Chastity in crisis
This is no breaking news, of course. Chastity has long been in crisis. In fact, it would seem that today the word itself is disappearing from people’s vocabulary. It’s now an endangered species crying for urgent protection. As a cultural value, it’s practically in coma.
News about teenage pregnancy on the rise only confirms this modern tragedy. With pornography constantly and easily available, sexual addiction and promiscuity would not come far behind. And the statistics simply reflects it. And we should not be naïve to think that the crisis in this area does not bring many other moral irregularities and anomalies along.
We, of course, should not be indifferent to this development nor stop at merely lamenting. While the challenge is overwhelming, we can be sure that the means to combat or at least to contain this problem are at hand. We just need the will to tackle it earnestly. Now is not the time to be casual about this.
An all-out campaign to recover the beauty and truth about chastity should be made. All levels of society, all aspects of life should be involved, because even if chastity is not the most important virtue and value, the p;roblems in it can easily undermine the more sublime goals we all need to reach.
We have to spread the gospel of chastity and human sexuality as articulated by the teachings of the Church and given witness to by thousands of saints and other holy men and women through the ages.
Nowadays, thanks be to God, there are serious and massive efforts to explain the intricacies of human sexuality, especially to the youth. Of course, we can neither deny that there are also many and powerful forces that deface this important virtue.
One of these pro-active initiatives is the series of books entitled, “Values education on human sexuality,” published by Global Creative Publishing House Corporation.” It’s a textbook series for students from Grades 5 to 12, with a teachers’ guide.
More on character education rather than on mere sexuality education, the series is an easy-to-read reference to parents, teachers and students with the view of educating the youngsters in the proper understanding and attitude toward human sexuality.
Let’s hope that there can be more similar initiatives. But what is even more important is that we strengthen the family network so that the parents are properly empowered to carry out their duties as the first teachers to their children on human sexuality.
Of course, we should not neglect the spiritual and pastoral means. We should teach everyone how to pray and how to make their spiritual lives vibrant, full of true love and other virtues, because that is how chastity can be truly lived.
We should teach the youngsters how to deal with their weaknesses, temptations and sins. This should always be done in a positive and very human tone. A lot of patience and hope is needed here, especially when we deal with those who are not yet ready to change their errant ways.
Let’s also tackle the issue of the pornography literally glutting the Internet circuit.
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