Sam Meier is the consultant for the My House Initiative. For more information about protecting families from pornography, go online to: www.archkck.org/myhouse.
by Sam Meier
There are three new resources available to help Catholic marriages heal from the destructive effects of pornography.
The first is a new pamphlet that my wife and I wrote for the U.S. bishops about pornography. The second is an upcoming national webinar about pornography’s destructive impact on marriage. The third is a three-day counseling intensive workshop that is being offered in Kansas City in July.
In 2016, my wife and I were asked to write an article about pornography’s effects on marriage by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth. The article was printed in a pamphlet called “Pornography’s Effects on Marriage and Hope for Married Couples.”
Beth and I shared our testimony, along with practical ways for married couples to find support and healing. This pamphlet was in a five-part series that the U.S. bishops published as a follow-up to their powerful 2015 document called “Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography.” The pamphlet can be ordered on the U.S. bishops’ website at: www.usccb.org.
There is an upcoming national webinar that will take place on May 9 at 11 a.m. and on May 18 at 7 p.m. about pornography’s impact on marriage, which is being hosted by a dynamic group called the Religious Alliance Against Pornography (RAAP).
Archbishop Naumann is on the board for RAAP, along with other Catholic, Protestant, evangelical, Orthodox, Mormon, Jewish and Muslim leaders. It’s great to see religious leaders working together to change our hypersexualized culture.
Beth and I, along with Dr. Albert Rossi from St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York, will be giving the presentations.
Beth and I will present research about pornography’s impact on the brain and sexual intimacy, along with sharing our testimony and discussing practical ways married couples can find hope and healing.
The webinars are free and registration information is available online at: www.ReligiousAlliance.org.
The third opportunity for healing marriages is a counseling workshop on July 13-15 in Kansas City. It is called the “My House Workshop for Men,” a three-day confidential, intensive workshop for men striving to overcome and heal from unwanted sexual behaviors.
The workshop includes a “whole person” approach from modern brain science to the emotional and spiritual underpinnings of compulsive sexual behaviors.
The presentations and small-group discussion will be led by top Catholic and Christian experts, including Dr. Todd Bowman, Father Sean Kilcawley, Michael Ciaccio and myself.
This will be the third My House workshop that we have offered in Kansas City. The feedback from men who attended the first two workshops has been incredible, and more information and registration information are available online at: www.archkck.org/MyHouse.
