June 12, 2009
There is a plague that has been quietly sweeping the world the past decade. It has always existed, but recent advancements in the developed world have actually caused this plague to spread like wildfire. It infects men disproportionally, but almost no one is immune. It is far more deadly than the swine flu, and can have an incubation period of just a few weeks.
What is this plague? Addiction to pornography.
Pornography is one of the most destructive forces known to man – it destroys marriages, leads to crime, enslaves women, and most importantly, kills the soul. The spread of pornography in our internet age is one of Satan’s greatest successes. Now almost anyone can access pornography at anytime in the anonymity of their own home. Furthermore, Hollywood has made “soft core” porn standard-fare in popular movies, thus killing our consciences to this terrible plague. Pornography can be as addictive as the worst drugs, and as difficult to overcome.
But there is hope – the power of grace can overcome any sickness or sin. The Knights of Columbus have recently started a website called “Fathers for Good” which has a whole section dealing with the issue of pornography, including a list of resources for those struggling with this terrible addiction.
I urge anyone who is struggling with this issue to get help immediately – your family and your soul could be hanging in the balance.
St. Maria Goretti, pray for us!
May 12, 2009
Last week Christopher West, a popular proponent of John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” was profiled on ABC’s Nightline. When I watched the piece (video available in the link provided), I have to admit I was a bit disappointed. The whole segment seemed to be completely focused on sexual acts, devoid of any serious context. It even presented Mr. West as being a fan of Hugh Hefner and made him appear to be supportive of the sexual revolution. I do not know Mr. West, although I am vaguely familiar with some of his work, but I do know the media and I assumed that ABC was to blame. Considering our culture’s distorted obsession with pelvic issues, it is not surprising that they would divorce issues of sexual acts from the context of male-female relationships as intended by God.
Well, it appears that Christopher West also takes issue with ABC’s presentation. On his website, he notes some errors with a number of points in the report. He also granted an interview with Catholic News Agency in which he gives further corrections to ABC’s sensationalism of his work.
However, some Catholics are still not happy with Mr. West’s apostolate, including Alice von Hildebrand. Her main objection seems to be that she does not think Mr. West is “reverent” enough in his discussions of sexual issues and does not take seriously enough the problem of concupiscence.
This is clearly an important issue. We live in a culture is that is incredibly sick when it comes to sex. You cannot walk in a mall without seeing semi-pornographic images and you cannot watch more than 15 minutes of prime-time television without some message urging sexual relations without any responsibility. High schools and colleges are deep in the “hook up” culture, which reduces the God-given gift of sex to an animal urge. How are we as faithful Catholics to respond to such a culture?
On the one hand, I am uncomfortable with some of the Catholic responses to the sexual revolution, which try to be like a “Catholic Dr. Ruth” or as “edgy” in its language as Howard Stern. Dr. Hildebrand has a point when she urges us to be reverent when speaking of sexuality and to always remember that we are all afflicted with concupiscence. Yet I also think that one of the beauties of JPII’s Theology of the Body is that it breaks free of the Puritan demeaning of sex. Sexual relations between a man and a wife is a wonderful gift from God and one of its purposes (along with begetting children) is to unite a man and a woman as “one flesh.” St. Paul tells us that marriage is a “mystery” that reflects the relationship between Christ and His Church – how incredible is that? The response to culture’s worship of sex is not to proclaim that “sex is evil” or even to avoid talking about sex, but instead show how sexual relations can and should point people to worship of sex’s creator. From what I have seen, this is the ultimate intention of Christopher West’s apostolate.
Inevitably, good people can make mistakes and perhaps go beyond the proper boundaries when discussing sexual relations. We need to pray that everyone involved in this type of apostolate stays close to the Lord and helps others to understand God’s gift of sex in its appropriate context.
April 27, 2009
A friend sent me a link to an article with the following headline:
No such thing as virginity, author says
My first reaction was “boy, anyone can get published these days” (ironically, the same reaction I had when Our Sunday Visitor agreed to publish my book). Somehow the author, Jessica Valenti, lives in modern America and thinks our society emphasizes virginity too much. That’s what I often think as I’m walking through the mall looking at semi-pornographic pictures of whores pop tarts everywhere. In spite of the actual reality of our culture, Valenti is offended by the fact that a few souls have decided to resist the oversexualization of our girls (and I do mean “girls” – try to find modest clothing for a 12-year-old girl and see what happens) by promoting virginity.
Valenti especially criticizes “virginity pledges” – when someone makes a public commitment to save themselves for marriage. There has been a lot of publicity about these pledges over the years and some have questioned their usefulness. I do believe these pledges can be worthwhile (I took one before I was married and found it was helpful), but of course they are only one piece of the puzzle. Chastity is not just a commitment to avoid performing a single action – it is an entire way of life (and it doesn’t end at marriage). It involves how you dress, how you talk, who you interact with, what you watch, and countless other actions. If someone is unchaste in their clothing or their viewing habits, they are very unlikely to be chaste in their sexual life.
Unfortunately, almost every aspect of our culture puts tremendous pressure on our young people to be unchaste in word and thought – which will often lead to a lack of chastity in action as well in spite of the best efforts to fulfill a “pledge.” We need to teach our children from an early age about the dignity of the human person by word and action so that when they become teenagers they can see that being chaste is a fundamental way to show respect for that dignity, both of one’s own person and others.
St. Maria Goretti, pray for us!
