Choose Dietrich Von Hildebrand(1889-1977)'s personalism or Father James Martin's clericalism - it's one or the other

In 1929, German philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand published 'Marriage,' which EWTN has explained constituted the 'earliest orthodox presentation of the personalistic approach to matrimony which would find its way into Vatican II's Guadium et Spes, Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae and...the writings of Pope John Paul II....Pope Pius XII called von Hildebrand '`the 20th century Doctor of the Church. '':

• ''there is no greater mystery in the natural order of things than the fact that this closest of all unions procreates a human being with an immortal soul (although the soul, in each case, is a direct creation of God), and that this act brings a new being into existence destined to love God and to adore Him, a new being made after His image '' (p. 26). 
• ''Jesus has invested marriage with a dignity which represents something quite new....He raised it to the rank of a Sacrament. He made of this sacred bond a specific source of grace. He transformed marriage - already sacred in itself - into something sanctifying'' (p. 53). 

An outspoken opponent of Adolf Hitler, von Hildebrand became targeted for assassination. He arrived in New York City in 1940, where he taught at Fordham until 1960. Just two years before Pope Paul VI's Humane Vitae, von Hildebrand published Man and Woman: Love and the Meaning of Intimacy:

• ''Although we hear that sex is overemphasized today, this is not correct. Rather, we live in a time in which sexuality is no longer understood in its true nature. People today are generally as blind to its true meaning as are persons who completely lack sensuality....Today's blatant sexuality conceals a pathetic sensual emptiness'' (p. 3). 
• ''As long as conception and birth are seen exclusively as mere physiological processes, we cannot understand the impact and seriousness of the making of a new human being'' (p. 61).
• ''Every active intervention on the part of the spouses, which eliminates the possibility of conception through the conjugal act, is incompatible with the holy mystery of the superabundant relation in the incredible gift offered by God'' (pp. 68 - 69). 

As reported by Dr. Thomas Howard (A Portrait of Dietrich von Hildebrand, 2000), ''John Paul II forthrightly acknowledged his own intellectual debt to von Hildebrand, especially in the matter of marriage.'' Alice von Hildebrand's 2000 biography of her late husband (i.e., The Soul of a Lion) features a forward by then Cardinal Ratzinger: ''Dietrich von Hildebrand was exceptional in many ways. His extensive writings on Christian philosophy, spiritual theology, and in defense of the Church's teaching, place him among the great thinkers of the twentieth century. His steadfast and determined opposition to totalitarianism, whether in the form of National Socialism or Marxist Leninism, a conviction that would cost him greatly during his life, illustrates the profound clarity of his moral vision and his willingness to suffer for what he knew was true.''

Proper appreciation and understanding of the theology of marriage/family, such as that of von Hildebrand, reveals Cana in the Holy Land to be of enormous significance:

Bizarrely, Father James Martin, SJ, does not include Cana in his journal of a Holy Land pilgrimage.  His treatment of Cana in his online video pilgrimage smacks of clericalism and a deliberate ignoring of the unique goodness and sanctity of marriage:

Father Martin fails to evidence appreciation for the unique theological significance of authentic marriage between a man and a woman, which signifies and makes present God's love for His people.  Most tragically, few bishops and priests are calling him on this - Is this because clericalism interferes with their own "getting it"?

Click to email Fordham University President Father Joseph McShane, SJ, Father James Martin, SJ, Cardinal Dolan, USCCB President Archbishop Gomez, and Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Christophe Pierre, asking for a clear choice between Dietrich Von Hildebrand (1889-1977)'s personalism and Father James Martin's clericalism.