Countless articles have been written over the past few years about the pornography tsunami occurring in our nation. I regularly speak all over the nation, on Catholic television and radio on the pressing need to address this culture killer. So its with great joy that I share one tactic in dealing with this issue. A unique conference that has been a home run in addressing the issue creatively and successfully.
On January 18-19 we held our 9th annual inter-denominational anti-porn conference. The event takes place over a Friday evening and all day Saturday, and is split up into three “sub-events”: Youth For Truth, Women of Virtue and Men of Valor. Over the past nine years we have averaged probably 500 men, 200 women and over 1500 young adults annually.
This year the conference included a phenomenal “Christian” band-For King & Country-who had fortuitously played on the Jay Leno show the night before the event. Over 1500 young adults showed up to hear the band, Leah Darrow-a chastity speaker from Catholic Answers, and others at their event on Friday night.
In a separate event that same evening Christopher West and Dr. & Mrs. Mark Laaser spoke to parents and other adults in an upbeat and positive message about true love and sexuality.
Saturday was a day long event again featuring West and Laaser primarily for men and their sons. In addition, over twenty breakouts where pragmatic help and information were offered. I offered a breakout on the importance of Catholic Accountability.
Vendors offering counseling, accountability software, myriads of books and video support, etc. were there as well.
An amazing factor in this event is that it is endorsed by both the Catholic diocese in Kansas City Kansas and Missouri as well as dozens of non-Catholic churches in the region. Since the vast majority of those attending were Catholic, priests were available for both counseling and reconciliation.
This conference continues to be a huge and important success in fighting against the effects of pornography and our efforts to “speak the truth” to a culture fighting for its very soul. But with hundreds of men, women and young adults bravely facing these challenges the community is healing by the grace of Jesus Christ and His Church.
Anyone interested in learning how you might put on a similar event in your community can contact me at : Help@nfcm.net
