As our students return to school, often with new devices, it is a good time to revisit the lessons stressed through Safe Haven Sunday. Whether it is a laptop, cell phone, gaming device, or something else, it is always helpful to be aware of how to keep our students safe. I don’t share this repetitively to spread fear, but rather to make sure we are aware of the dangers out there looking for our students. It is all about keeping them securely in the light and mercy of Jesus Christ. It is all about supporting parents in love to set up boundaries to protect children.

Pornography is an evil industry that strives to take advantage of innocence. One parent once recounted how a young daughter really wanted a baby sister. So, she snuck her mom’s phone and asked, “Siri, how do I make a baby sister?”
Thankfully, an aunt happened to be nearby, heard this question, and swiped the phone before the young child could examine the results of her inquiry which would have led down a dangerous path.
 
Thankfully, there are a plethora of resources available to protect young students. There is a lot of great information on the “Fight Against Pornography” page on our website—found under the Faith Formation tab or by going to https://wintonwyomingpr.org/fight-against-pornography. There is a more extensive list of resources under the “General Resources” tab by clicking on the button under “Helpful Websites, Filtering Software, books and other resources.”
 
I highly recommend the following four resources from the list for families with tech in the hands of little ones:
 
·  Protectyoungeyes.com—Helpful because they do the research for you. They investigate devices, operating systems, & apps. Then, they rate them based on potential risks for your kids. They very clearly describe how to use the free built-in parental controls for the devices, operating systems, and apps.
 
· Chastity.com—Chastity Project: protecting innocence & purity; Multi-age solutions  (porn, dating etc.)
 
· Bark—www.bark.us— Plan pricing based on monitoring needs. $5/mo. or $14/mo. Enables parents to proactively monitors text, YouTube, emails, & 30+ different social      networks for potential safety concerns. Sends automatic alerts via email & text when Bark’s algorithms detect potential risks.  Parents don’t have to comb through every post, text, etc. on multiple devices.
 
· Covenant Eyes—covenanteyes.com—Family accounts $15.99/month. Monitors websites        visited and reduces temptations through filtering & accountability. Free informational booklets on the site: www.Covenanteyes.com/    resources/parentbooklet
 
As a parish, we commit to walking this journey with you—you do not have to walk it alone. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to talk to the priests of WWPR.
 
Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael…pray for us!
 
In Mary’s Immaculate Heart,
Fr. Jeff