American evangelists tell Cebuano youth to be chaste

Filipinos mustn’t be influenced by Western culture on premarital sex and the controversial proposed law that would make artificial contraceptives readily to the public, two Roman Catholic campaigners from the US said.

“The solution to poverty is not having less Filipinos but more true love and compassion. In the US, we have experienced more broken homes, broken hearts, and abortion where this is leading. You are a beautiful country. And you have to preserve it,” evangelizer and model Lea Darrow told reporters.

Chris Stefanick, Director of Youth of the Archdiocese of Denver, said the Philippines must stand up for its faith and not be dictated by the West.

Stefanick and Darrow were in Cebu last August 30 to speak before students and young professionals in a three-session activity dubbed “Youth and the Path to Greatness: a Conference on True Love and Chastity. Legacy of Blessed Pedro Calungsod.”

Stefanick cited how the countries dealt with their rising AIDS cases in the past decades.

“AIDS broke out in Thailand and the Philippines. Thailand introduced contraception to stop AIDS while the Philippines introduced abstinence. Studies show that after a few years, this country has the 50 percent lower cases than the other,” he said.

The Commission on Youth and Campus Ministry led the three-session conference as one of the activities leading to the canonization of the first Visayan saint Blessed Pedro Calungsod.

High school students joined the morning session, college students in the afternoon, and professionals and parents in the evening session.

Before becoming a lecturer of faith and a professionalmodel, Darrow entered the hit reality modelling contest America’s Next Top Model cycle 3.

She is now pursuing a masters degree in pastoral theology after graduating magna cum laude with a degree on psychology.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma appreciated the presence of the two speakers whom he only sees in American Catholic television network EWTN.

“God truly loves us because he sends blessings to us through people who come and inspire us to make a difference in our lives,” Palma said.

Making students listen to testimonies makes it easier for them to understand the teachings of faith, a teacher said.

“It is easier for the children to absorb and learn about faith because of the actual stories shared by the speakers rather than just us teachers telling them this is right or wrong,” Jergen Orias said.

She brought 14 pupils from grades 5-6 pupils to the conference. And since these children are younger than most high school students that attended the activity, she will conduct thorough debriefing with them once they return to their school.

Youth volunteer Kristine Pol said the activity has touched her life and mentioned Darrow’s challenge of not letting anyone make you believe that you cannot change for the better

“Even if I already have work, I made it a point to volunteer and help this activity because I know I will also learn and at the same time help others learn,” she said.  /Jessa J. Agua, Correspondent