in a way that is easy to understand. In short, I will attempt to define the virtue from the heresy; the holy from the toxic; the right from the wrong. Jansenism is sometimes described as “ultra-modesty” but this is problematic because Jansenism more closely resembles the world‟s view of sexuality. Let me put it this way: as my friend and fellow gadfly writer Emily Rolla put it, (you can see her take on modesty in this issue of the Gadfly) “Our culture says, „look at Continued on page 5
The Cult of Ultra-Modesty When I was about 6, my father was driving me through the local Jesuit campus to pick up my older sister from some sort of day program they held. While driving through, we passed a statue of a man and woman kissing and it totally grossed me out. My 6year-old self had seen Ariel kiss Prince Eric, so why did I think this was so disgusting?
way. “No, that‟s beautiful,” my father responded.
Now today, I am greatly distressed when I hear some Catholics of puritanical leanings accuse such a work of art as pornographic. It‟s art, not porn. Why? First, neither subject in the work is reduced to a mere thing. Secondly, it reveals the Truth of God‟s plan for those called to the They were naked. natural vocation of marriage. Sex is a beautiful and powerful and “EWWWW. THAT‟S SO GROSS!” I said in that 6-year-old radical thing, understood in light
of God‟s plan, and I see nothing wrong with glorifying it in that context. That brings me to my next point: covering up that beautiful truth contained within the human form. As the body is the form of the soul, who should ever see it in that purest, most honest and vulnerable state of nudity? The truth contained within it is unique to you and overwhelmingly beautiful to others, I am sure. So we cover up- not because Continued on page 8