Fradd, 26, an Australian who worked with National Evangelization Team Canada during the 2003-2004 school year, wishes he had had access to such a resource during times when he relapsed into addiction.

“(The web site was started out of) my own need, my own sin. I was falling so much to this sin, to the snare of pornography. I created a web site I wish I had had.”

{mosimage}Fradd, currently recruiter and supervisor for National Evangelization Teams Ireland, received “a significant breakthrough of grace” in his own struggle at the age of 23 while visiting a cathedral in Dublin with his wife. There, the Venerable Matt Talbot, who had been a severe alcoholic in his youth but chose a holy life in Christ, was depicted on his knees before the cross, with his shackles of addiction broken. Realizing that a life free from addiction, like Talbot’s, was possible, Fradd was strengthened in his struggle and became increasingly passionate about helping others fight for freedom from pornography and lust.

Joe Vogel, executive director of NET Ministries in Canada , said Fradd is doing the spiritual works of mercy — converting the sinner, comforting the sorrowful, encouraging forgiveness and patience — and should be received by Christians as such.

“Matt is battling a very large beast,” said Vogel. “(The web site) fulfills a need for answers to an extreme problem in society.”

The site includes articles written by nine men and women from varying backgrounds, one of them an ex-porn star, as well as the damaging effects of pornography, practical steps to overcoming the addiction and an online accountability brotherhood with more than 300 members. It addresses the full spectrum of people trapped by pornography.

“People from all walks of life and both genders are struggling with pornography,” said Fradd. “There’s a section for women struggling with pornography.”

However, not only is pornography a problem for adults, but also in youth.

“The reality is that kids are being exposed to it, and most parents don’t have a clue,” he said.

Statistics from a link on www.whodoesithurt.com show the average child is exposed to Internet pornography at 11 and many struggle with pornography addictions. One writer reports that children aged 12-17 are among the largest consumers of Internet pornography.

“Twenty years ago, you had to cross to the bad part of town and go into a dirty store to find pornography,” said Fradd. “Now we have to be on the offensive, as it’s becoming increasingly available because of the Internet.

“We live in a society that glorifies promiscuity and absolutely mocks chastity,” Fradd added. “We’ve done a terrible job of catechising people on the beauty of the body and the awesomeness of sex.”

Fradd said people need to recognize, along with the truth about pornography, the true capacity of humans to love and protect what is sacred.

“Pornography trains a man to think that women are constantly sexually available, physically flawless and worth as much as the lust she generates, even if he doesn’t want to think that way... In reality, (you) are looking at a sick and abused woman.

“Deep in the heart of man, we long to be protective of what is beautiful and vulnerable. Pornography turns that on its head... Guys, without the grace of Jesus Christ, go on the defensive when they realize they lack what it takes to fight it, and that’s why you get guys defending it as healthy.”

Both men and women struggling with pornography find the problem exacerbated by feelings of isolation in the fight against their addictions, he said.

“We can have no more silence,” Fradd said. “We need people to step forward and start talking about this. We need women to step forward. There are so many women who struggle with pornography.”

Along with prayer, the most effective way for people, and especially men, to fight their personal addiction to porn, is to actively engage in the fight against the porn industry and culture, he said.

Quoting St. Josemaria Escriva, Fradd said, “What the world needs is a crusade of manliness to combat the ever-growing idea that man is a beast dictated by his own lusts and passions — and that crusade is your work.”

(Wolfe, 21, is a Christianity & Culture student at Redeemer Pacific College in Langley, B.C.)