Jason Evert brings a message of purity to the Diocese of Charlotte’s youth
GREENSBORO — Catholic author and speaker Jason Evert visited the Diocese of Charlotte this week with a double-feature talk called “Purified,” a humorous but compelling message presented to thousands of local middle and high school students.
His talks focused on topics including sexuality, virginity and gender identity and were held at St. Pius X Church in the Triad, Christ the King High School in Huntersville and Charlotte Catholic High School.
The subject is difficult to approach without invoking giggles and blushing faces, but participants were at the edge of their seats, laughing at Evert’s anecdotes.
In his first message, “Love or Lust,” he explained the beauty and gift of virginity and the importance of abstaining from sex until marriage.
The body is a precious gift for your spouse, and waiting for sex until marriage is a sacrifice well worth it for your future spouse, Evert said.
Evert drove home his point with a paraphrased scripture, Ephesians 5:25: “Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the Church, giving yourself up to her to make her holy.”
Evert told the boys, “You don’t want somebody else doing that (having sex) with the person you are going to marry – just set the same standard for yourself. This is a calling to real love … every guy in here has a temptation to lust or use, but he has a deeper desire to sacrifice and love.”
“If you really love her, if you really care about her, you would do what is best for her,” Evert emphasized.
Evert explored the messages of a secular society that leave people with misconceptions that cohabitation and intercourse before marriage are acceptable.
Through clothing, porn and media, sex sells – and people without God are easily buying it, Evert said. The ideology that you need to lose your virginity to be a real man, or that you have to give up your purity to make a guy stay in a committed relationship, is not true, he said.
He warned the girls not to be seduced by an easily spoken but meaningless “I love you.”
“Real love brings you closer to family, friends and God,” Evert said. “If you want to find out if he really loves you, see if he will wait for marriage.”
At St. Pius X Church, during the break, students shared this was the longest time any adult had talked to them about sex, saying most of their ideas about sexuality come from peers, social media and Netflix – but not the Church.
“I liked and needed this talk,” said Harrison, an eighth-grader. “It was very helpful, it was really amazing, and I think it is going to make a huge impact on my life. A lot of the words he said really showed me a different way to think of things while I walk through these temptations.”
Holy Cross youth and family evangelization teacher Geraldine Abinader said the talk was the perfect springboard for a Life Teen series she has planned for her formation classes.
“It is good that we are talking about this in a Catholic context, because we are rooting God back into it,” she said.
The second half of the three-hour address, “Gender & the Theology of the Body,” focused on gender dysphoria and gender identity.
Evert eloquently compiled the teachings of St. John Paul II and modern-day medicine into one reasonably bite-sized package that was logical for both grade-school students and adults.
He denounced gender reassignment procedures and hormone therapy, noting their impracticality and devastating mental effects.
He had a message of compassion for the people seeking out this new form of “bad medicine.” As Catholics, he reminded the audience, it is our duty, instead of shaming, berating or rebuking our brothers and sisters who are experiencing gender insecurities, to care for them, love them, listen to them, be honest with them and help them continue their walk toward God.
Evert ended the evening by urging youth to combat worldly pressures with prayer, Mass and the rosary.
Eucharistic Adoration followed the talk, where the teens were encouraged to leave their prayers, insecurities and future spouses in God’s hands.
To learn more about Evert and the Chastity Project, visit https://chastity.com/.
— Lisa M. Geraci