CV NEWS FEED // The University of Notre Dame has adopted a ministry one of its graduates founded for men battling sexual addiction, especially pornography.
The ministry, Ethos, is a national non-profit organization dedicated to helping college-aged men. It currently only offers its services at the University of Notre Dame, but it is looking to come to other college campuses in the spring of 2025. Ethos speakers also come to parishes and conferences.
Josh Haskell, who started accountability groups for men at ND in August 2023 while he was a student, founded the organization, which at the time, was called “Ascend.” Haskell wrote a letter, “Escaping Porn’s Prison,” to the editor of ND’s newspaper, The Observer, detailing his own fight with pornography addiction and inviting other struggling students to join accountability groups, which also helped him overcome pornography. Notre Dame’s campus ministry adopted Ethos in March 2024. Ethos now has 150 members, who participate in small accountability groups.
In Haskell’s letter to the editor, he related his first experience in an online accountability group. He explained that “the most painful part” was when the most masculine-looking man in the group opened up about his addiction.
“After speaking for just a minute, he began sobbing loudly, his bitter tears running down his face into his thick brown beard,” Haskell said. “He had been trying to quit far longer than me, and he had never succeeded.”
Haskell reflected, “Through this man, I saw my future self. If I continued with this path, I would be him. Completely trapped, unable to give my wife the undivided love that I’d always planned to give her.”
He said this realization inspired him to get help with his addiction, reach out to his friend and his brother for accountability, and explain his struggle to his parents. Despite the embarrassment, he said, “Through God’s grace, I’ve found freedom. When I look into my wife’s eyes at the altar, I’ll now know that my promise to her is true. That’s worth a little embarrassment.”
Haskell invited others to ask for help and join accountability groups, saying, “Using porn might feel shameful, but seeking accountability should not. Asking for help is not weak, it’s heroic. It’s being brave enough to put your pride on the line in order to save the victims of the industry and the people you love most.”
