I just listened to a talk given by Father Phillip Chavez, S.O.L.T. on the need for true masculine spirituality in the Church and world today.

S.O.L.T. stands for Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, and the most famous priest from that community is Father Corapi.

Fr. Chavez is tough, and he doesn’t pull his punches. Many of the things he said made me think, “Am I living this masculine faith?”, which means for me that it is a good talk because it is challenging me.

His main premise is that the men in the Church and generally in Western culture have largely forgotten or never learned what it means to be a man. What we need is to reclaim our masculinity, so that we can lead our families, friends, and the world to Christ, as He created us to do.

In particular, not only do husbands and fathers need to live masculinely, but especially priests do to become the role models that men and women need in order to see how they ought to live.

Men need weekly fellowship with other men, to strengthen one another in faith and in living heroically for Christ. This point was heavily stressed by Fr. Chavez. One cool thing about that is that Regnum Christi, the movement I recently joined, includes a weekly meeting, called an Encounter, where the Regnum Christi men in Austin get together to encounter Christ through prayer, gospel reading and reflection, and discussion.

Men also need to get involved, to get into the fight. A man who isn’t in the fight is open to temptations, and he pointed out David sitting out the fight and then falling to lustful temptation with Bathsheba as the main example.

Men need to get into the fight by taking action in their homes, parishes, work places, and in society. Most church ministries are run by females, Fr. Chavez noted. I think he said something like 85% are, which is a huge majority but probably accurate.

He also talked about the fact that the words “purity”, “chastity”, and even “virtue” have taken on a feminine connotation, so much so that now, when he speaks to men about these virtues, he uses “physical integrity” instead.

He brought up the point that girls and boys both need instruction on the virtue of purity, but that they need to be separated from each other and be given two different talks because for females, purity is about preservation, but for males, it is more about self-mastery (my words).

Sexuality is a good thing, men must be taught, but if a man isn’t the master of himself, then his sexuality can lead him into temptations of lust, looking and using women as objects instead of loving them and protecting them as beautiful persons.

It was a good talk, and masculine spirituality needs more proponents like Fr. Chavez. I know I have found it difficult to know the right balance between being strong but not overbearing, authoritative but not authoritarian, and gentle but not a doormat.