Pornography
Pornography, like contraception, is an "elephant in the room" in many Catholic parishes. We know its there, but few people want to talk about it. Again, our ability to speak on pornography will come from true conviction about the gravity of the evil and a solid grasp of the Catholic response.
Pornography - regardless of the consent of the parties involved - makes of the body an object, a thing, instead of a subject, the revelation of a person. The naked body is to be a sign and instrument of the communion of persons. Pornography, while deceptively promising some kind of inter-personal satisfaction, can never bring about communion. It is a counterfeit and anti-sign.
An excellent overview resource on pornography is Bishop Paul S. Loverde's Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia: "Bought With a Price: Pornography and the Attack on the Living Temple of God". It is a must-read.
Bishop Loverde is frank about the grave threat posed by pornography and proceeds to address the false arguments often put forward in favour of it. Finally, he proposes a plan of action for young people, priests, married couples and all Christians. You can download the pdf version here:
http://www.arlingtondiocese.org/documents/bp_boughtwithaprice.pdf
Another resource is a booklet produced by the Couple to Couple League in the U.S. entitled Eyes Wide Open. It is an edited version of a six-part series on pornography which also provides steps to help protect families. It can be ordered from CCLI at:
http://ccli.org/shop/onlineshopping.php?criteria=category&f_cat=catholic&catpr=30&order_by=name
As with contraception, Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body is an excellent comprehensive resource for addressing pornography. Popular American author and speaker Christopher West has numerous resources that distill and apply the Pope's teaching to areas of sexual morality.
Excerpts from "Bought with a Price"
- If the person is not master of self-through the virtues and, in a concrete way, through chastity-he or she lacks that self-possession which makes self-giving possible. Chastity is the spiritual power which frees love from selfishness and aggression.
- The first to feel the violence of pornographic use is the spouse. If pornography is a sin against the human dignity of those whose images are used, how much more so is it a sin against the human dignity of the one who was promised the exclusivity of affection? The use of pornography is a violation of the commitment of marriage. Even if tolerated by the spouse, how can one possibly not feel rejection and betrayal when one's committed partner turns to illusion and fleeting happiness in pornographic images? This rejection, if left unhealed, will often lead to the permanent destruction of the marital commitment.
- The same persons who portray the meeting of biological needs as intimacy also portray faithfulness as a sacrifice too onerous for fulfillment. All married couples will face times when marital intimacy is not possible. For some, these times may be prolonged. To pose such deprivation as an excuse for the use of the pornographic is to cheapen the promise of faithfulness upon which any marriage is founded. To embrace pornography as a substitute for marital intimacy is a tacit admission that the spouse is a means to meet biological "needs" rather than a partner in the communion of human love.
- Perhaps worst of all, however, is the damage that pornography does to man's "template" for the supernatural. Our natural vision in this world is the model for supernatural vision in the next. Once we have distorted or damaged that template, how will we understand the reality? Our Lord has given us the gift of sight with the intention that we ultimately may see Him. The sinful use of this faculty both warps our understanding of it and - worse still - cripples our ability to realize its fulfillment in heaven. What man should use for receiving the true vision of God and the beauty of His creation, he uses instead to consume false images of others in pornography. How can we understand the supernatural sight God desires for us - i.e. the contemplation of God in the beatific vision - once our natural sight has been damaged and distorted?
- This ability "to see" spiritually has implications for the moral life: it enables us to see according to God, to accept others as 'neighbors'; it lets us perceive the human body - ours and our neighbor's - as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a manifestation of divine beauty (CCC 2519). Our sight, more than just a physical ability, also serves as an important means for understanding faith, heaven and salvation. Indeed, its proper end and fulfillment is the vision of God Himself. Man's final purpose is caught up with his ability to see. With this profound truth in mind, we can better appreciate the grave threat pornography presents to the human soul, to the family and to society.
Church Documents and Teaching
Humanae Vitae: On the Regulation of Birth, Pope Paul VI, 1968 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html
Fr. Tom Lynch, National Director of Priests for Life Canada provides an overview of Humanae Vitae (Video, 47 minutes plus Q & A).
The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, Pontifical Council for the Family 1995
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/ rc_pc_family_doc_08121995_human-sexuality_en.html
Familiaris Consortio: On The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World, Pope John Paul II, 1981 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html
Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2354 http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a6.htm
Quotes:
"Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexuality, in which man's belong to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes personal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to another, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman" (#2337, CCC).
"To those who are engaged in education and all those whose right and duty it is to provide for the common good of human society: we call their attention to the need to create an atmosphere favourable to the growth of chastity so that true liberty may prevail over license and the norms of the moral law may be fully safeguarded" (HV, # 22).
"Self-mastery is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life (Cf. Titus 2:1-6). The effort required can be more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood and adolescence" (CCC, #2342).
"Chastity is a moral virtue. It is also a gift from God, a grace, a fruit of spiritual effort (Cf. Gal 5:22). The Holy Spirit enables one whom the water of Baptism has regenerated to imitate the purity of Christ" (Cf. 1 Jn 3:3, CCC, #2345).
"All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ" (Gal 3:27), the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity" (CCC, #2348).
"People should cultivate [chastity] in the way that is suited to their state of life. Some profess virginity or consecrated celibacy which enables them to give themselves to God alone with an undivided heart in a remarkable manner. Others live in the way prescribed for all by the moral law, whether they are married or single (CDF, Persona Humana 11). Married people are called to live conjugal chastity; others practice chastity in continence" (CCC, #2349).
"Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity" (CCC, #2350).
"Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament" (CCC, #2360).
"Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death" (CCC, #2361, Familiaris Consortio, #11).
