Posted on

When telling kids to abstain from sex is irresponsible.

[callout]Yesterday, the Tampa Bay Times published my third sex essay. Here are a few excerpts from it, followed by a link you can click to read it in its entirety. Like it? Share it with others. Grateful![/callout]

Over the summer, an Esquire post’s headline made a bold proclamation: ABSTINENCE CAUSES LASTING SEXUAL CONFUSION. I’m not worried. A lot of people think I should be.

I am a 29-year-old virgin, abstinent outside marriage because I, a practicing Catholic, practice the virtue of chastity. But there’s a reason the headline doesn’t have to cause concern in someone who hasn’t had sex:

It isn’t true. Continue reading “When telling kids to abstain from sex is irresponsible.”

Posted on

A sex talk in a city near you?!

FullSizeRender (18)
Theology on Tap in STL.

In or near Tampa, FL or Athens, GA? PREPARE TO MARK YOUR CALENDAR. (If you aren’t, read on anway, ’cause I need a favor.)

I’ve booked events where you are, and I want to see you there. Here’s where I’ll be:

SPRING HILL, FL: I’ll give a talk about practicing chastity in a culture that calls it crazy at 6 p.m. Friday (2/27/15) at Connexion, an event hosted by the young adult ministry in the Family Life Conference Center (which says “Welcome to Northcliffe” on it in giant letters) at Northcliffe Baptist Church, 10515 Northcliffe Blvd., Spring Hill. Continue reading “A sex talk in a city near you?!”

Posted on

5 practical ways to get better at practicing chastity.

Chastity is for lovers. That isn’t solely the title of my book, but a truth I believe with my whole heart. It is a virtue for all of us — single, married, priest, or nun — that creates conditions in which we can do what we were designed to do: love God and each other.

Chastity doesn’t separate sexuality from the rest of the stuff that makes us human, but helps us to arrange our lives in such a way that sexuality isn’t misused (See CCC 2337). It requires us to subordinate desire to reason — to discern before we act on an urge instead of acting because of an urge.

We live, however, in a culture that isn’t conducive to chastity, a culture for which restraint is incomprehensible — a culture that creates conditions in which we believe we can and should get what we want when we want it, without consequence. In other words, we live in a culture that teaches us to subordinate reason to desire — to act on all the urges ever. Continue reading “5 practical ways to get better at practicing chastity.”