Maternal Transference and Beloved Sonship: Sexualized Attachment Needs in the Priesthood


Description: 

In the advent of pornography and the smartphone, Millennial and Gen Z seminarians and priests are exposed to sexualized content early, frequently and intensely. This poses a therapeutic question, “What are the emotional needs of these men, which are being projected onto the women they view and sexually ‘interact’ with through pornography and masturbation?” The aforementioned question requires a thorough evaluation of the mother son relationship and the experience of the man in being received by the mother and being given the “identity of son,” throughout the lifespan, at key developmental stages, as informed by the attachment literature. 

The proposed presentation will outline unhealthy patterns in the mother, son relationship, common to Catholic seminarians and priests. These in turn, will be mapped to common pornographic themes, sexual boundary violations and sexual anorexia. Additionally, due to a changing cultural landscape of current vocations, as addressed in the Program for Priestly Formation, 6th Edition (2022), culturally specific maternal themes will be presented for consideration, including but not limited to Latino, Filipino, Vietnamese, Gen Z and Traditional Latin Mass populations. 

Category of Education: D1.1 Assessment/ Evaluation, Intervention

Intended Audience: 

Content Learning Level: Intermediate 

Learning Objectives:

  1. Assess maternal attachment needs of Catholic seminarians and priests
  2. List sexual patterns related to unmet maternal attachment needs of Catholic seminarians and priests
  3. Apply assessment of maternal attachment needs, unhealthy sexual patterns and concepts from sexual addiction treatment to a case example

Schedule: