The 2022 Safe Haven Sunday on March 26-27 provides a chance for discussion and dissemination of resources on the harmful effects of pornography, and how it negatively impacts marriages, families and communities.
With pornography now available on multiple platforms, including cell phones, Safe Haven Sunday and its resources provides ways to safeguard families and recover from addiction.
“Safe Haven Sunday is a weekend set aside by dioceses and parishes to directly address the harms of pornography in an appropriate way. Within the context of the Mass, dioceses and parishes can provide teaching and resources that will support and protect individuals, marriages and families in making all homes a safe haven,” said the 2015 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ formal statement on pornography “Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography.”
The document explains, “The use of pornography by anyone in the home deprives the home of its role as a safe haven and has negative effects throughout a family’s life and across generations.”
In Archbishop Coakley’s 2019 letter about Safe Haven Sunday, he wrote, “The effects of pornography are absolutely devastating: addiction and compulsive behavior, marriage and family break-ups, human trafficking, an increasingly distorted understanding of the meaning and dignity of human sexuality and the loss of respect for persons who become instrumentalized for the sake of sexual gratification.”
According to research, the average child is first exposed to pornography by age 11 and nearly all boys and more than half of young girls see pornography by the age of 18.
It often is through accidental access by means of a pop-up ad or a typo during an internet search. By age 5, half of all children go online daily. By age 13, three quarters of them have a mobile phone and children ages 15-18 spend an average of one hour each day consuming media on their phones.
“It is important to talk about pornography because I think it is something that is not talked about enough with kids, parents especially, so when they hear it in church, when we have a special Sunday dedicated to it, they are encouraged to do so,” said Father Joseph Jacobi, pastor of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Mustang.
“I am glad our archdiocese chose to participate because a lot of young men and older men are struggling with this, and it is because it was not addressed in the past. It is really important and is providing an opportunity for parishes to address this and bring it into the light because the way the Evil One works is to keep all this in the dark and not bring it into the light.”
Father Jacobi added pornography affects children at a young age.
“When they are young and they see those images, it has been proven it affects their brain chemistry, and how they see other people,” he said. “It is a way, for some of them, to become addicted to it, harden their hearts, and also, they become ashamed, there is so much that goes into it. They do not want to talk to anyone about it. It can separate them from their parents and they feel like they are separated from God because of what’s happened. The impact on families is enormous.”
Father Jacobi advised parents to consider not giving their children smart phones until they are older.
“I know that may sound crazy today, but no 10-year-old child is ready for what he or she can stumble on to, and that is how it all starts. They stumble on to something as a 10 or 11-year-old kid, and they’re naturally curious, and they start to go down the rabbit hole, and shame comes, guilt comes. It’s evil, is what it is.”
Some parishes offer follow up sessions after Safe Haven Sunday for people, especially parents to ask questions and get more information.
“Some parents feel alone in this. They get to know the support of other parents and the support of the Church,” Father Jacobi said.
He advises parents to read books from Covenant Eyes to help them talk to their children about the effects of pornography.
Jolene Schonchin is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.