Marriage and Family Life Supplement
Safe Haven Sunday creates path for clergy to preach on harms of pornography
By Natalie Hoefer
When Melinda Rivelli thinks of her six boys, she fears “it’s not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’ ” they are exposed to pornography.
“Kids can stumble across it innocently enough,” she says. “A lot of schools give students devices today. [The devices] may have security blocks in school, but not necessarily at home. It’s so addictive, and it’s just everywhere.”
Father John Hollowell agrees.
Since his ordination in 2009, he says he’s noticed an increase in the mentioning of the moral struggle with pornography “in the counseling and all the different ways I work with teens, young adults and adults.”
The U.S. bishops addressed the growing issue with their 2015 document, “Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Pastoral Response to Pornography.” The document raised awareness of the harms of pornography addiction and suggested resources for prevention and healing.
A 10th anniversary edition of the document was issued last year and renamed “Create in Me a Pure Heart.” Its introduction holds some discouraging news:
“During the decade since the first publication of this pastoral response to pornography, opposition to this grave evil has weakened among the general population.”
That statement was based on two Gallup polls, one in 2015, the other in 2022. The first showed that 34% of Americans deemed pornography morally acceptable—a figure that rose to 41% in just seven years.
But the document offers more than sobering statistics. It also provides suggestions for parents, lay and civil leaders, educators and clergy to protect those they care for from pornography’s harm.
One suggestion for dioceses and parishes is to implement the “Safe Haven Sunday” program.
‘It brings evil to the light’
The program, created by the faith-based organization Covenant Eyes, provides tools for dioceses and parishes to designate a weekend during the liturgical year to address and preach on the harms of pornography. On its website, Covenant Eyes notes the program was inspired by the 2015 “Create in Me a Clean Heart” document.
Father Hollowell sees merit in the idea, noting, “If the Church talks about pornography, it brings evil to the light.”
So, when he and Father Jonathan Meyer, the priests who lead All Saints Parish in Dearborn County, were approached by the archdiocese last year to pilot the Safe Haven Sunday program at the faith community, they agreed.
So did Father Thomas Schliessmann, pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish in Indianapolis. The program was rolled out in both parishes on the first weekend of Lent last year.
Rivelli, pastoral associate at St. Joan of Arc, oversaw the implementation at her parish.
At no cost, Covenant Eyes “provides everything you need to roll [Safe Haven Sunday] out—sample letters for the priest to send out before the weekend, bulletin inserts, social media posts, homily guides for the priests,” she says. “You can do as much or as little as the priest and parish are comfortable with.”
For the St. Joan of Arc implementation, Father Schliessmann mailed an explanatory letter to parishioners a few weeks prior to the Safe Haven Sunday weekend.
“Between that [letter] and bulletin announcements, it wasn’t a shock” when parishioners heard him preach on the sensitive topic, says Rivelli.
The parish also provided a table with information after each Mass that weekend “to try to offer resources to protect children and also for healing if any adult in a family is addicted to pornography,” she says. “Obviously the sacraments are a huge source of help, but they need something more intentional to help them break the cycle of addiction.”
All Saints “took advantage of all the things that Covenant Eyes offers for the parish to roll out the program,” says Father Hollowell.
For the homilies that weekend, “We followed Covenant Eyes’ suggestion of using the phrase ‘explicit material’ instead of ‘pornography’ to keep young people from saying, ‘What’s pornography?’ and looking it up online,” he says.
‘Who else is going to tell the truth?’
The program was well-received at All Saints, says Father Hollowell, noting, “People thanked me for talking about [the issue],” he says.
The program spans four years, each with a different focus for the Safe Haven Sunday weekend. The first year’s theme is “Safeguarding Children,” followed by “Having Critical Conversations,” “Safety Through Connections” and “Healing Marriages and Fatherhood” in years two through four.
Both All Saints and St. Joan of Arc will participate in Safe Haven Sunday this year, although All Saints will offer it on the weekend of Feb. 28-March1 rather than on Feb. 21-22, the first weekend of Lent.
“I feel really passionate that we need to do more to equip parents especially, but people in general, to avoid the hazards of pornography,” says Rivelli. “It ruins marriages, it affects mental health, it destroys self-confidence.”
Father Hollowell agrees.
“When Jesus said, ‘If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out,’ that passage relates to the sin of lust,” he says, referring to Matthew 5:27-30. “He knows how numbing those sins are to our soul, so we should take any steps necessary to avoid that temptation.
“Pornography is obviously a major issue in our world and culture. If the Church is silent, who else is going to tell the truth about it?”
(To read the U.S. bishops’ document “Create in Me a Pure Heart,” go to usccb.org/pureheart. For information on Safe Haven Sunday, go to covenanteyes.com/safe-haven-sunday/catholic-resources. Parishes seeking more information on implementing the program can contact Gabriela Ross, director of the archdiocesan Office of Marriage and Family Life, at 317-592-4007 or gross@archindy.org.) †
Related column: ‘My House’ pornography recovery and prevention site is work of the Holy Spirit
See more from our 2026 Marriage and Family Life Supplement