I am one of the
generational Catholics schooled in the Faith by the teaching of the Baltimore
Catechism prior to Vatican II, which the postconciliar religious education
establishment had branded as defective pedagogy; my quarrel with them is not
over their contention concerning the style
of teaching, but rather their view that the truths of the Catholic faith on the
existence and nature of God, the creation and Fall, the Incarnation and
Redemption, and the Church set down in the Baltimore Catechism were defective
as well.
In 1941, Tolkien wrote a masterful letter to his son Michael, dealing with marriage and the realities of human sexuality. The letter reflects Tolkien's Christian worldview and his deep love for his sons, and at the same time, also acknowledges the powerful dangers inherent in unbridled sexuality. From the letter: This is a fallen world…. the dislocation of sex-instinct is one of the chief symptoms of the Fall. The world has been 'going to the bad' all down the ages. The various social forms shift, and each new mode has its special dangers: but the 'hard spirit of concupiscence' has walked down every street, and sat leering in every house, since Adam fell….The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones. Tolkien advised his young son that the sexual fantasies of the 20th century were demonic lies, intended to ensnare u...

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