Theology of the body meets psychology: Catholics seek healing through JPII’s personalism

In a culture marked by rising rates of anxiety and a loss of meaning, a growing number of Catholics are seeking ways to promote human flourishing by integrating the best in psychological science with the personalist philosophy of St. John Paul II.

Catholics gathered at the CatholicPsych Institute’s Summit of Integration from Oct. 20–23 in Dallas. Its founder, Greg Bottaro, whose work centers on the integration of St. John Paul II’s teachings on the meaning and purpose of the body with the practice of psychology, told attendees that “St. John Paul II has written more for psychologists than any other psychologist in the last 150 years.”

“John Paul II didn’t use the language of psychology in his theology of the body , but everything he talked about was relatable to the field,” Bottaro told EWTN News. “Faith, reason, and science all come together in his work.”

The theology of the body teaches that the human person is a unity of body and soul, created male and female in the image of God and called to communion through the sincere gift of self. The body has a “nuptial” or spousal meaning: It expresses the person and is ordered toward loving self-gift, which is fully realized…