Grace Murphy
Staff Writer
The Human Sexuality Symposium concluded with a panel discussion on the gifts and struggles of human sexuality Monday at 9 p.m. in the Gentile Gallery.
Lindsey Schrock, director of Franciscan Online, opened the panel with prayer and an introduction.
The panel was moderated by the Rev. Jonathan St. Andre, TOR, and consisted of Bobby Aborn, a Steubenville financial advisor, and his wife Christine; Matthew Breuninger, who has a master’s in theology and doctorate in clinical psychology; Natalie Garza, graduate assistant; and David Prosen, who has a master’s in mental health counseling.
The panelists introduced themselves and their backgrounds with human sexuality before St. Andre passed the microphone to attendees to ask questions.
One student asked panel members to discuss how to be content with single life before marriage.
“God had access to me as a single man in a way that he doesn’t as a married man,” said Breuninger. “He could fling me to the ends of the earth.”
Garza said, “One of the biggest beauties I think of the state of the single life is God has full permission and access to me directly.”
Another student asked to hear the panelists’ conversion stories.
“It was such a journey and I am still on this journey as all of us are.”
Breuninger said, “A big part of that conversion was being introduced to a new way of living that invited me to look at my actions and behaviors and to no longer live selfishly.”
Bobby said he and his wife previously lived too much in the culture. “(Christine and I) were secular for the first three years of our marriage,” he said.
Junior Ricky Silva said, “I thought the panelists gave very interesting insights on what sexuality is. I was able to realize things about my own self that I hadn’t thought about before.”
The panel was livestreamed for online students.