Launch Party Today for a "Radical" Message from John Paul II

by Heidi Schlumpf, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 10/11/2006

Pauline Books and Media is taking its show on the road, with its first full-scale, invitation-only book launch party, being held this evening at 6 p.m. at the Vatican's Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations on East 39th St. Although the publishing company—owned and operated by the Pauline order of Catholic nuns—is based in Boston, the order was founded in New York almost 75 years ago and currently has two retail stores in the New York/New Jersey area. "So it seemed appropriate to hold such a special event in this great city," said publisher Sister Donna Giaimo.

The party marks the official debut of a new translation of Pope John Paul II's Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body (Sept.), the pontiff's collected works on human sexuality from a series of addresses he gave between 1979 and 1984. Translator Michael M. Waldstein, professor of New Testament at the International Theological Institute in Austria, will give a brief address telling the story of how he found an original manuscript of the lectures in Polish at the John Paul II archives in Rome.

"It was incredibly exciting, because I could finally see how [the pope] himself thought of the structure of the text," said Waldstein, who incorporated the previously unknown chapter and section headings from the original manuscript into the new translation. The new version also contains six new catecheses, restores the pope's use of italics, and corrects some inconsistencies from the previous translations, which had been done by various editors at the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

Pauline first published the earlier translations in four small volumes between 1981and 1984, then compiled the four into one book in 1997. During that time a Theology of the Body movement was growing, especially in the United States, where authors like Christopher West were spreading the countercultural message that sexuality is an expression of total self-giving.

The popularity of the teaching has spawned a special line for Pauline, including Theology of the Body Explained: A Commentary on John Paul II's "Gospel of the Body" by Christopher West (2003), The Theology of the Body Made Simple: Discover John Paul II's Radical Teaching on Sex, Love, and the Meaning of Life by Anthony Percy (Aug.), and the newest for young people, God's Plan for You: Life, Love, Marriage, and Sex by David Hajduk (Aug.). Waldstein said he's not surprised, given the power of the pope's words. "I think it really resonates with people's experience."