Why waiting until marriage isn't waiting to love:

• Chastity often gets so misunderstood where high schoolers feel like chastity is a restriction on love. In reality, chastity is the virtue that makes true love possible. Through stories and insight that is rooted in the wisdom of St. John Paul ll, students will not just understand rationally what the church teaches about chastity, but be inspired to live with virtue.

How far is too far:

• Understanding how far is too far starts with looking at the intention within our own heart. The goal isn't to get as close to the line as possible without crossing it, but to best be leading and guiding the other to virtue.

• I invite the students to think about the reality that their future spouses are out there, and they could be dating somebody else right now. How far would they be comfortable with their future spouse going with somebody else?

• I offer practical insight rooted in church teaching about how far is too far. With the advice of Jason, the presentation also helps students to understand the difference between affection and arousal. It can be a sign of affection to hold hands, hug, even a quick kiss goodnight. If you’re doing things like "making out" though where you are trying to draw out those sexual feelings, then you’re already going too far.

Healing that is possible:

• It's been such a common theme where students feel like they are "used goods," "too far gone", "why even start trying now." The presentation affirms the truth of their identity and worth being found in God, and that any mistakes from the past don't have to prevent us from the love God is calling us to moving forward.

Marriage:

• Our culture is filled with so much divorce, cheating, and brokenness where students sometimes just hate the idea of marriage all together. They would rather just settle for "living together" or "being in a committed relationship" out of fear that their future marriage would be like the ones they see in the world. I focus on helping students to see the beauty and goodness of God's design for marriage.

Modesty:

• Modesty is almost always misunderstood by students. They feel like it is oppressive, body shaming, just a girl thing, and only about what we wear. Modesty is the virtue we are each called to as men and women that guards the dignity of the person. As men it matters what we wear, but we primarily live out modesty and virtue but how we speak and act towards women. We can guard the dignity of a woman by not leading her on emotionally, by not saying things that make her uncomfortable, and by seeing women with love. For women it also matters how they talk and act towards men, but there is a specific way they can be inviting men to virtue by how they dress. This isn't to hide their beauty, but to invite men to see the fullness of their beauty as a person. This also helps to fulfill a deep longing that each of us have, to not just be "looked at" but to be truly seen. I often say that while women are physically beautiful, it's her heart that is worth gold.

Pornography:

• This part of the presentation is mixed with compassion and truth. It's sad how often students were exposed to pornography not because they were seeking it out. The average age of first exposure is often said to be between 8 and 11 years old, and that often starts addictions that have led to the current time.

• The presentation helps students to understand how pornography goes totally against all of what love is and what love stands for. Pornography reduces a person to an object for one's own pleasure. Love recognizes the value and dignity of each person, and seeks to will their good.

• Pornography trains a person to view others' as objects, it weakens the parts of our brain that are responsible for empathy, and it contributes significantly to wounding marriages/future marriages.

• High schoolers will sometimes think that pornography is fine because it's at least not "harming anyone or getting someone pregnant." The stories are tragic though of people who work in the industry.

• The presentation offers practical solutions to help students find freedom from pornography.