Following your passions

By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic

MIAMI | When Sonia Perez first heard about a local course on the Theology of the Body, she planned to give it a pass. Why should a young single professional attend a course about marriage and family?

She changed her mind as she read the book of the same name � then found the weeklong course expanded her whole outlook on life.

"It was about enjoying the sacramentality of life � the sun, the trees, your family � being grateful for the little things," said Perez, a trial attorney in Coral Gables. "We can see life through a different lens.

"It makes people so much happier," she said. "It really changed me."

Now she not only lives by the theology, but she helps incorporate it in the women and young adult groups at her parish, St. Augustine Church and Catholic Student Center in Coral Gables.

Perez's reaction is shared by growing numbers of South Florida Catholics, as archdiocesan leaders spread beliefs taught by St. John Paul II. TOB, as its followers often abbreviate it, teaches a more "relational" view of God and life, rather than a set of doctrines.

Seeing God's love in a flower

Through methods as varied as books, films, studies, music and workshops, those who study TOB are encouraged to see physical life � even common things like flowers and marriage � as myriad ways that God shows his love.

Although many people concentrate on the sexual and marital aspects of the theology, Stephen Colella of the archdiocese said he plans to incorporate Theology of the Body into education, social service and other ministries.

"It's about the marriage of God and mankind, like the love of man and woman," said Colella, director of the Secretariat of Parish Life. "It resonates well with people. It's a beautiful message, and we've got to get it out."

Theology of the Body was one of the most requested topics during the Second General Synod launched in 2012 by Archbishop Thomas Wenski. Multiple focus groups � youth, young adult, faith formation, marriage and family � all asked to learn more about the TOB approach, Colella said.

When Colella came to Miami in 2014 from the Archdiocese of Boston, he consulted with Archbishop Thomas Wenski about how to spread TOB concepts. With the archbishop's approval, he invited Damon Owens of the Theology of the Body Institute in Downington, Penn., about 29 miles west of Philadelphia. In 2015, Owens led two sessions for priests; then he visited each of Miami's three seminaries, including Redemptoris Mater, run by the Neocatechumate Way.

Colella and his wife, Kari, also led a series of three-hour workshops to give groups an overview of TOB. She is executive director of Annunciation Ministries, a marriage support organization.

More than marriage

This past November, the archdiocese hosted one of the institute's founders, Christopher West, who also spoke in 2013 at St. Anthony Church in Fort Lauderdale. He led a Head and Heart Immersive Course at Casa Manresa, a Jesuit retreat house in Miami. The weeklong event drew 68 people, not only from South Florida but from lands like Poland, Brazil and Japan.

As it turned out, some South Floridians were just waiting for something like that. When Nirma Pina learned of the course, she jumped at the chance.

"I've been interested in TOB for years, and I was very happy that it was coming to me," said Pina, a member of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish, Miami Lakes.

Asked if the course measured up, she answered: "It was everything I expected and much more."

This despite her long experience in marriage and family work. She meets weekly with couples at Our Lady of the Lakes. She and husband Alicio helped And she's now working with a new ministry called Marriage Missionary.

Yet the Head and Heart course taught her new things, she said.

"It was about how God speaks to us through everything � nature, music, art, relationships," she said. "And how they are all ways of God coming to us, to fill us. We should see them as a taste of what we really want: an intimacy with the Creator."

TOB even aided her relationship with Alicio, she said. "I wanted him to be more like me, and he wanted me to be more like him. That was disordered. Now, I'm more open to receive Alicio's love, not preoccupied with how I want things. That's what God wants: for me to be more receptive to his love."

Pursuing your dreams

Even some archdiocesan executives said TOB has changed their understanding of the faith. They include Mildred Ratcliffe, coordinator of the Office of Family Life, who attended the Head and Heart course with her husband, Felix.

"We knew mentally that we were made by God, but this was a different experience," Ratcliffe said. "We gained more insight of how God's love came to create me and each of us. And how I was created to be holy, in order to go back to God."

For Susana Diaz, Head and Heart offered something even more basic: a new concept of God himself.

"Usually, I saw God as being up there and I was down here. But for the first time, I saw God as being right here, with me. Like a normal person,” said Diaz, administrative assistant in the Parish Life secretariat who attends Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Miami.

In turn, that has made her "more open to life and to friends. When I talk with someone, I realize they probably have a problem, and I want to help them out. If I have an opportunity, I'll take it."

Sonia Perez, the Coral Gables attorney, even found the TOB approach practical for her profession. It taught her that God wanted her to "pursue your dreams" and follow her passions. For her, that meant "being the best, most ethical advocate I can be" as an attorney.

"Sometimes we're not encouraged to follow our passions," she said. "But Christopher West taught that God doesn't give you desires if he doesn't want them fulfilled."

Theology of the Body even helped her take the bar exam to be certified as a practicing attorney. She felt the same nerves as fellow students at Florida International University Law School. But she remembered the TOB book advising her to embrace obstacles.

"I knew I would pass, and even if I didn’t, I would be OK," Perez said. "My identity was not as an attorney. I was God's daughter first."

Seeing where it bubbles

Now that some in South Florida have caught the vision, though, the archdiocese is still feeling out ways to spread it. One idea would be a speakers' bureau of young adults who can address other groups.

"We want (the spread) to be organic," said Mary Ann Wiesinger, director of evangelization and parish life for the archdiocese. "We hope to let it percolate."

Colella does have a few solid directions. He plans more three-hour workshops in February, timing them to Valentine's Day. He also adds TOB concepts to the marriage preparation program known as Transformed in Love, scheduled next for March at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.

"We want to see where it bubbles," he said. "When people get inflamed with this message, they shine brighter in their area."

Corrected: The abbreviation for Theology of the Body should have been written as TOB, not TOTB.