National Pornography Awareness Week

This week marks National Pornography Awareness Week.  The movement is also referred to as White Ribbons Against Pornography (or WRAP) Week.  WRAP Week was started in the early 1980′s and has been going on ever since.  (Find out more about WRAP Week at www.wrapfamily.com.)

Do you find it interesting that it’s been around for nearly 30 years and you’ve never heard about it before?  Me too.  That’s because of the apathy that fills the hearts of modern-day Americans.  Most people (as evidenced by the reactions we receive during an anti-pornography protest) are completely indifferent to the realities that surround the multi-billion dollar pornography industry every day.  This apathy must stop.

I’ve written about porn a lot on this site.  It’s “near and dear” to me, so to speak.  Sounds really weird, but porn puts food on my kid’s plates, pays my mortgage and gives me purpose for work every day.  I wish that porn wasn’t around and I had to find another line of work.  Without my own porn addiction and subsequent recovery, I wouldn’t be in this line of work.  But, because of it, I am.  I desire to share my woes of pornography addiction and slavery to sexual sin with just one man… so that he “gets” it… that it clicks… that just one man would turn away… or that just one man wouldn’t go down the dangerous road of sexual sin… or that just one woman would have the courage to tell her loser boyfriend “no, I’m not okay with you looking at porn, and because of that and until you start choosing me over your desires, we’re done “… and so many other things.  Is porn the only thing I work with?  No.  But because it is so rampant and so devastating, many men that we work with have or had their own struggles with it and it is a major cause for getting men involved in ministry.

Look, porn is devastating.  It damages children, women, men, families, marriages, lives.  Porn kills.  (Don’t believe me?  You obviously didn’t read this post… “Porn Proves Deadly“.)  It is time we do something about it.

If you want to help fight porn, please contact me.  There are currently 11 states across the country fighting porn each month.  We need about, oh, say, 39 more states and many more cities to be doing it!  We at The King’s Men can help you get started.

Here’s my quote that will be in this week’s edition of the Colorado Catholic Herald… “The fight against pornography is a fight that men must engage in. This fight is not merely for the men who are recovering addicts or even for the man who has only dabbled in pornography, but for every man who desires to protect women, children and his fellow brother-in-Christ. We must not stay on the sideline of indifference. To be the man each of us was created to be – a leader, protector and provider – is where a man finds true happiness and fulfillment. In authentic masculinity, in the image of Christ Himself, is where we find who we are, what we’re made of and what our purpose is. Pornography is a counterfeit, a fake. Pornography takes a man away from his purpose and turns him into a slave to his physical desires. Taking a stand against pornography frees a man to battle in this fight and in others. I invite ALL men, young or old, rich or poor, to join us as we take a stand against the evils of pornography in our community. Pornography is a Pro-Life issue… join us. If you don’t do it, who will?”

TrueMan up!

Catholic Men’s Conference at FUS

This past weekend, I attended a men’s conference at the Franciscan University of Steubenville.  I’d like to share a few thoughts from the weekend and a few challenges that correspond.

First off, we are all sinners.  No matter how long you’ve been involved in your faith, or how many ministry ‘things’ you attend, or the number of men you’ve spoken to at conferences or how old you are… we all have room to grow.  Keep working on getting better!  It’s a daily thing, not just a 60 minute thing on Sundays.

Secondly, the vast majority of the Catholic population doesn’t live for Christ.  They live for themselves.  We all must turn away from sin and have a conversion.  On Friday night of the conference, the evening’s speaker spoke of how St. Paul wrote about baptism.  The imagery that St. Paul used showed that the waters of baptism are not waters of life (as most believe), but actually waters of death.  These waters of death kill off the old self and require us to be born anew in Christ Jesus.  The coming out of the waters requires us to live differently.  This different way of life is radically different from what the world tells us life is all about.  The reward of this life is not of this world, but of life eternal with God in Heaven.

Lastly, I want to convey the incredible need for additional men’s ministry programs around the country.  We need to have a men’s ministry program everywhere and need to reach out to more men.  No one man can do it all.  So, if you are in an area that doesn’t have anything for men, then get started!  I can get you the resources needed to start small faith formation groups, or to start a men’s conference, or do to weekend retreats, or whatever it may be that you’re looking for.  The important element here… if there’s a need, then step up and fill the gap.

TrueMan up!

Tuesdays with Daddy – Father’s Edition

To all the men who are fathers… today’s “Tuesdays with Daddy” is for you.  Unfortunately, my opportunity to be home with my girls on Tuesdays will be coming to an end in about a month.  I thought it would be a good idea to put forth a challenge to all the dads out there, to keep you thinking, to keep you purposeful in your parenting.  Read over these questions and be honest with yourself about the answers.  If something’s not up to par, make a change today.  I believe that we are all on a journey towards being the best father that we can be.  The journey requires us to always be moving forward, always toward being better.

• Do you tell your children, not just everyday, but every chance you have, that you love them?
• Do your actions match up with your words?
• Do you love your wife?
• Does your love (action!) match up with your “I love yous”?
• Do your children see you loving your wife?
• Do your children have a healthy and realistic understanding of love, or is it what they see on television, in movies and online?
• Do you prioritize your life well?  Or do you give one (or more) part more attention and neglect the other things you ought to be doing?
• Are you addicted to anything?  Porn?  Alcohol?  ESPN?  Work? etc.
• Are you working to overcome your addiction?  (Ask me if you need resources… Dave@TrueManhood.com)
• Do you strive to grow in virtue?
• Are you faithful to a daily prayer life?  To a Sacramental life?
• Do your children know that you pray?
• Do you pray with your children everyday?
• Are you actively involved in the spiritual formation of your children daily?
• Do you pass on responsibilities and place them on your wife and/or childcare provider?
• Do you rejoice in your children?
• What else do you need to work on?

Man up!

“Our lives change when our habits change.”  - Matthew Kelly

The TrueManhood Code

The singing cowboy, Gene Autry, had certain rules about what it takes to be a cowboy.  I think what he had to say works not only for cowboys, but for all men.

If you’ll notice, Mr. Autry clearly stated that a cowboy ‘MUST’ do these things… they aren’t options.  A TrueMan, too, doesn’t have the option to tell the truth or not, or to be a good worker only some of the time.  A TrueMan can’t only respect women on occasion or have clean personal habits from time-to-time.  In order to be a TrueMan, we work to possess the character of a real, authentic man, living out the role that God created us for, and we do it at all times.  The life of a TrueMan isn’t simply a switch we turn on when we’re in public, or when we’re in a job interview, or when we’re trying to impress someone.  It is a lifestyle, a complete and totally devoted lifestyle in which we surrender all unto the Lord, for He is our master and our purpose.  The TrueManhood Code is a life of virtue.

May you always live virtue, and in all things, glorify God.

Man up!