Reddit mentions of Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics

Not bullshit at all. Here's a book on the subject that you will never read because you're probably too afraid to (with enough source references to trump all the "sources" quoted by TRP for the entire duration of their existence as a subredditt):
Just Love; a book that explains the history of religion, culture, and sex, as well as sexual ethics today

> Parish libraries are often composed of donated materials and this particular parish library already had the books in question.

Just because someone donated it, doesn't mean the parish had to use it. For example, if someone donated a copy of this book, it better not show up on a parish bookshelf as it has been censured by the Holy See.

> The banishing of these texts is what concerns me.

Banishing? Rather strong word there. The books were simply removed from the library. I'm sure those were not the only copies in existence and parishioners can still obtain a copy elsewhere if they wish to read them.

> This was a Newman Center, a place that by its very nature (a university setting) is tied to intellectual discovery and broad interaction with disparate viewpoints. I would argue that a parish is also by its very nature a place of higher learning (spiritual, ethical, and social).

No it is not. It is a parish whose mission is to minister to people who attend non-Catholic colleges. The college itself is the place of "intellectual discovery and broad interaction with disparate viewpoints", not the parish. The parish is the one place on campus where students can escape "disparate viewpoints" and focus on one thing, the Lord.

> Fiction is hardly a priority for parish libraries as it is, the locus in this Newman library as it is with others -- I'm speculating here -- was on philosophical, theoretical, socially-inclined, and perhaps non-Catholic religious texts. A treatise on Zen Buddhism is not comparable to the base-level pulp that climbs the NYT bestseller list.

No it isn't, but a book about Zen Buddhism has no place in a parish library. Have read the Bible at all? Do you think God wants his pastors supplying pagan books to his flock?

> My very point is that the apostolic mission requires an intellectual engagement with non-Catholic sources of knowledge.

This parish is on a campus. The Zimmerman Library which is filled with non-Catholic sources of knowledge is literally a three minute walk from the chapel and even allows non-students to check out books. Perhaps those books the pastor removed will end up there.

> Pope Benedict famously co-produced/co-wrote an exquisite talk with German philosopher Jürgen Habermas (a Marxist & atheist) which I think serves as a model for this sort of rigorous encounter.

A debate between a Neo-Marxist and a Theologian serves as a model? I have said this before and I'll say it again. The pastor has better things to do than to debate secularization with a Marxist at his parish. This is a parish. Not debate club. Not a graduate-level theology class. The pastor is not your professor. The pastor is your pastor. He is your confessor. He is to help you grow on your personal journey of faith. He is to administer the sacraments to you. He, with the authority of his bishop, is to help you fully participate in the Body of Christ, not help you fully participate in whatever intellectual pursuit you fancy.

Start with Nadia Bolz Weber, and especially her recent book Shameless.

For a scholarly approach, I tend to recommend Just Love by Margaret Farley.

If you can find it, I also recommend a lesser known book Memories of Bliss by Jo Ind.

Other books that have been helpful are Redeeming Sex by Debra Hirsch, Damaged Goods by Dianna Anderson, and His Porn, Her Pain by Marty Klein for a very different perspective on pornography than the usual moral panic.

If books aren't your thing then start with this podcast interview with Nadia Bolz Weber.

The American conservative church is heavily invested in controlling people's sexuality through shame, guilt, and judgement. But it doesn't have to be that way. There are better ways to live.

I wasn't specifically looking for secular literature for exactly that reason.

Someone mentioned this book that was written by a nun and might be helpful to her. She was raised Catholic.

I appreciated Just Love by Farley
https://www.amazon.com/Just-Love-Framework-Christian-Sexual/dp/0826429246/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503430756&sr=8-1&keywords=farley+just+love

Um, no.

I'd advise reading up on Christian sexual ethics: Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics; Sex + Faith: Talking with Your Child from Birth to Adolescence

Also, this one might be helpful: Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free