Ask Christopher West

Questions answered this episode: I’m a prosecutor working with men who’ve abused women. I speak to them about porn, objectification, and Love and Responsibility. What else should I say to reach hearts already hardened by violence? My boyfriend isn’t a virgin, but I am. He’s repented, but I still feel sad and conflicted. Am I allowed to grieve what we’ll never share? If marriage helps us grow in ho...

Questions answered this episode: I've been reflecting on how God uses our wounds to reveal His glory. Could our scars remain in our glorified bodies, like Christ's, as signs of His redemptive love? I feel emotionally and spiritually neglected in my marriage. How can I love my wife like Christ when she won't respond? I converted to Catholicism after a painful sexual past and porn addiction. How do...

• Continence in Marriage – Why would some spouses adopt lifelong continence—living as “brother and sister”—instead of periodic abstinence, must both freely agree, and how does it square with openness to children and the call to holiness? • Infatuation & Healing – After 15 years and five kids, my wife confessed an intense infatuation with a friend. I fear my own lust and past contraceptive choi...

I want a husband who only has eyes for me. Am I wrong for feeling hurt and insecure when men—especially married ones—speak lustfully about other women? I love my fiancée, but I feel guilty when my body reacts sexually during affection. Am I letting things go too far, or is this out of my control? My marriage feels one-sided and painful. I feel used in sex and emotionally unseen. Despite trying eve...

If spiritual beauty is deeper and more important, does aesthetic beauty still have value? And why do we emphasize it with fashion or makeup? After embracing modesty through TOB, I feel convicted not to wear a revealing bridesmaid dress for a Catholic wedding. How do I honor my conscience without offending my cousin? Sex feels clinical and disconnected while trying to conceive. Am I wrong to want e...

I missed the 2020 online conference and Wendy’s talk that deeply interests me. Also, I couldn’t attend the Mary course you personally recommended—will there be another chance? I long for intimacy, but my husband rejects my advances. It revives deep insecurities and leaves me lonely and ashamed. How do I carry this cross with love? Seeing our wedding photos reminds us of how broken we were. How can...

I've faced physical suffering that leaves me asking why God created us so weak. My pain has taught me compassion, but I still struggle to understand its purpose. I've read Salvifici Doloris , but I need help connecting Theology of the Body to my suffering. Why does God allow this? What meaning is there in our bodily weakness? After our fourth child, my husband wants to space the next pregn...

How can I open my heart emotionally to my wife during sex after a history of porn and brokenness? How do I heal and forgive after losing friends and community following a controlling relationship and new engagement? Is there a Theology of the Body insight in my toddler mistaking confession for a wedding? Resources: COURSE SCHEDULE TOB Course Package Deal Catechism Quote 2843 --- Ask Christopher We...

Why can’t I let go of a toxic past relationship and fully embrace attraction and presence in my marriage? What does it mean to die with dignity, and is it right to see death as something good or redeemed? How can I teach psychology through a Catholic lens and reveal God’s beauty in the human mind? Resources: COURSE SCHEDULE JPII Legacy Foundation Website Eating the Sunrise Ask Christopher West is...

Questions answered this episode: Can we call God “Mother” without being heretical? Is my friend’s bodybuilding lifestyle and public modesty truly compatible with Christian witness? How do I prepare for marriage without becoming anxious about its challenges? Resources: JPII Legacy Foundation Website ⁠⁠⁠Join our Patron Community!⁠⁠⁠ --- Ask Christopher West is a weekly podcast in which Theology of t...

Questions answered this episode: Can indulgences and scapulars make sense through the lens of Theology of the Body? How can I embrace lifelong celibacy after my wife left me? Are appearance-focused exercises inherently vain or can they be good? Resources COURSE SCHEDULE Eating the Sunrise Fill These Hearts Sexual Needs Into Prayer YouTube Video Chastity: Reconciliation of the Senses God Is Beauty...

Questions answered this episode: How do I overcome fear and insecurity about sex before marriage, especially since I’m a virgin and my fiancé isn’t? How can I love someone well when she ended our relationship but I still care deeply for her? How do I reconcile Galatians 3:28 with TOB’s teaching that we remain male and female in eternity? Resources COURSE SCHEDULE Love & Responsibility YouTube...

Questions answered this episode: I work for a small Christian university... how can I prepare to teach Theology of the Body to a Protestant audience when JP2's writings feel dense and I'm limited in time and resources? After discovering my husband’s hidden struggles with pornography and masturbation, how can I walk with him toward a true relationship with Christ while dealing with my own feelings...

Questions answered this episode: At a recent funeral, people spoke about God's perfect timing in death, but I wondered, isn't death, the separation of body and soul, a result of the fall? Doesn't God's will have both a perfect and permissive side, given our fallen world and freedom to choose? Wouldn’t God prefer us to live forever, body and soul, rather than just our souls going to...

Questions answered this episode: How can I affirm the single life as a valid and holy vocation, especially for those who feel overlooked in typical vocation stories? As a wife with low sexual desire due to hormones (e.g., postpartum), is it okay to engage in intimacy for my husband's sake even if it's uncomfortable—and is it wrong to show enthusiasm I don’t truly feel? When teaching my kid...

Questions answered this episode: 1. My husband and I are newly married and both committed to our faith. I came into marriage with a deep understanding of the sacredness of the marital embrace through TOB, but we quickly discovered I have a much higher sex drive, and he struggles with erectile dysfunction. It’s left me feeling rejected, unattractive, and alone—especially since women rarely talk abo...

Questions answered this episode: Questions answered this episode: My eldest son is nearly 20, and he told us 2 years ago that he doesn't believe in God, which was incredibly heartbreaking for my husband and me. He is, however, respectful of our faith. He has a girlfriend, and they have been dating for about 4 months. She's just moved to another state to study at a university, which is abou...

Questions answered this episode: Dear Christopher and Wendy, thank you for all you do. For context, my husband and I are expecting a baby again for the third time in less than three years, despite our best efforts to practice NFP. I am exhausted and facing potentially serious health concerns. My parents have never understood our stance against contraception, despite being Catholic themselves, and...

Questions answered this episode: Hi, Christopher and Wendy, thank you for this podcast and your ministry. It has changed my life. I have a rather delicate question, but I guess I don't know whom else to turn to. I can help you. I've been married for a few years now to my wonderful bride. I have struggled with self-esteem and self-confidence issues since childhood, and that is still the cas...

Questions answered this episode: I'm a 25-year-old man, called by God to marriage. Two years ago, I met a girl who helped in the same parish as me, and I fell in love with her. After a few months, we spoke about it, but she kindly rejected me. We lost contact, and I went through a deep crisis of faith. I felt abandoned, extremely and hopelessly alone. After a time, I came back to her city, and...

Questions answered this episode: I recently gave birth to our first baby. My plan going in was to have a natural, unmedicated birth. There's something beautiful, especially from a Catholic perspective, about the pain of childbirth that brings new life into the world, a reflection of Christ's suffering on the cross. Many of my Catholic friends have had this type of birth, and I came across...

Questions answered this episode: I’m a woman in my 40’s and I’ve found it difficult to get in the mood with my husband unless I create fantasies in my head. These fantasies are usually of sexual situations I create that don’t involve my husband or in many cases even me. I’ll picture two nameless people in an intimate act. Sometimes one party is using another party or the other party is cheating on...

Questions answered this episode: My husband and I have been married for almost 3 years. Shortly after we got married, my husband became verbally and physically abusive. There’s such a disconnected between his professed love for me and the lived reality of our marriage. As his abusive behavior has continued, I’ve found myself walling off my heart more and more. Intellectually I know that a covenant...

Questions answered this episode: In the state of original innocence did Adam & Eve experience bodily functions like defecation and urination? If so, how would these have aligned with their original harmony and the perfection of creation. Sometimes these functions are uncomfortable or even painful. For almost a year now I’ve been in a beautiful catholic relationship. We both love God and our fa...

Questions answered this episode: I’m 21, finishing up college soon and have been fighting for the past 6 years to overcome an addiction to porn and masturbation that started when I was first exposed to porn in 4th grade. The past 2 years have been especially tumultuous with lots of victory and defeat. However I believe God has been allowing these setbacks in order to purify me in numerous ways. Re...