Southern Nebraska Register
St. Michael Parish in Lincoln will host a special panel presentation, “Embracing the Truth,” Sunday, Feb. 4 from 4 to 5:30 p.m., to provide practical tips and resolutions to protect the integrity of children, couples and families.
The event will be held in the school gymnasium, 9101 S. 78th St., Lincoln. It is open to the public; to everyone concerned about the proper teaching of the gift of sexuality to young people.
Father Kenneth Borowiak, pastor of St. Michael Parish, pointed out that experts estimate most children are first exposed to pornography around the age of 10.
“It is a tragedy and a terrible injustice to young people to be preyed upon by pornographers,” he said. “This is the reason why St. Michael Grade School administrators, teachers and parents have come together to create a comprehensive approach to introducing the splendid gift of sexuality to students in the fulfilling and proper context of the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church.”
Building upon the Theology of the Body, the staff of St. Michael School hope to provide the resources and the time necessary to introduce students, parents and others into the proper understanding of sexuality.
The Theology of the Body is a corpus of teaching based on 129 general audiences which St. Pope John Paul II gave concerning the topic of human sexuality and the human person, between 1979 and 1984. The teachings provide a comprehensive, clear and concise view of the proper understanding of the true meaning of life, love, sex and gender.
“If we wait until junior high – the seventh or eighth grade – to begin this program, we have waited too long,” St. Michael principal Mrs. Ashley Rockey said. “The genie is already out of the bottle.
“By that time almost all children of that age have experienced puberty and have been exposed, largely through media, to an inappropriate understanding of sexuality, which can lead to inappropriate behavior and choices,” she added.
Father Borowiak said the greatest culprit in exposing children to pornography and a distorted view of sexuality is the cell phone.
He said he does not believe grade school students should have cell phones, and that high school students should have very limited use of cell phones.
Dr. Joy Martin, director of discipleship formation for St. Michael Parish, said parents want “what’s best for their children.”
“They want to be empowered and encouraged by the support of others who care for the well-being of young people,” she continued. “We are working to grow united as a parish that values holiness, virtue, and respect for the dignity of all.”
“It is not enough to have an overview presentation on the scourge of pornography,” Rockey said. “Everyone knows that pornography is perhaps the number-one concern of parents for their children.”
However, cell phones also bring Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook “and other sources of inappropriate images, conversation and music lyrics into the hands of children, who are unprepared to understand and deal with what they are seeing and hearing,” she added.
The targeting of young people – in Catholic and public schools – with pornography and inappropriate material, prompted parents and school administrators to take action.
“We realize that our teachers and our parents need to be educated in the Theology of the Body and provided the resources with which to teach their children,” Father Borowiak said.
St. Michael School has created a panel of medical and other professionals to introduce and teach the Theology of the Body in an age-appropriate manner. Teachers will be provided materials and instruction in the Theology of the Body in order to continue the education in their classes.
Panelists for the Feb. 4 presentation include Dr. Joshua Miller, an emergency medicine physician at Bryan Health; Chance and Lora Unger, co-founders of the apostolate Missionaries of the Holy Spirit in the Family; and Scotty Sullivan, campus minister at Pius X High School. School administrators and the parish’s priests will also participate. The panel presentation will last one hour, with the last thirty minutes dedicated to questions and answers.
