I think there is no question that West is a sincere, orthodox Catholic who desires people to follow the Church’s teachings in all aspects of their life, including in the bedroom. I also think there is no question he has helped a large number of people conform their lives more closely to Christ and his Church. I wish more of us spent as much energy as he does in trying to bring Christ’s Gospel to the multitudes.

I think my concerns are similar to yours, though. Our culture has devalued sex greatly and I’m concerned that the language West and some others use at times contribute to that devaluation. Sex is a mystery, and frankly, it should remain mysterious on some level. I’m not saying ignore the subject, but treat it like a woman’s heart – gently, and with great care and respect.

Having said that, I can tell you that the ABC piece was unfair but not exactly a distortion. Chris very much likes to say things that are shocking or provocative (e.g., linking our late Holy Father and Hugh Hefner) in order to get your attention, and then follow that up with an explanation that is much less inflammatory (and very solid, more on that below). I’m not competent to say whether or not this is effective as a pedagogical strategy, but I can tell you that it doesn’t do him any favors in contexts like this. When people are exposed to some of his “quotable quotes” without having access to all the surrounding explanation and nuance of the full presentation, they have a tendency to react very negatively, and it’s not unreasonable for them to do so. So yes, ABC chopped and cut to make it into “good TV”, but given the way he likes to express himself this was (to some extent) a nice fastball over the middle of the plate for them.

Having said that, if you take the time to get the full presentation (whether at a talk or in one of his books) there’s no question but that he knows what he’s talking about, he is very much in line with JPII’s thinking, and that his intentions are absolutely of the best.

Personally, I have some misgivings about the whole enterprise. I’m just not sure that what we need right now, culturally & historically, is more talk, time, & energy devoted to sex. He would say I’m dead wrong and that the exact opposite is true, and he has the late Holy Father’s opinion on his side, so I don’t make too much of my misgivings.

But that’s neither here nor there – the main thing I wanted to point out is that, whatever you think about his style, in terms of content you can’t treat him as some sort of wing-nut without tarring John Paul II with the same brush.