ASIA : PAKISTAN : CHRISTIAN LEADERS FIGHT PORNOGRAPHY

UCAN REPORT; Concrete steps must be taken to combat sex addiction on the internet
ucanews.com reporter, Lahore
Pakistan
February 13, 2012
Catholic Church News Image of Priest urges Christians to fight porn
Young people connected to the internet
A priest this weekend urged Christian leaders to pluck up courage and educate young people about the dangers of pornography addiction during an ecumenical seminar in Lahore.
“Christian leaders are suspicious of the internet and are afraid to discuss pornography with youths,” said Capuchin Father Morris Jalal executive director of Pakistan’s only Catholic television service.
He was speaking at seminar discussing the influence modern media has on young people organized by the Theological Institute for the Laity and the Presbyterian Church.
Many speakers at the seminar agreed there is a high degree of “media illiteracy” among Christian leaders and that they should be less wary of modern communication in order to organize programs to help youths overcome porn addiction.
For the past two years Pakistan has topped the rankings when it comes to searching the term “sex” and other sexually explicit terminology, according to Google statistics.
The government confirmed earlier this month it blocked 13,000 obscene websites on the internet following directives issued by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
Fr Jalal also said many young people admitted looking at porn in a survey he carried out in his own Kot Lakhpat parish recently.
“About fifty percent use the internet daily for more than an hour. I asked some of them if they watched porn movies on the internet and they confessed to having watched them a few times,” he said.
“They would not admit to being addicts, but at least they were willing to discuss it”, he said.
Daughter of St. Paul Sister Athen Angeles, who heads a youth group in Islamabad-Rawalpindi diocese, wanted a ban on porn sites.
“This gives us a chance to train up cyber priests in the minor seminary,” she said.
Catholic rectors prohibit seminarians from using cell phones in minor and major seminaries. Major seminarians however are permitted to use the internet only to help them complete study assignments.

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