Clean Heart Online

Ministry Leaders

Good recovery groups usually do not operate perfectly from Day 1. They are forged and re-forged over months and even years. Proactive parishes that are delving into ministry efforts that focus on recovering from pornography and other sexual struggles and addictions will face a number of tensions. 

In order to address the issue of pornography well enough to actually make a difference, the Church needs to take advantage of its far-reaching organization and pull together resources from all around the parish, the diocese, the nation, and the world. 

Are our parishes safe places where people can admit to being in the ugly stage of a long process? Are our parishes places where it is okay to not be okay? This transparency starts when priests and parish leaders address the issue of pornography openly and honestly. 

Before someone discusses pornography in counseling or in a private conversation, it is often addressed in the homily or confessional. For many, a homily or an experience in the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be the first place the faithful hear the whys behinds the whats of Catholic teaching. This moves many to seek healing and reconciliation. 

The consequences of pornography on the Internet generation are being discussed with more and more frequency at every level in the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has addressed pornography more times than any other Pope in the history of the Catholic Church. [..] When referencing Internet dangers, the Pope referred to it as “what is probably the most crucial challenge for the future of the human family.”

In November 2015 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved a formal statement titled, Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography. This is a major statement on behalf of Catholic leaders in the United States about how widespread the problem of pornography has spread and what the Church’s response should be to that problem.