Jul-17-2019
St. Michael’s Raises Awareness/Launches Campaign to Help Addicts of Pornography Overcome Addiction
By Amy Hall
Memphis, TN —
Previous generations had to seek out magazines or movies, but now pornography content is available anytime, free of charge, to anyone with Internet access.
Anecdotal reports suggest that growing numbers of church members and even pastors from all denominations are being ensnared by addiction to pornography, in large part because they can easily access it anonymously on their computers.
Responding to this increased accessibility, affordability and anonymity, St. Michael Catholic Church with the help of Cardinal Studios through John Edwards is offering Strive – a powerful 21-Day Challenge (videos, written content, worksheets) by Matt Fradd that helps men understand why they go to porn in the first place, why they should break-free, and how to do so.
“Many Protestant communities offer services very similar to their faithful, and regrettably much of the Catholic Church in the United States remains woefully behind the curve on this issue; fed in large part by an unwillingness of many to address this publically” says Bradshaw.
Known for his expertise on human sexuality and his work with Theology of the Body, holding a Licentiate degree in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington, D.C. and both a Masters of Arts and a Masters of Divinity in Sacred Theology with his Licentiate dissertation focused on the response of the Catholic Church to the issue of Same-Sex attraction Father Ben’s mission to equip people with knowledge, skills, attitudes and values enabling them to consider how their choices affect their own well-being and that of others isn’t something he will be giving up anytime soon.
“Our faith teaches us that “Everyone…should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity” (CCC#2333). This “acknowledging” and “accepting” simply cannot be done in a climate of avoidance of the issue, and this issue simply cannot be avoided any longer.”
“Human beings are made in God’s image and likeness, and our sexuality “affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul” (CCC#2332). The two deepest parts of man are his spirituality (soul) and his sexuality, in his body/soul composite. Thus, sexuality is not simply a “matter of biological matter.” Rather, our sexuality is both physical and metaphysical, touching the profoundest core of who we are, long before we ever act out sexually at all. Therefore, when one does engage sexually with another, it impacts his soul and that of the other as well – in either a spiritually positive or negative way.”
He pointed out that 26 peer reviewed studies have demonstrated that porn affects the human brain in much the same way as a drug. He said, “It is not a drug we can inhale or inject, but one to which we can still become addicted.”
“We’ve reached a tipping point in our culture. Everyone either a) struggles with porn use or b) knows someone who does. In addressing the societal scourge of pornography, we need to rethink how we think of sexuality and dig deep in summoning up the fortitude to address this issue more forthrightly. By failing to do so, we are committing nothing less than familial suicide by slowly sipping the arsenic of lust in the cultural coffee of our daily lives.”
To find out more about Strive and the work Father Ben is doing you can visit www.stmichaelmemphis.com. Strive is offered free of charge and can be completely anonymous. The direct link to the program can be found here.
