"Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man," (Mt 1:19).
On March 19, the Church will celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary. I always look forward to St. Joseph's feast day because ever since I came back to the Church 20 years ago, I have had great admiration for this great saint – second only to the Queen of All Saints, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The title "Husband of Mary" not only tells us one of the roles St. Joseph played in the Holy Family, but also the reason we celebrate this feast. St. Joseph was first and foremost the husband of Mary, and after the Christ Child was born, Joseph then became the foster father of the Infant Jesus. It is precisely this role of a husband that I want to talk about.
I had the opportunity last month to cover once again the Charlotte Catholic Men's Conference, an annual event that normally attracts men from all around the Diocese of Charlotte. Normally, most of the participants are married men and fathers. This year was no exception. However, something that caught my attention this year more than ever was that all three speakers, especially the last two, Brian Pusateri and Joe McClane, spoke about the current epidemic of men addicted to online pornography.
According to Pusateri, 63 percent of men watch pornography online at least once a month. Pusateri also said that 85 percent of sins confessed by men are of a sexual nature. McClane, who shared with the men that he as a younger man had been addicted to pornography, went as far as saying that pornography was worse than adultery because "a person you can confront, but a cyber image you can't."
If six out of 10 men watch pornography at least once a month, and 85 percent of Catholic men struggle with lust and unchaste behavior, it would be interesting to know what percentage of those same men are married. But whatever that number may be, it could be safe to say that this pornographic pandemic must be creating havoc in a large number of Catholic marriages.
I want to encourage all husbands like myself, and especially those who are also fathers, to cultivate a devotion to St. Joseph. St. Matthew describes St. Joseph as a "righteous man," and the Church has always described this great saint as a model of chastity. Because we believe in the perpetual virginity of Mary, then we should deduce that Joseph also lived out his marriage vocation in perfect chastity. I imagine also that Mary was and is an incredibly beautiful soul, but she must have been a very attractive and beautiful woman. How is that for avoiding the near occasion of sin, guys! Of course, we all know that sin of all kinds start in our hearts and not from the outside.
Gentlemen, if you belong to the 85 percent, continue to avail yourself of the mercy of God in the sacrament of reconciliation, but definitely add a strong devotion to this great model of manhood and righteousness to your spiritual arsenal. Meditate on the life of St. Joseph and develop a real friendship with him. Ask him to help you in times of temptation. If your health allows it, fast and pray on the first Wednesday of every month in honor of the husband of Mary, and ask him to intercede for you and your bride. Ask him to help you live out your marriage vocation and foster holiness in your family just as St. Joseph did.
Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Rico De Silva is the Hispanic communications reporter for the Catholic News Herald.
For many years, the Mexican border has been a source of political controversy in the United States as well as with respect to the relationship with our southern neighbor and third-largest trading partner. However, the problem reached a new international level of attention when Pope Francis recently became personally involved by visiting the border twice and from both sides within the past year. Furthermore, in this election year, the overall problem of illegal immigration and the debate over whether the Mexican border needs more walls or bridges is dominating American politics and presidential debates. While the media tend to focus on securing the border and dealing with the problem of illegal and uncontrolled immigration, these important issues are rarely discussed in the context of the root causes of this problem. The Mexican border, which already includes both walls and bridges, is only a reflection of a much deeper problem of U.S.-Mexican relations.
When people are willing to risk their lives by attempting to illegally cross a closely guarded border, they usually do so because the conditions at home are unbearable. In this case, people are trying to escape extreme poverty, violence and political unrest. Many aspects of the internal situation in Mexico are beyond our control, but being Mexico's largest and by far most powerful neighbor, our foreign policy has often contributed to many hardships that Mexican people face.
When Mexico joined the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, which virtually eliminated tariffs and enabled large American corporations to penetrate the Mexican economy, conditions for many middle- and lower-income Mexicans became worse. Large American agricultural conglomerates, with the help of the subsidized and now tariff-free U.S. imported corn, drove many small Mexican farmers and meat-producing firms out of business because they could no longer compete. Some of those displaced farmers especially from the Veracruz region, who lost their business due to the sharp drop in pork prices caused by massive imports of U.S. companies, eventually found jobs at pork processing plants in the U.S., working for the same companies that led to the destruction of their family farming businesses back home in Mexico.
The implementation of the NAFTA agreement benefitted many large American corporations but led to the loss of approximately 120,000 jobs in the pork industry alone, and overall about 2 million Mexicans were forced to leave their farms. According to World Bank records, the 35 percent rural poverty rate in Mexico before NAFTA ballooned to 55 percent in the few years after NAFTA took effect.
Correspondingly, the rate of illegal immigration from Mexico rose throughout the second half of the 1990, reaching its peak in 2007 (according to the Pew Research Center).
Extreme poverty and inability to find jobs to support families also creates a fertile ground for unrest, conflict and violence. The Zapatista uprising in Chiapas in 1994 was directly linked to the Mexican approval of NAFTA, as more than 3,000 impoverished indigenous people protested the fact that they would bear a disproportionate amount of the costs associated with the trade agreement and the necessary economic adjustment which accompanied it. Suppressed by the military, several hundred people died in the largest ethnic conflict in recent Mexican history.
Poverty and joblessness also tends to support and intensify the drug war, in which the United States is directly involved by being the main consumer of illegal drugs. Insatiable U.S. demand for illegal drugs makes this multibillion dollar business profitable, yet it is the Mexican people who bear most of the cost of drug-related violence. The U.S. also continues to be the main supplier of weapons, especially semi-automatic military style assault rifles, which can be easily purchased in border states with permissive gun laws, but which would not be available for purchase by civilians in Mexico.
Furthermore, the Mérida Initiative, which has launched an active U.S. military and CIA involvement in the fighting of drug cartels in Mexico, brought more heavy military equipment as well as training, which, although well intentioned, often benefited a corrupt police, which actually worked for the cartels. In some cases, the Mexican military, acting in law enforcement roles in regions particularly affected by drug cartel violence, has used the new equipment and training to suppress the local population indiscriminately or had their American-supplied arms stolen by the cartels. It is estimated that the drug war has claimed more than 150,000 lives, many in nameless graves, below the radar of mainstream media reporting.
None of these issues can be easily resolved, but they all need to be addressed and remain inseparable from any political discussion about Mexican immigration. We need to understand the context of how our own policies affect our southern neighbor, to focus our foreign policy on improving the living conditions in Mexico, and to make a coordinated effort with the cooperation of the Mexican government to address the issues of violence and poverty. Otherwise, the Mexican border will continue to reflect the torment of the most desperate people, and remain a source of hardship, suffering and political controversy.
Dr. Kamila Valenta is a member of St. Gabriel Church in Charlotte and a part-time professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, where she teaches ethnic conflict.