By TAMI QUIGLEY
Staff writer
“The biggest thing people who struggle with pornography have is darkness,” said Father Allen Hoffa, chair of the Lumen Christi Commission of the Diocese of Allentown and administrator of St. Joseph, Summit Hill.
Father Hoffa shared this thought to the approximately 25 adults attending “Seek Always the Light of Christ,” a frank discussion on the effects of pornography on children and adults May 20 at St. Francis of Assisi, Allentown.
Bishop Alfred Schlert established the Lumen Christi Commission (LCC) “to help in the pastoral planning of addressing the burgeoning issue of pornography.”
It provides education, training, encouragement and resources to break free from pornography, heal relationships, and assist parents in preventing and responding to pornography exposure, which is so devastating in the lives of children.
The event was for adults only – any parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle, brother or sister; any persons who work with children of any age, in any capacity; any Catholic or non-Catholic adult who is interested in learning about the effects of pornography on our society and ways to effectuate change to protect ourselves and our families.
Monsignor Victor Finelli, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi, welcomed those gathered.
The purpose of LCC is to assist the Diocesan Bishop in protecting the faithful from the scourges of pornography. Using the best practices of Integrity Restored (IR) and other reputable organizations, the commission will work to implement initiatives and programmatic change throughout the Diocese so that souls are not left vulnerable to the evil of pornography.
The commission’s mission is to effectively aid the faithful in the fight against pornography through formation, education, encouragement and resources. The commission journeys alongside clergy, religious, individuals, parents, spouses, children, and families to restore and protect the dignity given us by God. The commission will strive to provide freedom, prevention, and healing to the faithful of the Diocese so that souls are not harmed by pornography.
Highlights of the Diocesan timeline include the Diocese’s initial introduction to IR in November 2016; 11 priests attended a Priest Intensive in October 2017; the LCC was formed in October 2018; and four additional priests were added to the priest team in May 2019.
“Pornography is a $100 billion industry worldwide. It’s a battle. We take it one step at a time,” said Father Hoffa.
“Sin attacks the dignity of each one of us.”
Father Hoffa said the battle against pornography can be taken from the spiritual or scientific direction for those who are not spiritual.
The clinical definition of pornography is any image that leads a person to use another person for their own sexual pleasure. It is devoid of relationship, love and intimacy. It can be highly addictive.
“It’s devoid of relationships, love and intimacy – that’s what we as humans need,” Father Hoffa said. “Pornography is, as the song says, looking for love in all the wrong places.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church’s definition of pornography is that it consists in removing real or simulated acts from the intimacy of the partners, to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other.
It does grave injury to the dignity of its participants, since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.
Father Hoffa said pornography is the silent predator, affecting everyone either directly or indirectly. Pornography and addiction to porn is destroying current marriages and sabotaging future ones. It impacts one’s mental health, one’s relationships and one’s work and home lives.
Still, there is hope. National organizations like IR and Diocesan initiatives like LCC are on the front line battling this disease in our culture; the commission has created a number of ways to help.
“However, if we don’t talk about it, the culture can’t change and the darkness wins,” Father Hoffa said. “If what you hear tonight doesn’t go beyond this room, that’s a shame.”
Sharing some statistics, Father Hoffa said pornography is a $13 billion dollar industry in the U.S. alone; 51 percent of all Americans use it. The average age for first exposure is between eight and nine years old. The porn industry earns more than the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, EBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix and Earthlink.
Child pornography generates $3 billion, and Father Hoffa said, there is a link in human trafficking for use in the porn industry.
Only 10 percent of pornography users pay for it.
Of adult internet porn statistics, the following percentages of men say they view porn at least once a month: 18-30-year-olds, 79 percent; 31-49-year-olds, 67 percent; and 50-68-year-olds, 49 percent.
“As a priest who hears confessions I can tell you it’s accurate, it’s very real,” Father Hoffa said.
Father Hoffa said for many years, pornography was considered “a guy problem,” but it now reaches so far beyond that.
“Smart phones and tablets are the industry’s favorite things. Ads blink – something as simple as a red apple could lead to a porn website,” Father Hoffa said. “There we have trauma. It distorts the sense of relationships. And as a person gets more addicted they go on to more deviant forms of porn.”
Speaking about damage to children, Father Hoffa said it robs them of their innocence, and introduces them to a world they are not able to understand. It leaves children with a distorted sense of sexuality, promotes the Sexual Utilitarian Philosophy, teaches boys that it is OK to use women, and teaches girls that men are violent and cannot be trusted.
Father Hoffa said that alarmingly, more and more children imitate behavior they view in adult pornography with other children.
Other statistics show 83 percent of boys and 57 percent of girls have seen group sex on the Internet, and only 3 percent of boys and 17 percent of girls have never seen online porn. They also engage in sexting.
“Porn is a multi-billion dollar industry fighting against what the Church and people of good will are trying to accomplish,” Father Hoffa said.
“We need spiritual empowerment. This is evil we are fighting. The devil is using porn to corrupt people at any age.”
Father Hoffa warned the devil’s ongoing battle plan – methods of communication – include email, instant messaging, social media, handheld devices and Snapchat.
Father Hoffa said that spiritual empowerment includes praying for the help of the patron saints – St. Michael the Archangel for combatting evil, St. Gabriel for proclamation of the Gospel and St. Raphael for healing.
Father Hoffa also referenced Pope Francis’ field hospital image: “The thing the Church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the Church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.… And you have to start from the ground up.”
Father Hoffa said porn enters our lives in many ways, including television, movies, Internet, social media and strip clubs.
He said men who have a bachelor party at a strip club say they are good, they love their wives and girlfriends. “The problem with that is why introduce something in your hearts, minds and lives that only will distort?”
Porn’s damage to men includes the message that women are here solely for men’s sexual pleasure and true happiness in life will only come from having multiple sex partners. Damage to women includes the message that the sex portrayed in pornography is normal and healthy, and to keep a boyfriend a woman must engage in sexting.
Discussing prevention vs. intervention, Father Hoffa spoke of educating and empowering parents about the good and against the bad, and the education of young people about the good and against the bad. Also, implementing parental control policies and addressing pornography as part of safe environment curriculum.
Intervention includes confession, spiritual direction, behavior change, support groups for addicts and wives, counseling, and inpatient treatment.
“From day one, our biggest champion in this has been Bishop Schlert, even before he was Bishop,” Father Hoffa said. “He’s a stalwart proponent of the work we do.”
For more information, visit website www.adlumenchristi.org, and follow on Facebook “Lumen Christi Commission,” Twitter @ADLumenChristi and Instagram @adlumenchristi.
The hotline can be reached at 610-871-5200 option 1 for Lumen Christi. For questions or more information, email ADLumenChristi@allentowndiocese.org.
