Letters From a Young Catholic

My reflections as a Catholic young adult passionate about the Faith, seeking to grow in knowledge and understanding of God and discerning the will of the Lord in my life.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Porn Upsets Our Archbishop!

"Canadian Press
VANCOUVER – The Roman Catholic archbishop of Vancouver is considering cancelling contracts with Telus after the phone company began making pornography available through its cellphones.

Canada's second largest phone company now offers pornographic photos and videos to its customers and confirms it has been receiving complaints from upset customers.

Telus introduced the service in January. In doing so, it became the first wireless provider in the country to offer pornographic photos and videos at $3-4 each.

Archbishop Raymond Roussin is upset, saying the move takes the "accessibility of pornographic material further into the public realm."

Roussin told The B.C. Catholic newspaper that the move is especially ill-considered because of the problems pornography is causing in society.

"Given the increasing awareness about the problem of sexual addiction to pornography through Internet access, and the abuse that this perpetuates of vulnerable persons, Telus's decision is disappointing and disturbing."

But, said Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson, the company is not breaking the law nor is it providing something that has not been available on cellphones for some time.

"We have the utmost respect for (Roussin's) perspective but the reality is that adult content has been available on cellphones equipped with web browsers for the past several years with no controls of any kind," Johannsson said.

"We feel that the responsible thing to do is put in place age verification controls and to ensure that the content complies with all provincial standards and regulations and is legal for download in Canada," he added.

Johannsson said the material available for download is not considered obscene under Canadian law.

The B.C. Catholic, the official publication of the archdiocese, reports the archbishop plans to raise his concerns with parishes and schools throughout the Archdiocese of Vancouver.

He is also considering directing Catholic institutions to terminate their contracts with Telus Mobility.

As of last week, the company had received more than 135 complaints, a number which continues to climb, Johannsson said."

(Thanks T.O. for pointing this out. . .)