Thursday, 05 July 2012 14:13

Jason Evert will speak about chastity to teens and parents at the Midwest Catholic Family Conference Aug. 3-5 in Wichita’s Century II.
“I will address the parents on how to raise pure families in today’s world, which obviously doesn’t encourage much chastity,” he said in a telephone interview from San Diego, Calif.
He and his wife Crystalina speak internationally about chastity to about 100,000 teens a year. They are also apologists for Catholic Answers, a Catholic apologist website.
“Our minds are made for the truth and our hearts are made for love,” he said. “Chastity offers us both of those things.”
Evert added that his message sells itself.
“People think that I have a difficult job selling chastity to teenagers but I think it’s just about the easiest job in the world because this is what they are longing for, even if they don’t realize it.”
He said those who once believed the world’s false notion about lust are the most receptive to the message because they know lust doesn’t satisfy, he said.
“We’ve got a culture of young people today, many of whom were raised in broken families, who are yearning to know what is love.”
Evert said one young man he talked to had a father who was in his ninth marriage. “You’d think these kids would be jaded and mistrust notions of true love,” he said, “but they’re starving for it.
The message seems to be reaching teenagers, who are becoming more abstinent, he said.
“Studies to show that the majority of American high school students now are virgins. The teenage pregnancy rate is lower than it’s been in about 40 years. That’s due to a number of factors, part of which is abstinence.”
Although there is a trend among teens for abstinence and virginity, they may not be more chaste, Evert says, because many are using technology to view pornography.
He added that he is going to tell parents that they are the primary sex educators for their children and will challenge parents to give their children a clear and convincing explanation of chastity.
“We want to give the parents concrete strategies about how to communicate with their teens and how to reach them when they sometimes seem unreachable,” he said.