Learning to be Quick to Listen

The pervasive reach of the pornography industry has created a global crisis that strikes at the very heart of our human dignity, prompting the U.S. bishops to issue the landmark pastoral letter, Create in Me a Clean Heart. This document addresses a multi-billion dollar industry that thrives on exploitation, often fueled by human trafficking and the tragic victimization of children. At its theological core, the bishops argue that pornography is the antithesis of the fundamental vocation of self-giving, fruitful love to which every person is called. By reducing human beings to mere objects of use rather than persons to be loved, pornography rejects the equal dignity and complementarity of men and women, fracturing the communion God intended for His children. Pope Francis has echoed this urgency, reminding the faithful that pornography weakens the soul and represents a digital threat that parents must guard against with extreme vigilance, given that the average age of initial exposure h...

Martina Purdy writes, About four years ago, I received a telephone call from a priest who invited a friend and I to a meeting. The priest didn’t actually say what the meeting was about – he just wondered if we might be interested in learning about his mission. We travelled to the Donegal border, and the priest introduced us to a man who told a remarkable story. He was a life-long Catholic, a weekly-mass goer, who was married with a family and for years had appeared to be living a good life. But he had a dark secret, a silent addiction, which had enslaved him for a long time: he could not stop himself looking at pornography. He said he would go to confession and receive absolution but the compulsion always got the better of him. Eventually he went to a particular priest who warned him that he was on the road to hell. This frightened him and he turned to prayer. The priest’s comments were not unlike Pope Francis’ warning last month when the Pontiff called pornography a work of the devil...