Socially-Distanced Teenagers are Called to Love

How can human dignity be upheld during a time of very little physical contact with other humans?
 
The Pittsburgh Culture Project missionaries tackled this and a host of other questions about purity and authentic love during Called to Love, a virtual Zoom hangout for high school students on April 23. Nearly 50 students attended the gathering.
 
The Culture Project is a national mission organization that seeks to restore culture by linking it to virtue. Pittsburgh missionaries Olivia Buak (Calif.), Genesis Gutierrez (Fla.), Malcolm MacDonald (Mass.), Erick Marquez (Calif.), and Brianna Massey (Calif.) have been serving in the diocese since February.
 
Gary Roney, diocesan director of Youth and Young Adult Engagement, invited students to share their struggles, along with what they are grateful for during this time of quarantine. In the group chat, guests noted that they miss their friends, school, sacraments, and graduation ceremonies. But they have taken this time to pray more, and to connect virtually with others. Some even shared about learning new things, like how to play a musical instrument.
 
MacDonald and Gutierrez spoke to the group about their God-given human dignity. They explained that each person has inherent dignity and worth, not because of his or her skills or accomplishments, but simply because he or she exists.
 
“You are unique, and you are unrepeatable,” MacDonald said. “The chances of you existing is 1 in 100 trillion. Your existence is the equivalent of winning the lottery 70,000 times.”
 
Each person deserves to be loved in a manner that honors this intrinsic dignity, the missionaries said. And, they cautioned that as stay at home orders continue and more time is spent online, it can be easy to slip into social media practices that objectify, rather than honor other people.
 
“Social media has the power that we give it,” Gutierrez said.
 
She explained that social media can affirm someone’s dignity through supportive FaceTime chats with friends or learning a new hobby or skill. But social media practices such as viewing pornography, sexting, or late-night texting that leads to emotional impurity trample that God-given dignity.
 
While these destructive practices offer empty promises of alleviating loneliness, they leave users feeling more isolated than ever, she said. The only true antidote for the ache of loneliness is turning to God.
 
“God knows that loneliness because He can read your heart like a book,” she said.
 
MacDonald also offered practical social media pointers. “Ask: is this allowing me to become the best version of myself?” he advised. He also advocated for setting social media time limits and taking intentional social media breaks for other activities, such as praying, reading, or playing music.
 
The diocesan Youth and Young Adult Engagement team will be working with the Culture Project to present more online events.  Information and registration details will be shared at www.diopitt.org as well as through social media channels.