The Joy of Chastity

This is from 2001; it was published in BC:

Leslee Unruh knows first-hand that even one good role model with the courage to get involved in a young person's life can make a dramatic difference. "As a teenager, I wanted to stay away from home," says the 46-year-old grandmother. "My mother had married an abusive man, and in those days, it was just not something people talked about. If someone hadn't come along and offered me alternatives, I shudder at where I could have gone." But a teacher stepped in to challenge and mentor her. "I heard the message that just because your family has problems doesn't mean you have to go that way," explains Ms. Unruh, founder and president of the National Abstinence Clearinghouse resource centre in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. "I made a choice to listen to adults who were wise, rather than my friends and family."

Ms. Unruh will be a keynote speaker at Renaissance 2001, a national youth conference slated for the University of Calgary a year hence. Oraganized by a national board of young activists and sponsored in part by this magazine, it plans to draw 1,000 college-age adults from across the country for three days. There they will consider how to maintain the values they grew up with while they prepare for marriage, and how to stir up public demand for positive changes in society. Ms. Unruh herself has a considerable experience on both fronts.

She got involved in chastity education after working for 17 years at Alpha Centre, a pregnancy counselling centre she founded which sees 5,000 women each year. "I began in pro-life, but if we're going to change the abortion issue, this is the way to go," she says of her new focus. "Youth need to understand that there is more to the casual sex our culture promotes than just playing Russian roulette with pregnancy and disease. And there is a whole new way that youth are looking at sex. They don't want the same as what their parents had. They're saying, 'I want to guard my heart and not get it broken so many times.'" In fact, virginity is coming into vogue, she believes, and support is growing for young people who are swearing off premarital sex. "The U.S. is seeing an abstinence boom--we just got $50 million for an education program," she says. "I've gone to a lot of rallies, and all across Europe and North America the 'waiting until marriage' message is growing."

The Renaissance 2001 conference is a big indication of the chastity movement in Canada, says Ms. Unruh. "It is exciting to see a bunch of young people working on this. They want me to talk about that old-but-good word, chastity." She stresses that whether youth have made mistakes already and want to change, or if they simply want to help others, they should join her at the Calgary conference next October.

"This is an important and exciting time for young adults in Canada," says Ms. Unruh. "People are getting excited about preparing themselves for marriage to one special person, not getting into the cycle of dating and breaking up. Young people are reaching out to young people in this."

PHOTO (COLOR): Counsellor Unruh: Reaching out makes a difference.