Summit speakers reveal how families can restore culture

JASON AND CRYSTALINA EVERT KEEP CHASTITY MESSAGE RELEVANT TO YOUTH

The January 2020 Legatus East Summit is set to feature renowned chastity speakers Jason and Crystalina Evert as masters of ceremonies. Each is also expected to deliver an individual chastity talk.

Jason and Crystalina Evert – who have been married for 15 years and have seven children – have spoken about the virtue of chastity on six continents, to more than one million people. They have also co-written more than 15 books

Currently living in Arizona, they have also co-founded the Chastity Project and operate the website chastity. com. Jason recently spoke with Legatus magazine.

What are your talks going to be about at the 2020 Legatus Summit? 

G.K. Chesterton once said that the family is a cell of resistance to oppression. God wanted to bring redemption into the world through the Holy Family. God wants to continue to restore culture and heal culture by means of the family. We’re going to address how much the family is under attack and how big a crisis we’re seeing in the culture, in the Church, and in the family, and how Legatus members can bring renewal to the Church primarily through their families.

What are your thoughts about Legatus?

I think Legatus s is a crucial ministry within the Church. It’s a real gift to see how people can take their spirituality and bring it into a secular setting, not to proselytize their employees but to be a leaven in the world. I’ve been impressed with the Legates I’ve met, their interior life, and how seriously they take their Catholic faith.

How did you get into chastity speaking?

When I was in college at Franciscan University of Steubenville, I led many high school retreats and became aware of the struggles that young people were having there. I also did three years of crisis pregnancy counseling where I was in front of an abortion clinic, talking to women about other alternatives to abortion. But when you’re meeting a woman who’s having an abortion in 45 minutes, you start to feel pretty late. Why am I meeting her in front of an abortion clinic? Why can’t I meet her when she’s 15 years old? Because if she can understand chastity and real love then, then she probably would have never dated this guy to begin with, and wouldn’t be in this difficult situation.

After 21 years of chastity speaking, how do you keep the message fresh?

By listening to the young people. After every assembly, I make myself available as long as I can to be with them. I told one school, “Hey, I’ll be here if you have any questions afterwards,” and the students formed a line seven hours long. They would come up and just pour out all the details of their abortions, molestation, cutting, and addictions. They’re my professors. Their hearts are what I’m listening to, and that is why I think the teens relate to me.

Are kids today different than when you started speaking about chastity?

Kids today are up against a lot more. You look at everything from cell phones, Internet porn and sexting, which wasn’t on the radar two decades ago, to the question of gender, which was not something that kids wrestled with to this degree. All the chaos of what it even means to be human wasn’t nearly at the levels that it is today

Are you and Crystalina working on anything new?

We’re going to be releasing a lot more YouTube videos. We’re building a little TV studio in the house. I can’t believe how many kids come up to me and say, “Your talk changed my life.” I’ll ask where they saw the talk, and they’ll say, “YouTube.” From our generation, I don’t know too many people who have had YouTube conversions. But these kids live on their phones. So we’ve got to find effective means to bring them the Gospel where they are.