Seminars on Theology of the Body

Sydney
2 March 2003

Food for lots of thought

Pope calls for peace fast on Ash Wednesday

Café bid to curb violence

Supper guests share their stories with archbishop

Sex-change marriage challenge

Archbishop's plea for asylum seekers

Changing the guard at Vinnies

Why East Timor refugees should be allowed to stay

Seminars on Theology of the Body

Project Compassion 2003 - Lenten campaign to break the 'chains of slavery'

Aid work in Kiribati wins Bill a 'thank you' from Govt

Christian ideals can 'guide us to share'

Australian Marist takes over as Cardinal Newman diaries editor

Editorial: Saint of the surgery?

Letters: Beat of a different drum?

Conversation: Fr John Flader, adult education director and Opus Dei priest - Teaching adults more about Catholic faith

A writer puts things in perspective

Right or wrong, it's a matter of ethics

Three in one: A parish with something for everyone

600 million children living in poverty

Bishops stage rally for Hunter jobs

Poet gives credit to Mary MacKillop

New home, chaplain and a youth ministry team

Mass, flags set celebrations in train

Seminars on Theology of the Body

Prof Christopher West, who works for a Denver-based lay Catholic apostolate dedicated to upholding the Church's teachings on marriage and sexuality, is visiting Sydney and Melbourne over the next few weeks to present seminars and public talks on Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body.

This is a published collection of 129 Wednesday general audience addresses by the Pope between September 1979 and November 1984, in which he developed "what promises to be one of his most enduring and important contributions to the Church and the world", says Prof West.

"The Theology of the Body is a scriptural reflection on the human experience of embodiment connected as it is with erotic desire and our longing for union," he says.

He believes it places the Pope in the ranks of the Church's great minds, Augustine and Aquinas.

In Melbourne, Prof West will be keynote speaker at the Billings Family Life Centre's annual conference and will deliver a series of lectures at the John Paul II Institute of Marriage and the Family from March 10-31.

He will also give a public talk on Saturday, March 22.

In Sydney, he will give a one-day seminar on the Theology of the Body at the Lidcombe Catholic Club on Tuesday, April 1, followed by a public talk there at 7.30pm on Wednesday, April 2 (suggested donation $15).

Prof West works in Denver, Colorado, for the Gift Foundation, a not-for-profit, lay Catholic apostolate dedicated to upholding the Church's teachings on marriage and sexuality.

He is the director of the office of marriage and family life for the Denver archdiocese and adviser to its archbishop on issues related to Church teaching on marriage, human sexuality and family life.

He graduated with a Master of Theological Studies from the Washington campus of John Paul II Institute in 1997.

The institute is co-sponsoring the visit with the Billings Family Life Centre and the family working group of the Bishops' committee for family and for life.

For more information, call the institute on (03) 9417 4349 or Ron and Mavis Pirola on (02) 9349 1710.