Coleen Kelly Mast introduces her program LoveEd to future facilitators at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, March 25. (HCH photo by Patrick Downes)
Story and photo by Patrick Downes Hawaii Catholic Herald
Hawaii was introduced on March 25 to a new Catholic sexuality program designed to help parents with “the talk” — teaching their children about human reproduction — in an era of rampant pornography, same-sex marriage and promiscuity.
Colleen Kelly Mast, nationally-known author, radio show host and evangelist of chastity, presented LoveEd, her fresh-off-the-presses program that shows children “God’s plan for life, love, sexuality and purity,” to 25 people who have volunteered to introduce the program this summer in their own parishes.
In the lively four-hour presentation at Our Lady of Good Counsel parish hall in Pearl City, Mast said it all comes down to love — to the person who created sex, God, who created love, who is love.
Hence LoveEd, not SexEd.
Jayne Ragasa-Mondoy, the director of the office of Religious Education who invited Mast to bring Love-Ed to Hawaii, said the purpose of the presentation was “to unfold this for our diocese,” first in the parish and then with “parents having beautiful conversations with their children.”
It’s a positive message, she said, that counters the church’s “just say no” reputation regarding sexual morality.
“LoveEd is part of the whole response to help Catholic families understand what we say ‘yes’ to in Catholic teaching,” she said in introducing Mast.
Mast, who is from Chicago, opened her presentation by asking the participants, the program’s future parish facilitators, why they came.
The attendees ranged from single people and young parents to grandparents. Many were experienced catechists.
The parishes represented were Our Lady of Good Counsel, Pearl City; St. Jude, Kapolei; St. Elizabeth, Aiea; St. John Apostle and Evangelist, Mililani; Sacred Heart, Waianae; and St. Anthony, Kailua.
“I want to know how to talk to teenagers,” said one.
“I want to know the best way to teach our kids,” echoed another.
“I’m looking for the Catholic alternative (to secular sex education). Catholics deserve better,” said another.
One facilitator, a public school teacher, wanted to learn ways to communicate effectively with her public school colleagues on topics of sex, health and morality.
Mast said the purpose of her program was “to help families teach love, chastity and family.”
It is not to have the church take over the parents’ role but to “help parents teach the Catholic vision of love, to help parents be primary educators.”
“LoveEd helps bond parent and child,” she said.
“The gift of human sexuality is by God’s design,” she said. “Our sexuality is good, a beautiful plan for happiness, a reflection of God’s holy love.”
“Sexual morality follows the beauty of creation,” Mast said, where love-giving is intrinsically linked to life-giving.
“Our bodies make God’s invisible love, visible,” she said.
LoveEd is a package of five parish “events” — sessions of video viewing and private discussions between parents and their children.
The sessions are for parents of children ages 2-14, for boys at puberty with their dads, for boys at young adolescence with their dads, for girls at puberty with their moms, and for girls at young adolescence with their moms.
If the same gender parent is not available, the other parent, or a “close caring adult” may attend with the child.
Mast, herself a mother of five adult children, is the author and producer of LoveEd. John Severance created the videos and Notre Dame Sister Kieran Sawyer served as the catechetical advisor.
The program incorporates the families’ personal situation, God’s teaching, science and prayer in a context of decency and respect.
Mast said it was designed to work with the mind of the audience which may know little or nothing about church teaching. The video stories and animation are well written and tightly edited. The facilitator guides are comprehensive.
There are several five-10 minute videos for each session, which lasts about two hours. They tell stories of children and teens in realistic situations written to provoke discussion.
The program tells parents that “you are not alone,” Mast said and that “your child looks to you for love, guidance and discipline.”
“It is never been more challenging to be a parent today,” she said. LoveEd helps in “creating a bond between children and parents when it matters most.”
Parents have been “ripped off by a (secular) culture that has been miseducating them,” she said. “You can’t leave it up to TV, you can’t leave it up to school” to teach sexual morality.
“It is up to us to give them the truth,” she said.
“How are we going to teach our children how to love? It is our duty to teach our children about love,” she said.
“We have a big job, parents,” Mast said. “LoveEd is a way to support and empower parents.”
“Church teaching about sexuality is beautiful and amazing,” she said.
“We are God’s greatest idea, God’s artistic masterpiece,” she said. “He made us in his image — to love.”
Mast gave a second presentation for 15 families the next day at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church.
