Safe Haven Sunday
Dear Fathers,
Next year our diocese will celebrate its fifth year of Safe Haven Sunday, during the first Sunday of Lent, March 8-9, 2025. I am grateful for the courageous effort that many of you take to proclaim this important message for individuals, marriages, and families entrusted to your care. Also worth noting, this year marks the 10th anniversary of the USCCB publication of Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography.
As you know, Safe Haven Sunday is a weekend set aside within the liturgical calendar by our Diocese for parishes to directly address the societal harms of pornography. Within the context of the Mass, you can provide teaching and resources that will support and protect individuals, marriages, and families in making all homes a safe haven. Taking a stance against porn can seem daunting. Through this effort, we communicate to our people that there are concrete ways for them to act in response to this issue. Our people should be encouraged to address this issue if we truly hope to form, protect, and guide children and make all homes a safe haven. It is an absolute necessity!
Fathers, we know that Pornography is not a male-only problem. Women need help as well.New this year is a 21-day program for women called Arise. By bringing Arise to your church, you can provide a compassionate, Christ-centered approach to help women break free from pornography and start their journey toward sexual healing. We are offering cards to promote this new resource FREE to help you serve women who struggle with porn.
We will continue to make available FREE cards for the two new resources we introduced last year. The first is STRIVE. This free detox for men has transformed the lives of tens of thousands from all around the world. The other resource is the Restored Vows: A Porn Recovery Series for Couples cards. This resource seeks to help couples come together to talk through porn’s impact and the road to recovery in a free, 14-day video series.
I hope that you will make all three FREE resources available in your parish and call attention to them on Safe Haven Sunday and beyond. You may order cards for ARISE, STRIVE, and Restored Vows available at no cost in the order form. The form also includes the option to purchase all the books and resources we have promoted in previous years. For info, go to the Safe Haven Sunday website. If you have additional questions about these resources and promotional materials for next year’s Safe Haven Sunday, please contact Jake Samour at [email protected].
Faithfully in Christ,
The Most Reverend Carl A. Kemme, D.D.
Bishop of Wichita