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Pornography's Death Grip: Interview With Bishop Robert Finn

Q: What makes this issue so pressing? And why now?

Bishop Finn: The issue of respect for human dignity, or the loss of it, is quite pressing. It prompted Pope John Paul II to launch his theology of the body catecheses. This is the primary value I would hope to foster, and about which we need to find ways to teach. Perhaps at the root of the decline in our own time is the separation of sexuality and love promoted by the widespread use of contraception. I would suggest that this was probably the evil "portal," a major cultural step onto the slippery slope.

Pornography is a most pernicious symptom of this decline in the awareness of human dignity. Because of its ready availability, it has become so widespread -- touching young people barely beyond the age of reason -- that it is pandemic. Because of its addictive nature, I doubt that we as a global society have the will or the means to significantly inhibit the presence or availability of pornography. Yet, we should not give up on this effort to limit pornography. We have to persevere in this. As the Church, what we can and must do is try to recapture hearts, and fortify souls by deep conversion, the growth of the interior life, and the practice of the virtues.

I would add that the decline in respect for human dignity also manifests itself in abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Pornography reduces human persons to mere objects for our pleasure and enjoyment, while abortion and ESCR reduce them to or things to be destroyed for our convenience.

The Bishop continues:

Our culture dismisses or ignores responsibility for sexual sins and many other sins. The Popes of the last several generations have lamented the loss of the sense of sin. I believe there is still great shame in many people when they have used pornography. Children seem not to want their parents to know what they are doing when they view pornography: In a way this is good.

Some will joke about this, belittling it as "Catholic guilt." It is rather the vestige of good conscience. We have to strengthen and affirm this. Just as important, we have to positively build the virtues of purity, chastity, modesty and temperance. We have to try to move hearts to see what is beautiful in our sexuality and human personhood. If we do this, we will be inclined to use more energy to protect it.
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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.

Bishop Finn at one point says "Our culture dismisses or ignores responsibility for sexual sins and many other sins." I'm not sure I agree with that. It seems to me that, far from dismissing responsibility for sexual sins, our culture celebrates it. Think of the reaction to Bill Clinton's treatment of Monica Lewinsky. Many people reacted with anything from "It's no big deal" to "I would be happy to give him a blowjob just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs." In a less hedonistic (and politicized) society, it would have been recognized for what it was: adultery and sexual exploitation of an immature underling. Careers have rightfully been ended for less; instead, we find Clinton being lionized for it.

As Bishop Finn says in this interview, we need to work to change individual hearts. Pornography is everywhere; it's sadly a part of our culture. What we need to do is work at the individual level so people will stop partaking of it and stop doing business with those who promote it.