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Chastity on Tour

Local Young Man Travels the Country Talking Chastity to Teens

BY FRANKLIN WAHL

"People think I have the hardest job in the world to sell chastity to high school kids," says 29-year-old chastity speaker Jason Evert of Spring Valley. "But it's like giving out free steaks to hungry dogs. All they want is someone to give them permission to take care of themselves."

Part of what got Evert into the chastity apostolate was when he started leading high school retreats. "When you do the small groups, you realize how much of sexuality is a huge problem and how they have such little guidance."

During that time he also did several years of sidewalk counseling in front of abortion clinics. "When you're talking to a girl who's a hundred feet away from getting an abortion, you feel late. You ask yourself, 'Where was I six months ago?' You feel as if you could have talked to them before and prevented these untimely pregnancies in addition to having prevented countless abortions. I wanted to go back to do more preventive measures for the pro-life cause. I saw chastity as the real key to that."

Evert first started giving his chastity talks part time in the spring of 1997. In 1999, he began doing the talks through Catholic Answers, the El Cajon-based apologetics non-profit. "Catholic Answers opened up the door to make the talks full time," Evert says. The demand for Evert is great. On average he gives 130 talks a year to Catholic high schools, public schools, large retreats and parishes all over North America, usually at the request of principals, youth ministers, and Catholic moms who have heard him talk elsewhere and want to bring him to their school or parish. "We do far more talks out of state than in the state," says Evert.

His largest talk was 16,000 teens in Houston, Texas. Only 5,000 were supposed to show up and they had to turn away a number of kids because the room would have maxed capacity. Evert also has done a number of chastity talks here in San Diego churches and all of the Catholic high schools in the area. In addition he has also given talks in Canada, Central America, and the Bahamas.

Evert has written several books on chastity. His first, Pure Love, is a 30-page booklet of explanations and answers to questions on chastity. Another, titled If You Really Loved Me, is like Pure Love only it is a larger and delves deeper into over a hundred questions on dating and relationships. One of his latest writings is called Love, Sex and Babies which is designed to help married couples live chaste lives.

It's no accident that the word love is in the titles of these books. "The kids I've spoken to are hungering to be loved," he says. "There are so many broken families. And many of the girls have a void of male approval in their life, so they'll go for whatever guy comes along and offers it to them. That's the most powerful motivating force for doing the chastity talks."

Catholic Answers coordinates Evert's speaking engagements. Interested parties contact the apologetics organization, which in turn sends a sample tape of an Evert talk. "Since chastity is such a sensitive topic," Evert explains, "we need the school administration to approve the materials first."

Aside from a regular salary as a staff apologist at Catholic Answers, Evert also receives a percentage of what is charged for each talk.

In his travels, Evert has seen the light of chastity dawn in many teenagers. "I talked to a high school guy once," he recalls, "who had on a white band that had 'player' written on it. He came to me crying because his girlfriend was at the clinic about to go on a birth control shot as my chastity talk was ending."

After the talk the boy called his girlfriend and asked her not to get the shot. He had Evert talk to her and the girl ended up leaving the clinic without receiving the shot.

Evert believes his pro-chastity message resonates with high school students because they see the broken marriages and broken relationships and broken hearts caused by promiscuity. But one of the biggest challenges he faces is the faculty at the schools where he gives his lectures. "One Catholic school," he recalls, "had to send an e-mail to all of the faculty members saying, 'When Evert is done speaking on abstinence, do not go back to class and undermine his message by giving your personal beliefs and by opposing what he says with regards to birth control.' They had to send a letter to the faculty because the last time I came to the school, when I was done, the students went back to class and one teacher said, 'Oh that's ridiculous about birth-control, you can use it, it's not a problem,' and 'I don't believe what he says about the condom.' This time around, they actually had to restrain the faculty from undermining the chastity message and the Catholic Church's teachings."

You would think that Catholic schools would be more receptive to Evert than public schools, but he says his experience has been the contrary. "They (public schools) roll out the red carpet for me" he says. "The public schools have tried safe sex, they know it doesn't work and now they're in reality. Some of the schools think they can teach sex-ed and abstinence. It's impossible. You can't deliver a convincing chastity talk while teaching an eighth grader how to roll a condom on a banana."

So what has been the general reaction from the kids? "Overwhelmingly positive," Evert answers. "It is absolutely rare that there have been any negative reactions." Evert has many letters and e-mails from grateful parents, inspired students, and formerly skeptical administrators thanking him for his presentations.

One parent wrote, "My daughter said every student came into the assembly with a closed mind, thinking, 'Man, they've been preaching chastity since grade school. What could they possibly say that would impact on my life? This will be a drag.' Within two seconds, every individual was absorbed into Evert's talk, with the feeling he was addressing them individually, personally, and with so much heart."

"I usually start off with a fun interactive skit," Evert explains, "that involves one of the guys coming on stage and putting on a wig. I use a lot of humor on the subject, the humor relaxes them and lowers their guard. They expect a fear tactic. When it isn't preachy they relax.'

After the skit, Evert says, "I want to start with something that's way out there which makes them forget all of their pre-conceived notions. For the first 20 minutes I'm addressing the guys. I hit on pornography and how far is too far. Then I talk with the girls hitting on modesty and respecting themselves."

He also talks about how to have a successful marriage: "Don't live together, sleep together or use birth control." Lastly he talks about STDs and then how to live chastely.

Evert says he approaches each talk with a lot of prayer. "I always have the people at the talk pray for me for the next talk."

As for material, Evert admits, "The whole talk, beginning to end, is plagiarized from John Paul II."

But he doesn't start his talk saying, "The Holy Father says this..." or "the Catechism states...." But anyone who is familiar with John Paul II's writings will realize that his fingerprints are all over the talks especially his book Love and Responsibility" (published June 1996) which Evert claims is his biggest literary inspiration from John Paul II.

Evert's greatest satisfaction is from the feedback when he gets e-mails from people. Evert sees the future of chastity and young people realistically. "The bad is getting worse because the broken families are spawning more broken families but in the same way the kids from the broken family are hungry for the truth and want to give their future kids the life they never had."

However, he adds with a laugh, "God spoils me in allowing me to see the fruit of my work. Even great saints were not given that privilege"

Evert lives with his wife Crystalina and their son John Paul in Spring Valley. For more information on Evert or to schedule a talk in your area, please call the seminar coordinator at 619-387-7200 or visit the PureLoveClub.com

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