Archdiocese of Baltimore plans ‘Safe Haven Sunday’ to fight pornography

Every second in the United States, more than 28,250 people watch pornography.

Sixty-four percent of Christian men and 15 percent of Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month.

More than half of male students and 32 percent of female students first viewed porn before they were teens, many as young as 7 or 8.

One in five mobile searches are for pornography.

Compiled by Covenant Eyes, an organization that works with churches to combat pornography, those startling statistics attest to a monumental change in American popular culture over the last 30 years: pornography has been more pervasive, more accepted and more accessible than at any time in history.

Fueled by wide access to the Internet, the rise of smart phones and the emergence of social media, the pornography industry is no longer confined to dark corners. Instead, as the U.S. bishops pointed out in their 2015 pastoral letter, “Create in Me a Clean Heart,” pornography is brought to the fore through video games, erotic literature, text messaging, videos accessed on phones and more.

“Online, pornography is instantly accessible, seemingly anonymous, mostly free and has the appearance of being endlessly novel,” the bishops warned.

To help families educate their children on the dangers of pornography and to give people the tools they need to begin to free themselves from addiction to porn, the Archdiocese of Baltimore has designated March 13-14 “Safe Haven Sunday.”

Parishes throughout the archdiocese will be encouraged to share pastoral resources for combatting pornography and to open up conversations about the dangers explicit materials pose to individuals, married couples and families.

Father Brian Nolan, pastor of St. Isaac Jogues in Carney and a former longtime chaplain at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, noted that once a person begins to look at porn, it’s easy to get hooked “again and again.”

“Pornography makes a person a slave to images,” Father Nolan said. “It fosters an insidious inability for people to relate to people of the opposite sex. It’s a huge challenge and I think it’s only going to get worse.”

As a priest, Father Nolan knows the pervasive nature of pornography from the frequent number of times he hears it mentioned in the confessional. He encourages those struggling with the sin not only to confess it and pray for strength, but to look at themselves honestly to determine if they need to take extra steps to combat it – installing pornography filters on their phone, joining accountability groups or seeking professional counseling.

“We have the ability to say no to ourselves and to say yes to God,” Father Nolan said. “We have the ability to grow in the virtue of self-control, which makes us self-possessed and available to God in a freer and fuller way.”

Father Nolan said one of the great spiritual consequences of pornography is that people begin to feel too embarrassed to be in God’s presence.  

“If a person sees 10 hours of pornography a week, how can that person pray?” Father Nolan asked. “How can a person have a relationship with Christ? They may feel they aren’t worthy because they are so chained down by those images.”

Father Nolan said he is concerned that the nature of pornography is becoming more depraved. Citing studies on the physical effects of pornography, he noted that it can physically alter the brain and can cause sexual dysfunction. But healing is possible, he said.

“We need to provide ways of getting people to put down their smart phones and relate to one another in healthy ways in the real world – to know the hard work of relationships and coming to know who a person is and not just the exterior and not just how a person can satisfy sexual (desire),” he said. “That requires the engagement of the full person, which is something that the Catholic Church has a good vision for doing.”

For more information on Safe Haven Sunday and for resources, click here.

Father Brian Nolan discussed the dangers of pornography on the March 7 episode of “Catholic Review Radio.” His guest was Father Sean Kilcawley of the Diocese of Lincoln. Click play below to listen to the show.

Email George Matysek at gmatysek@CatholicReview.org.

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