 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
| November 21, 2008 |
|
Group preaches, practices chastityYoung people’s movement is committed to ending ‘ignorance’ about church’s teachings.FIND OUR MORE MIAMI | More than a year ago, a group of young people from the archdiocese made a public commitment to remain chaste and abstain from sexual activity until marriage. On Dec. 1, the group, Castos por Amor (Chaste for Love), held its first archdiocesan conference, titled “Pastoral Response to Pornography and Cohabitation.” Held at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, the day of reflection and formation was attended by more than 100 people, most of them young. “Now more than ever we think it’s imperative to promote chastity in view of the new challenges being faced by society, young people and families,” said Victor Evins, the movement’s founder and director. The day featured talks by experts on religion and psychology, who spoke about the teachings of the church and the spiritual and psychological consequences that accompany an unchaste lifestyle. “Among young people, there is a great disconnect between marriage and having children,” said Deacon Mario de Armas, a transitional deacon who spoke on the church’s teaching on cohabitation. “There is a sense of compulsive cohabitation where we jump from partner to partner and the sacrament of marriage almost becomes obsolete.” Adolfo Castañeda, a moral theologian and director of education for the Catholic pro-life organization Human Life International, spoke about the church’s teachings on pornography. He emphasized the important role played by the family, schools and the media in combating pornography. “Parents are responsible for the moral formation of their children. They should set an example for them and not let them base their morals on what they watch on television or hear on the radio,” Castañeda said. The conference dealt not only with current societal topics, but also helped to clear up doubts that exist about the church’s teachings. “It’s a way to provide tools in terms of information and the doctrine of the church, and to obtain responses to concrete situations in daily life,” said Alain Garcia, one of the young people in attendance. In his talk, Deacon De Armas provided a simple way to understand the church’s teachings on cohabitation. “The goal of the church is not to make our lives miserable, but to ask us to include responsibility in our lives,” he said. Castos por Amor was founded in 2004 by teenagers and young adults from St. Raymond Parish in Miami, under the spiritual direction of pastor Father Jordi Rivero. The movement’s goal is to evangelize the baptized and promote chastity as a virtue by emphasizing the joy of abstinence and marital fidelity. The movement describes its mission as “giving young people a new vision of chastity, not merely as abstinence or commandment, but as a means of preventing the alarming rise in sexually transmitted diseases.” The movement includes three branches: evangelization, communication and pro-life. Every year, after taking several formation classes, young members make a covenant committing themselves to chastity until marriage and faithfulness in marriage. The movement also offers support to couples who are dating and want to follow the church’s teachings. The pro-life branch was responsible for shutting down an abortion clinic after praying in front of it for seven months. “We try to live with love and combat the ignorance regarding the teachings of the church,” Evins said. Leal writes for La Voz Católica, the Spanish-language monthly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Miami.
|
Other StoriesAdvertisement
|
| Archdiocese of Miami | Diocese of Orlando | Diocese of Palm Beach | Diocese of Pensacola - Tallahassee | Diocese of St. Petersburg | Diocese of Venice | |
Copyright © 2007 – 2008 (except stories and photos by CNS) | All Rights Reserved | The Florida Catholic, Inc. | 50 E. Robinson Street | Orlando, FL 32801 | (407) 373-0075 Privacy Policy | |