Usually, the process of writing a news or feature story is fairly straightforward. It requires a couple of interviews with faculty members, briefly pulling aside a few students during AP for their thoughts and, at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday night, sitting down to crank out an article. Not a noteworthy, let alone newsworthy, process. 

This past January, however, I set out to report on an issue that I hoped would lead to my greatest article yet. The issue: how area Catholic high schools were addressing pornography with their students. My hope was to have this article published in the St. Louis Review, the newspaper for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. Setting out, I was optimistic. The editor of the Review seemed intrigued by my proposition and I thought that campus ministers would be more than willing to help me better understand this topic. 

Yet my optimism quickly grew into despair. A major component of my article hinged on a survey that I had asked ten campus ministers—five from all male schools and five from all female schools—to send out to their student bodies. After a week of waiting, I had heard back from exactly one campus minister, and after two weeks and countless emails and phone calls, four more. Only one, St. Louis U. High’s Fr. Matthew Stewart S.J. said he would be willing to send out the form.

I was disappointed, but my disappointment turned to determination as I believed that receiving no responses meant that even Campus Ministers were hesitant to address pornography with their studnet body. Still disappointed, I moved to plan B, sending out the survey on my own, and after two weeks of conducting interviews and writing a cohesive narrative, I said a prayer and sent my draft over to the Review—and then I never heard back. Now, three months later, I share this piece with you, unwilling to let it simply sit on my desktop as a reminder of hopeful work that was never brought to fruition. My hope is that this article, this narrative, will move administrators, teachers, campus ministers, parents and students alike to address pornography in a more prominent way. 

A slight wind blew across the church’s parking lot; it was a humid June day, but still, a group of high school guys could be found sitting on two blue benches outside of the gym. They had known each other for years, but today they would learn something new about each other, something personal, something that few people, few high schools, few youth ministry programs like to talk about: that each one of them has struggled with pornography. 

Pornography has been a widespread issue for decades, but with the rise of easy access to the internet and social media dominance, pornography has quickly turned into a raging epidemic that has impacted the lives of many, especially teenagers. In a research article published by the Journal of Health communication, a 2021 nationally representative survey found that 84.4 percent of 14-18 year old males and 57 percent of 14-18 year old females have viewed pornography. In a separate survey sent to Catholic high school students across the Archdiocese of St. Louis, it was reported that 89.8 percent of male high school students and 64.7 percent of female students have viewed pornography before. 

“Pornography is a very prevalent issue and is especially prevalent in the confessional,” said Auxilury Bishop of St. Louis Mark Rivituso. “More and more people are coming to confession because pornography is a struggle and almost everybody struggles with trying to live the gospel and trying to be Christ in our life.”

Pornography disregards all respect for human dignity and beauty. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Pornography perverts the conjugal act … it does injury to the dignity of its participants, since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others.” (CCC, 2354) 

As that group of five teenagers learned about their common struggle with pornography, they began to open up and share about their own struggles. Quickly, they came to realize that this struggle with pornography had been a part of their lives for a long time and that they each were first exposed through unassuming means. 

“I first discovered pornography back in fifth grade when I was just browsing YouTube,” said John Secund, a senior at SLUH. “There would be these sexually provocative images that would come up as thumbnails. I got drawn in out of curiosity because I didn’t know what was happening with these images and I just developed a habit of viewing pornography after that.” 

While fifth grade may seem young for a first encounter with pornography, studies show that 11-12 is the average age when an adolecesnt first encounters pornography. In the survey sent to area high school students, 51 percent of males and 45 percent of females responded that they had first encountered pornography during or before sixth grade.

“Technology makes it so easy for people to inadvertently stumble across pornography,” said Fr. Eddie Voltz, Chaplin of Lindenwood University Catholic Student Center. “There can be a tendency among parents, especially when they're thinking of their children, to just kind of bury their heads in the sand and just think, oh, my kids, would never look at this or struggle with this but the truth is, we live in a society that is allowing pornography to flourish in which it's so easily seen and stumbled upon.”

The students discussed how quickly pornography took hold on each of their lives. They quickly used  pornography as an escape from stresses of the world such as lonlieness or anxiety. It became a safe fallback for each of them, as it was easily accessible and brought with it a dopamine hit that left them craving for more. But they also came to realize that habit of viewing pornography was not just sinful in nature, but it also impacted their relationship with others, especially women. 

“When I was struggling with pornography I found that it was  becoming harder and harder to have relationships with others but especially with girls,” said Benedict Lindsey, a senior at De Smet. “I would start to see them as objects and that's just not good for a relationship. You need to see eye to eye with them and see them and see them as a beautiful and beloved child of God, which often pornography prevents you from doing.”

During that first discussion, the group realized that few of them were having success fighting pornography on their own. They realized that if they wanted to beat pornography, they would need to help each other and hold each other accountable.

“To have a group of guys who are with me and are journeying with me and struggling with the same things I am is just so helpful,” said Secund. “Because you can talk with someone that you can be real with and not have to sugarcoat anything and help each other.”

Previously, each teenager had little luck finding a safe space to talk about his struggles. They were too scared to talk to friends about their fight with pornography and their individual high schools were not addressing this issue with their students. 

“There was a program our campus ministry hosted my freshman year, in the spring of 2019, and a friend  invited me to be his accountability partner. But I was too afraid and shy to really go into that program. So I just kind of told him like, yeah, it's not really something I'm struggling with. But good luck with that,” said Secund. “There was that one program that I failed to take part in, but nothing since then.”

This lack of discussion about pornography is a trend happening in Catholic high schools across the archdiocese. Of students surveyed, 71 percent of male students and 97 percent of female students said that there have been no programs or opportunities for students to consider their experiences with pornography. 

“When I hear that statistic, I'm disappointed because pornography is something that our students in our schools are absolutely going to encounter,” said Brian Miller, Director of Evangilization for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. “If we don't work hard to teach them the proper understanding of human sexuality and the human person, then we are failing the people that we're walking with and ministering to.”

Some campus ministers, however, are hesitant to address pornography.

“I'm not sure how helpful any official thing is going to be,” said SLUH Director of Campus Ministry Fr. Matt Stewart S.J. “I'm not sure all the campus ministers would feel comfortable with (discussing pornography). We have two women in the department and I don't know, but maybe they do not want to talk to boys about pornography.”

While many high schools currently lack programs and events that help minister to students struggling with pornography, there are a few notable exceptions. Both Vianney and Chaminade have hosted renowned Catholic chastity speaker Matt Fradd. Chaminade has also implemented a unit on chastity into its freshman theology program. After the unit concludes, Campus Ministry hosts a retreat centered around the virtue of chastity in which students hear multiple witness talks that often include a speaker’s testimony about their own struggle with pornography. 

“Pornography is very pervasive in our culture, and in our students lives, it's our goal to help them have happy, healthy, holy lives,” said Chaminade Campus Minister Matt Dailey. “Since pornography is such a large part of our culture, we just want to give them opportunities to reflect and grow. We cannot hide our heads in the sand about the presence of pornography, we have to address it.”

While most schools are lacking in specific structures to help students struggling with pornography, there are many opportunities that schools could take to address pornography and help students struggling. These could range from simply creating an enviornment where dialogue about pornography could be had to hosting chastity speakers to come address the student body. 

“It's important that that young people at high schools know that if they approach a teacher or a campus minister, with any struggle that they have, that they won't get kicked out of school, but that they'll get the help that they need,” said Paul Masek, a retreat presenter within the archdiocese. “It’s important that the schools provide development for their faculty, especially their theology teachers and campus ministers, on how to build a safe space where these conversations can be had.”

 “There are lots of great ministries out there such as the Culture Project and Life Teen which do a lot to address pornography. They do a great job going into the classroom and talking to students about Theology of the Body and those types of issues and helping to start a dialogue about this issue,” said Miller. “We must be willing to have some uncomfortable conversations in these areas  so we can highlight the truth and help students overcome these struggles.”

One place, however, where schools are succeeding in addressing pornography is in theology classes. 72 percent of male students and 64 percent of female students report learning about the Catholic Church’s position on pornography within their school’s theology curriculum. At SLUH, discussion on pornography is incldued in the theology curriculum at two separate points; once in sophomore year while learning about Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, and again in the senior year Christian Life Choices course. 

“When teaching about sexuality in general, it's always difficult figuring out when is the appropriate time to do that. On the one hand, you want the students to have a certain level of maturity. But on the other hand, you know, it would be ridiculous to suspect that, like, no students come across pornography until they're sophomores. There's not  a perfect time to be able to really focus on issues regarding sexuality,” said SLUH Theology Department chair Jon Ott. “I'm hopeful that maybe next year, when we have these advisory sessions, that those might be an opportunity for us to talk to freshmen about pornography.”

While many are struggling, many desire to overcome their attachments to pornography. The survey sent to teenagers at area Catholic high schools found that 75 percent of teenage males and  58 percent of female teenagers who have struggled with pornography have attempted to stop viewing pornography.

“Many teenagers that I encounter on retreats share with either myself or with retreat volunteers that they're really glad that we are speaking about the issue of pornography because people are not really speaking about it,” said Masek. “Many have told me their desire to find freedom from pornography and have reached out simply asking: how do I get free from porn?”

Few teenagers who want help getting free from pornography know of places that they can turn to for help. Few know where to run. High schools must educate their students. High schools must minister to their students. High schools must walk with their students, along their treacherous journey of struggling with pornography. 

“Pope Francis talks about the theology of accompaniment, that we need to not only be present to people in need, but that we need to walk with them,” said Rivituso. “Young people are dealing with pornography and other things in the world that that drag us down. We need to be with them during their struggles; we need to be with them, we need to walk with them.”