By Dan Russo
Editorial
A three point shot clinched a stunning last minute victory for the ninth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes over the Florida Gators, the defending national champions, during the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament March 22. In honor of that, this editorial is going to focus on three virtues — chastity, patience and humility.
Since chastity seems to be the least popular and most difficult to develop of the bunch, let’s start there. The Iowa Catholic Conference (ICC) recently put out an action alert asking people to lobby state law makers to pass a bill which would require age verification before someone can use “adult” websites. HF 864, now being considered in the Iowa Senate, would make websites themselves responsible for verifying that a user is not a minor. “From a religious perspective, the Church is opposed to obscene material because it does grave injury to the human dignity of its participants,” asserts the ICC. “This policy would put more of the obligation to protect children on the provider.”
On average, “Boys are exposed to porn about age 10 to 11 and girls about age 12 to 13. By age 16 about 70% of boys watch porn four to five times per week,” according to a 2024 study published by the Missouri State Medical Association. Terry Crews, a former NFL player and famous actor, became addicted at age 12 and almost lost his marriage and family because of it. Crews, now in recovery, is advocating for awareness. “Pornography really messed up my life in a lot of ways,” he said in an interview with “Fight the New Drug,” an anti-pornography non-profit. “My wife was literally like, ‘I don’t know you anymore, I’m out of here …’ My issue with pornography … (is) that it changes the way you think about people. People become objects, people become body parts; they become things to be used rather than people to be loved.”
Crews was raised Christian, but has talked about living a double life before. He says God helped restore his marriage and heart. It’s not easy to follow the Church’s teachings about chastity within and outside of marriage. Passing HF 864 into law could help some children avoid the pornography trap that caught Crews when he was a boy.
Virtue two: patience. At a key moment in the Iowa-Florida game, Hawkeye Alvaro Folgueiras and the Gators Alex Condon got into a scuffle going for the ball. Condon pulled Folgueiras to the ground. Instant replay video appeared to show Folgueiras punch his opponent in the chest. The video prompted strong reactions. Some immediately rushed to judgment, casting Folgueiras as a villain. It looked for a few moments like a fight might break out between the two teams. In the end, everyone controlled themselves while the refs examined the case. A second video from a different camera angle appeared to show that the Iowa junior was actually trying to knock the ball loose, not punch Condon. Referees decided to give fouls to both players. Folgueiras went on to score the game winning three pointer. As he usually does, he pointed his finger to the sky, giving honor to his father who died when he was nine. After the final buzzer, Folgueiras quickly found and hugged his mom. It’s common today for people to jump to conclusions and take rash actions. The incident reminded everyone of the value of patience. Sometimes it takes a while for the truth to come out.
Virtue three: humility. Senior Bennett Stirtz is arguably the best player on this year’s Hawkeye team. He is someone who puts his team first, facilitating situations on the court so that others can also shine. Stirtz reportedly went through some tough times during his first year in college, but came to lean on his faith. In the final seconds, he was surrounded by defenders. He tossed the ball to Folgueiras. After the Hawkeye’s 73-72 victory, Stirtz reportedly said of his team, “We’re unselfish. We like to see others succeed.” Stirtz took the focus off of himself when interviewed on live TV. “Win or lose, give glory to God. He gave me a platform, I just wanna go use it for him,” he said.
Dan Russo, editor
