I attended another World Meeting of Families event tonight, this time from The Culture Project, which brought together panelists to speak to different aspects of the Culture of Life at the Loews.

I’ve known a few of The Culture Project missionaries for many years, and when their organization was getting on its feet earlier this year the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia was one of their first supporters. I’ve written before about the Culture of Life as something beyond politics, and The Culture Project speaks to that directly as “an initiative of young people set out to restore culture through the experience of virtue.” In its own way, this is just another echo of Franklin’s insight that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”

In our own time, we’ve slipped into a mentality that privatizes public thought on differences in personal conduct. In essence, we have a sort of cultural libertarianism. Yet it’s not a culture of pluralistic values so much as a culture of value-neutral sentiment.

What were three small things I took away from Loews panel? Insights relating to family life, and the personal virtues that shape public culture:

• We need to talk with God about our kids before we start thinking about what we say to our kids about sex.
• Kids need a context for what they’re seeing in the culture, in public life. If you drive past a billboard with provocative messages, address that directly through conversation. The world fills silence with contrary messages.
• Pray for those who disagree just as you pray for yourself.