Learning theology of the body, Jen Ricard says, saved her Catholic faith.
“I really, truly did used to see the Church as kind of this rule-maker,” Ricard, the executive director of Theology of the Body Cleveland (TOB CLE), recalled. “Now it completely changed my heart, and I see our Church as this beautiful mother drawing all of her children to herself and leading them to her son.”
Today, she told Our Sunday Visitor, she feels grateful to share theology of the body — Pope St. John Paul II’s vision of the human person — with others.
In 2019, she began her nonprofit with the mission to journey with the people in the Diocese of Cleveland as they encounter Jesus through theology of the body, a series of 129 talks by Pope John Paul II. These talks, TOB CLE explains, explore the study of God and the purpose of existence as discovered and revealed through the human body.
In educating Catholics, TOB CLE promises to promote a biblical “vision of human life focused on the mystery of love that reaches from the Trinity, through Christ’s spousal relationship with the Church, to the bodies of men and women,” as described by scholar Michael Waldstein, in his translation of theology of the body.
“Why are we created for love?” Ricard commented. “Because our God is love itself.”
“This whole idea of being created by a loving God — falling and being redeemed by this loving God that became human so that we could learn what it means to become divine and live with him forever — that’s our journey and that’s what I would love people to recognize, that God sees you,” Ricard said.
Since its founding, Ricard estimates that her organization has shared this message with 3,000 students and 6,000 adults through 40 different parishes and schools and 55 events, including talks, retreats, conferences and book studies.
“Your life has meaning and purpose and value,” Ricard wants people to know. “God placed you in this world so you can bring love to the world in a way that only you can.”
“It’s not only about finding him and finding joy and peace and love in this life,” she added, “but forever.”
A seed planted
While TOB CLE formally began in 2019, the idea for the group came to Ricard nearly 15 years earlier.
In 2004, Ricard, then a mom of five, volunteered in youth ministry at St. Mary Parish in Hudson, Ohio. As she taught teenagers, she realized she had more questions than answers and found herself wrestling with certain Church teachings.
“I finally couldn’t take it anymore and I went to Father Damian with big tears in my eyes,” she said of Father Damian Ference, a newly-ordained priest at the time, who now serves as the vicar for evangelization for the Diocese of Cleveland.
“I can’t keep volunteering,” she told him. “I need to see if I’m really Catholic.”
He looked at her, she said, before responding: “Jen, Christianity is not about figuring it all out and then joining. Christianity is a lifelong journey of seeking truth. And if you’re willing to walk with me, I’ll walk with you.”
He did just that, recommending books and articles and even finding her a scholarship to the Theology of the Body Institute in Quarryville, Pennsylvania. In 2005, she attended a course there taught by Christopher West, a speaker and author specializing in theology of the body, which changed her life.
“I realized that like, ‘Oh my gosh, if I really, truly learn all of this, then I also gain the responsibility to share it,” she remembered. “And I don’t know if I’m up for it.”
Like Father Ference before, West reassured her: “It’s not about you coming up with all the answers. It’s about you opening your heart and letting Christ work through you.”
Instead of leaving, she moved forward and realized, early on, that she wanted to start a nonprofit. While raising six children, she worked toward her masters in theology and a certification from the Theology of the Body Institute. She graduated with both credentials in 2014.
As she gained experience working in a parish, she began brainstorming with three local priests — Father Joe Koopman, Father Ryan Mann and Father Patrick Schultz — for ways to address the need to support family life and promote Catholic teaching on human sexuality.
In response, they worked to place theology of the body standards into the Catholic school curriculum for the diocese and, at the same time, began TOB CLE.
On a mission
Starting as the only employee at TOB CLE, Ricard said she began by visiting schools and parishes to teach theology of the body to students, teachers, parents and parishioners.
“How can we support you?” she asked schools and parishes. “How can we help you integrate these standards?”
TOB CLE still does this today, with a staff of three. The nonprofit educates parishes, schools, families and adults in the Diocese of Cleveland while offering events, from book studies to retreats. Together with her husband, Ricard said, she also serves as a guest speaker at the local seminary, St. Mary Seminary, to give a witness and teach fertility awareness so that seminarians will understand the family planning methods they are promoting to couples during marriage preparation.
Cleveland Catholics can find out more about their events online, at www.tobcle.org. Upcoming events include a talk about “Talking to Your Kids about Sex” and “Human Love in the Divine Plan,” an introduction to theology of the body.
A giving of self
When she summarizes her sharing of theology of the body, Ricard said she shows images of love, of self-sacrifice. She shows a picture of a husband and wife on their wedding day, promising to give themselves — their bodies — to each other. She shows a mother and father holding their baby in a giving of themselves; a priest laying down his life at ordination or a sister at her final vows; and a priest holding up the Eucharist, repeating Christ’s words of “This is my body, given up for you.”
“The great gift that God gave us,” Ricard said, “is the gift of himself in the Eucharist.”
Theology of the body, Ricard said, is rooted in the idea that the human body matters and speaks the truth of who God is.
“Our bodies reveal that we’re made to give and receive love in the image of our God, who is this eternal exchange of love,” Ricard urged.
With this in mind, the group began its current book study, based on “The Genesis of Gender” by Abigail Favale. TOB CLE, together with the diocese’s Office of Marriage and Family Ministry, is hosting the month-long, diocesan-wide study at five parishes. The 188 participants will explore the truth, beauty and goodness of being created in the image and likeness of God.
Encountering God
After studies like this, Ricard hopes Catholics come away believing that they truly encountered God in the sharing of faith that occurred in prayer and sharing of the truth in love.
“That God is real, that the Holy Spirit is at work and that, in our prayer life and in our sharing and journeying with each other, that it’s okay to honestly share our hearts,” she added, before pointing to her own story. “God isn’t afraid of any wrestling with Church teachings that we’re doing, he welcomes that.”
“I’m so grateful he was so patient with me,” she commented, sharing that she was ready to walk away from the Faith because she could no longer live with the inconsistency of picking and choosing which teachings she agreed with.
“Just don’t give up,” she stressed. “Just continue to honestly share your heart in prayer and honestly share your heart with your friends, your friends that you’re journeying with in the Faith, because that is the way to more deeply encounter the living God.”
