Workshop to focus on cybersex addiction
PISCATAWAY — To help keep those involved in pastoral ministries from getting hooked on Internet pornography, the Diocese of Metuchen will offer a free workshop on the topic at the St. John Neumann Pastoral Center at 7 p.m. on Sept. 22.
The workshop will be led by Benedictine Father Roman Paur, prior of Trinity Benedictine Monastery, Fujimi, Nagano-ken, Japan. Father Paur’s talk is entitled “Cybersex: The Wrong Side of the Internet.”
Father Edward C. Puleo, executive director of the Department of Clergy and Religious Personnel, said the workshop is for anyone involved in ministry, such as deacons, religious and catechists, as well as parents, teachers and principals. A separate workshop will be offered at noon for priests only.
“Bishop [Paul G.] Bootkoski saw this as an instrument for the presbyterate of the diocese, the deacons and all those in ministerial positions to safeguard our hearts and minds and souls,” Father Puleo said.
He said the workshop is important because pornography is “tearing up the fabric of our society.”
In describing the negative impact of pornography, Father Puleo cited the words of Bishop Paul S. Loverde of the Diocese of Arlington, Va., who called it “a plague which stalks the souls of men, women and children, ravages the bonds of marriage and victimizes the innocent among us.
“Pornography obscures and destroys people’s ability to see one another as unique and beautiful expressions of God’s creation.”
Workshop participants may also consider using what they have learned to hold meetings at their parish about the signs of cybersex addiction and the best way to avoid it, Father Puleo said.
Father Paur, a monk of St. John’s Benedictine Abbey, Collegeville, Minn., was ordained to the priesthood in 1966.
After serving in Holy Rosary Parish, Detroit Lakes, Minn., for three years, he studied clinical and counseling psychology at Loyola University and Johns Hopkins University, both in Baltimore; and The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., where he received a doctorate in 1976.
For 18 years, Father Paur served on the psychology faculty of St. John’s University, Collegeville, and also as vice president of student affairs. In 1993,Father Paur founded the Interfaith Sexual Trauma Institute, which aids in the understanding and prevention of clergy sexual misconduct. — Chris Donahue
