Pornography, a Death Trap, Part V of Six...
Bishop Robert Finn’s interview with Zenit news agency is continued here. He is the Bishop of Kansas City, Missouri.
Q: You suggest that parents purchase programs that filter pornography and keep Internet access restricted to a parental password ... you even include a "prayer over a new computer." But in the end, you say, what matters is the child's conviction not to look at porn. How can parents teach their children this conviction?
Bishop Finn: Parents have to try to grow holy children. They have to seek to be holy families. They must limit TV, computer, and video and spend more time together with their children, and they have to explain to their children why this is important. Parents have to eliminate obstacles to their own purity and sexual responsibility from their lives—that is, no contraception—dress modestly, pray together as a family, and interact as loving couples in a way that models chaste love and deep commitment. Creating this home environment is the best way to help children.
Parents have to teach their children about the positive meaning and power of pure and chaste friendships. They must, as much as possible, oversee all the educational components of their children's education. We can't take for granted that a Catholic school will necessarily have all the best pieces in place. In our Catholic schools, we depend on parents to make our schools accountable and to help us find and implement improvements.
Use of devotional images can help to supplant degrading images. Mental prayer can strengthen us against the pitfalls of idle curiosity.
The final part of this interview will be in next week’s bulletin.
Fr. Stanley
