Lori Wood Habiger/Key photo The Rev. Howard Cordell of the Faith Covenant Church in Blue Springs talks to Sherry Cosby, administrative assistant to Jackson County Prosecutor James F. Kanatzar.

The campaign is being led by Phillip Cosby, executive director of the Kansas City region office of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. The organization seeks to "move the people of God to embrace, live out, preserve and advance the truth of biblical sexuality."

"This is most certainly a Christian endeavor," Cosby said at a breakfast meeting of church representatives May 17 before they left to deliver the petitions. "This is basic to who we are. It is the very fabric of our culture that is being ripped apart by this sexualized culture" being promoted by retailers of pornographic materials.

The church representatives had collected more than 20,000 signatures on the petitions. After the breakfast meeting, representatives from the six targeted metro counties dispersed to hand-deliver the petitions to county attorneys. The counties are Jackson, Platte, Clay and Cass counties in Missouri, and Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas.

Father Joe Cisetti, pastor of St. Bridget Parish in Pleasant Hill, went to the Cass County court house to deliver petitions. Father Cisetti, is a member of the diocesan anti-pornography task force.

He said presenting the petitions "raised awareness of the issue, and tells the prosecutors and law enforcement officers that we are supporting them and encouraging them to enforce the laws already on the books."

About 30 people accompanied the Rev. Howard Cordell, of the Faith Covenant Church in Blue Springs to the Jackson County Courthouse to deliver the petitions to County Prosecutor James F. Kanatzar. Rev. Cordell, the president of the Midwest Ministries Fellowship, was appointed leader of the Jackson County delegation by Cosby.

Kanatzar met with Rev. Cordell and some other members of the group in a private meeting in his offices. Rev. Cordell said Kanatzar was "sympathetic" to their concerns, but explained that wording of Missouri laws pertaining to the selling of pornography makes prosecution difficult.

"One of the concerns of the prosecutor's was how the statute reads - there's a 'knowing' clause in the statute that makes it difficult to prosecute the owner of the business, because the owners can claim they do not know the content of the videos," Rev. Cordell said.

In a press release, Kanatzar said his office would send letters to various "adult entertainment merchants" warning them about "the illegal promotion of pornography in this area of the state."

In the meeting in his office, Kanatzar said that the group could lobby the state house to change wording of Missouri obscenity laws to make it easier to prosecute those who sell pornographic materials; and could also work to change zoning laws, said Cindy Sweetland, pro-life coordinator at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raytown, who attended the meeting with Kanatzar.

Sweetland was one of several representatives of parishes in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to attend the event. Deacon Ken Greene of the diocesan Family Life Office also attended.

Sweetland said she was happy to become involved in the campaign, realizing personally the affect pornography can have on a person.

"As a child I was unfortunately exposed to pornography, and I can't begin to tell you what that does to a young girl's self image," she said.

"But it's harmful to any age, whether you are addicted to it yourself of have a family member who is addicted to it or exposed to it. Having such easy access to pornography is a problem; pornography being something that is commonplace. I don't want pornography to be something that is commonplace - I prefer it to be something that is a rarity."

She said she plans on making a report to the pro-life committee at Our Lady of Lourdes about the meeting with Kanatzar, and then waiting for advice from the diocesan pro-life office as to how to proceed.

The Rev. Cordell said, "We are not trying to eradicate pornography - we are not naive enough to think that is going to happen. We just are trying to get the laws on the books to be enforced, and to raise the morality of the community."

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