The Chastity Connection, a Canadian newsletter promoting abstinence as a positive alternative to premarital sex and promiscuity, is ceasing publication after 13 issues.
Founded four years ago by Marilyn Bergeron of Cornwall, Ont., The Chastity Connection was the communications vehicle for the Canadian Alliance for Chastity (CAC), an organizing linking the diverse voices calling for a renewed emphasis on chastity education.
“It’s now time to move in a new direction,” Bergeron told The Interim. Bergeron served as editor of the newsletter, with assistance from Rebecca Morcos, a former member of Canada’s Chastity Challenge team.
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Each issue of Chastity Connection featured information on educational resources, upcoming events, a question and answer section, and testimonials about real-life experiences faced by teenagers in the areas of dating, relationships and intimacy.
The newsletter was published three times a year.
“We feel we have had an impact in making this (chastity) issue more visible to media and the general public and hope that what you have learned from this newsletter, you will continue to share with others,” reads an editorial in the farewell issue.
Bergeron said the publication reflected the highly positive response to chastity education in Canada. Even the secular media, she said, gave favorable reviews to the chastity alliance and the newsletter.
“To me, the chastity movement has turned the corner,” Bergeron said. “The need to break new ground has passed.”
In the meantime, other Ontario-based chastity educators are considering a plan to continue publishing The Chastity Connection.
Chastity information is readily available in the United States through a variety of sources, particularly the National Abstinence Clearing House, based in South Dakota.
Bergeron will now devote her time to organizing a major youth rally in Cornwall in July, 1999.
She is also available for speaking engagements and workshops. To contact Bergeron, write: CAC, 7 Albert Street, Cornwall, Ont., K6H 4E7.
