Pornography, a Death Trap

Although it has been a serious problem in human history, pornography is critically so now because of its widespread and easy availability and laws that protect it. Bishop Robert Finn wrote a pastoral letter in 2007 on the death grip of pornography for his diocese Kansas City, Missouri. Later he granted an interview with Zenit news agency to explain further the Church’s teaching regarding this sin.

Bishop Finn’s remarks and observations are ever timely. This interview will be published here over the next several of weeks. Here is the first part of the interview which took place in March 2007. The credit goes to zenit.org.

Q: What makes this issue so pressing? And why now?

Bishop Finn: The issue of respect for human dignity, or the loss of it, is quite pressing. It prompted Pope John Paul II to launch his theology of the body catecheses. This is the primary value I would hope to foster, and about which we need to find ways to teach. Perhaps at the root of the decline in our own time is the separation of sexuality and love promoted by the widespread use of contraception. I would suggest that this was probably the evil "portal," a major cultural step onto the slippery slope.

Pornography is a most pernicious symptom of this decline in the awareness of human dignity. Because of its ready availability, it has become so widespread -- touching young people barely beyond the age of reason -- that it is pandemic. Because of its addictive nature, I doubt that we as a global society have the will or the means to significantly inhibit the presence or availability of pornography. Yet, we should not give up on this effort to limit pornography. We have to persevere in this. As the Church, what we can and must do is try to recapture hearts, and fortify souls by deep conversion, the growth of the interior life, and the practice of the virtues.

Next week the interview will continue.

Father Stanley