The Catholic Standard & Times - Christ connection

Gen-Life heads for the beaches and boardwalks to promote chastity

By NADIA POZO
CS&T Staff Writer

Have you ever felt used, sexually? Or regretted being sexually active, and believed it was too late for you to embrace a life of chastity? You’re not alone.

“The message of chastity is one that today’s young people so desperately need to hear,” said 20-year-old Christine Friedrich, a Boston College sophomore. “It’s clear from the increases in the numbers of sexually-transmitted diseases and abortions that the sexual revolution of the ’60s and ’70s has wreaked havoc on our generation.”

Members of Generation Life are leading a counter-revolution, seeking to dispel the lies and to return sexual self-control to teenagers and young adults.

Generation Life, an organization of young people dedicated to promoting chastity and pro-life, hit the New Jersey shore to spread the word during the two weeks that mark Senior Week celebrations for Philadelphia’s public and Catholic high school students — week-long celebrations that often include underage drinking and “hooking up”.

In all, 45 high school students, college students, recent college grads, all of whom are devoted to chastity, descended on Avalon, Stone Harbor, Sea Isle City and Ocean City with one purpose: to comb the beaches and walk the boardwalk handing out pro-chastity pamphlets and “I’m Worth Waiting For” stickers.

Several said the reaction they found was undeniably powerful — one way or the other.

“I had one talk with a young man who was struggling with homosexuality [who] started attacking our message of chastity, and accused us of discriminating and hating homosexuals,” said 22-year-old Pennsylvania State graduate Cristina Barba. “It was a ‘them-against-us’ debate. We were discussing homosexuality and marriage rights as these general and somewhat distant issues.”

But soon Barba realized that the real issue wasn’t the abstract concepts they were discussing: “He wanted to find meaning to his life, and was seeking Christ and His Love just like the rest of us.

“I could see the hurt in his eyes, and that he just longed to be loved and accepted,” she continued. “I started to realize that having all of the facts and right answers for him wasn’t what he needed — it wasn’t up to me to convince him that chastity was the right lifestyle. Put simply, my job was to just love him.

“I needed to stop objectifying him as an argument that needed to be won, and just start loving him as a person and my brother in Christ,” Barba said. “ And then, by God’s grace, everything changed. He and I started having a deep conversation, and starting connecting person-to-person, heart-to-heart, and not just as opponents trying to win an argument. ...

“It was such a beautiful moment,” she said. ”I honestly just shared my heart with him, and told him of the joy and happiness that embracing a life of chastity has been to me, and of the fulfillment and completeness that Christ and His Church have been to me. And it was all that I had to offer him.

“He started to share his heart with me, and tell me a little bit about his already challenging young life and his struggles to find God,” she said. “By the end of our talk, he was thanking me, and said that he wasn’t so sure about Jesus and all of this chastity stuff — but that he wanted some of the joy that I had. And all I could do was offer him an invitation to this lifestyle, give him a big hug, love him, and assure him of my continued prayers.”

Melissa Kurtz, 21, had a different, but equally powerful experience.

“There was one girl who started out with a smart comment, but ended up, to a certain extent, considering the possibility of re-committing herself to the lifestyle of chastity,” Kurtz said. “When I asked her if she ever felt used, she became very timid and looked like she wanted to disappear. She quietly said, ‘Yea.’ … I knew, then, that she was really hurting. I could tell not only from her responses, but also her body language. I did not push anything on that topic, but took it and turned it around, and made the conversation a little more personal. … I was able to relate to her, and to let her know that she is precious and valuable, and not made to be used, but treated with respect and dignity …,” Kurtz added.

“She explained how she even stopped going to Church. … I just stressed how a lifestyle of chastity can truly provide happiness. … She ended up saying she was definitely going to call the Generation Life number. God paired us up perfectly that evening, because her interests paralleled somewhat with mine — she was looking to go to college where I went to college …,” the Gen-Life evangelist said. “ I pray that she comes back to church, and returns to a more godly lifestyle.”

For herself, Kurtz said the sight of hundreds of young people wearing the “I’m Worth Waiting For” stickers along the boardwalk ,and reading the Generation Life literature as they stretched out on the beach inspired her to continue.

“Songs of praise were being played and sung by members of Generation Life — and many other teens and families who spontaneously joined in,” said Kevin Burke, a student at Cabrini College.

Burke said he knew his mission on the beach over the two weeks would not be easy: Talking to strangers about sex, and offering the counter-cultural choice of chastity to peers looking to have a good time is unnerving.

But Burke said he and and the other members of the Gen-Life outreach team understand that “in order to transform our society from a culture of death to a culture of life, it is important for Christians to actually be present in the public square, proclaiming the truth.

“I think seeing over 30 young adults committed to chastity strengthened the resolve [of] and inspired the young people who already believed in the message — and also opened up the hearts and minds of the others who either disagreed with the message or had never even heard of it before.”

The Generation Lifers realized that the opportunity to serve as witnesses was just as beneficial for them as for those they spoke with, said 18-year-old Joseph Cunningham.

“After telling girls that they are beautiful, and truly worth waiting for, I’m excited about living purity from just seeing the happy blushes on their faces,” Cunningham said. “I’m looking forward to courageously reaching out to others, challenging them to keep their standards high. And I’m looking forward to coming back again next year.”

The Generation Life team ended its shore ministry with a sidewalk prayer vigil outside an abortion clinic in Atlantic City. There Catherine DeCamara, 21, shared her faith with prostitutes, who asked her for her rosaries.

“They told me about their children, and one of the women said she had chosen life because of people like us outside of the abortion clinic she had gone to [which she] ended up leaving,” DeCamara said.

“There are many more stories like these that we have from the week,” she said. “They are encouraging, and help to remind us that our efforts are not in vain. God used each one of us in different ways, because we were open to Him and to the call He placed on our hearts to do this type of evangelizing.”

The “new sexual revolution” is in effect.

“Pope Bendendict says our Church is alive and well, and it is young,” said Mountain MacGillivray, the Generation Life Senior Week outreach coordinator. “How right he is.”