Our headmaster often uses this paradigm for the ideal Heights graduate: he’s the kind of young man you’d want your daughter to marry.
In a recent article for the Forum, Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti asked: in our current culture, how does a boy grow up to be the kind of man who desires that life?
Delving into Church sources, both scriptural and magisterial, he has assembled the outline of a theology of masculinity. Responding to Pope St. John Paul II’s description of the “feminine genius,” Dr. Lanzilotti considers the prospect of a complementary “masculine genius,” and what it means for our boys.
Chapters:
3:09 A man you’d want your daughter to marry
4:18 A man who wants to marry
7:40 Naturally ordered toward fatherhood
8:58 Building a culture of marriage
16:21 Stories about vocation, fidelity
18:22 Teaching vocation, fidelity
23:00 Theology and human sexuality
26:06 The human heart responds to goodness
31:01 The masculine genius
35:34 Scriptural, papal guidance on human love
37:51 Witnessing to the goodness of life
Links:
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Love and Responsibility by John Paul II
Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body by John Paul II
“The Jeweler’s Shop” by John Paul II
Redemptor Hominis, encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II, 1979
Familiaris Consortio, apostolic exhortation by Pope St. John Paul II, 1981
Deus Caritas Est, encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, 2005
“Is There a Catholic Theology of Masculinity?” dissertation by Peter Holmes
Also on the Forum:
Made in the Image and Likeness: On Man and Masculinity featuring Bishop Erik Varden
Worthy and Willing: Forming Boys Who Will Want to Marry by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
Educating Boys: Nature, Risk, and the Making of Men by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
The Magisterial Case for Single-Sex Education by Dr. Joseph Lanzilotti
The Forum Faculty Podcast hosted by Tom Cox
Featured Opportunities:
Convivium Conference for Teaching Men at The Heights School (November 11-13, 2026)