Anti-porn speaker visiting UW-La Crosse: Lecture comes after porn star's controversial November booking

A guest lecturer will argue that pornography corrupts the brain and erodes relationships during an appearance at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse on Thursday.

Parker Hymas, communications manager for Fight the New Drug, an anti-porn organization out of Salt Lake City, will speak at 8 p.m. in the Bluffs Room of the Student Union.

Leaders from Cru, a Christ-based student group, said they have tried for years to book a speaker from Fight the New Drug, redoubling their efforts after a porn star’s controversial lecture at UW-L during the fall semester.

“We wanted our community on campus to just hear the facts about pornography and the true effects of it. A lot of people look at it for pleasure, and they’re not aware of what’s occurring in our brains,” said Cru President Hannah Bontrager, a junior psychology major at UW-L.

continue at La Crosse Tribune

UW president reprimands UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow over visit of former porn star to campus

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross is reprimanding a chancellor for inviting a porn star to speak at his campus.

UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow paid 59-year-old porn actress Nina Hartley $5,000 out of his discretionary fund to speak on campus Nov. 1.

Two weeks later Gow said he was sorry for the media attention Hartley's visit attracted and promised to personally reimburse the school the $5,000.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Cross reprimanded Gow in a Nov. 6 letter, saying that Gow exercised poor judgment and a potential raise regents will consider next month is now at risk.

Cross also warned Gow that he's ordering an audit of his discretionary fund.

continue at La Crosse Tribune

Gov. Walker asks state superintendent to remove porn-watching teacher

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday urged state schools Superintendent Tony Evers to revoke Andrew Harris’ teachers’ license.

Harris is the Middleton-Cross Plains middle school teacher found to have viewed multiple pornographic images, videos and other inappropriate sexual content at the school.

“After hearing from concerned parents, I am asking you to act efficiently in your investigation into the actions of Mr. Harris and to initiate revocation proceedings,” Walker wrote in a letter to Evers.

The Middleton-Cross Plains School District fired Harris in 2010 after another teacher filed a complaint saying Harris showed her pornographic images at the school. The district launched an investigation that found Harris received hundreds of pornographic images, videos and inappropriate jokes on his school email account and viewed them at work.

Harris’ union filed a grievance asking that he be reinstated. The arbitrator, Karen Mawhinney, who donated $1,500 to two of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s failed campaigns for governor in 2010 and the recall in 2012, agreed with the union. She ordered the district to reinstate Harris to a similar position and pay him nearly $200,000 in back pay. The district spent another $627,000 in legal fees trying unsuccessfully to have the decision overturned in the courts.

continue at WatchDog

A major embarrassment for the teachers union, and a great way to encourage homeschooling.  

Bp. Ricken helps launch "RECLAiM Sexual Health" to fight porn addiction

Chris and Carlene Martens' marriage nearly ended in May 2011 when Chris was fired from his job for viewing pornography on a work computer. His addiction to pornography started as child and he had hidden it from Carlene until "the ball came crashing down."

When Carlene learned what happened, she put their four children in her minivan and moved in with her parents. The incident led the couple to a pornography recovery program based in Kaukauna.

RECLAiM Sexual Health is a Catholic-based online recovery program for people addicted to pornography and other unhealthy sexual behaviors. It was launched by Elizabeth Ministry International at the request of Bishop David Ricken.

"He was very excited about Elizabeth Ministry, but in that conversation he asked us to expand the ministry to what he referred to as the two bookends," Jeannie Hannemann told The Compass. "We were focused on child-bearing issues. He said he would like to pick up sexuality and relationships to kind of bring that all together."

continue at The Compass

MJS: How are Wisconsin faith communities confronting the issue of pornography?

I am writing a story on how Wisconsin faith communities are confronting the issue of pornography. If you wish to contribute, please contact me at anjohnson@jrn.com. Please leave a daytime telephone number.

Remember, you can follow the Journal Sentinel's FaithWatch feature at:

www.twitter.com/jsfaithwatch
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MJS Faith Watch

Great question!  I don't know of any effort of Catholics in Wisconsin.  Anyone know of one? 

You might remember Green Bay Packer defensive end Ryan Pickett supported the cause leading up to last year's Super Bowl victory.

Packers' Ryan Pickett supports anti-porn group

Packers defensive end Ryan Pickett had hoped to attend National Porn Sunday, a Feb. 6 religious service whose anti-pornography message will be broadcast to 300 churches across the country on Super Bowl Sunday.

But, it turns out, he has a conflict.

Pickett will be suiting up with hopes of taking down the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium, about 30 miles from the service in nearby Addison, Texas.

"I would love to have been with you guys today. But fortunately, I'm a little busy," Pickett tells viewers in a video that will be played in the churches as part of the national outreach. Then he adds, grinning: "Go Packers."

Pickett and his wife, Jennifer, who also appears on the video, sit on the board of directors of xxxchurch.com, a Las Vegas-based Internet site that bills itself as the largest online resource for people struggling with pornography addiction and workers in the sex trade.

"We just hope the day is a blessing to you as much as the ministry has been a blessing to us," he says.
Pickett said in an interview Friday in Green Bay that he personally hasn't struggled with pornography but is troubled by its prevalence.

"It's just everywhere. I just felt like it was a good thing to jump on board with," he said of the ministry.

The video includes personal stories of other current and former NFL players, including quarterbacks Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks and Jon Kitna of the Dallas Cowboys. They're seen touting the ministry and its software, which tracks a user's Internet movements, sending a weekly list of sites visited to the user's "accountability partners" - say, friends or a spouse.

Hasselbeck says it's strengthened his marriage and gives his wife "a lot of security."

Josh McCown, who spent seven years in the NFL before signing on with the United Football League, tells viewers he began to deal with his porn problem because he feared it was "taking me someplace I didn't want to go."

"It's a whole lot easier to tell your wife you're struggling with it than to have her walk in on you," he says in the video.

Craig Gross, the founder of Triple X Church, as they call it, won't say whether any of the featured players struggled personally with pornography, though the video suggests some have.

"Not everybody's addicted," said Gross, who presided over the Packers' chapel service on the eve of this month's rout of the Falcons. "And the guys who are really struggling are probably not the guys we could get to be in the video."

Gross will say, though, that NFL players may be more at risk than the average Joe.

"NFL athletes are some of the most disciplined in the world . . . but this stuff is being thrown at them more than most people, so they have to work that much harder.

"The bigger issue," Gross says, "is that these guys have money and time, and they're away from their families."

The rest at JSOnline(also the video message is also available here)


The article goes on to say "Faith communities almost universally condemn pornography. But it's rarely a subject for the pulpit."  Sad but true.  In fact, I don't know that I've ever heard porn talked about from the pulpit during Mass.  What a tragic observation.

HT Dad29 (who has some good comments)