Reiterating and verifying counsel he gave at the General Relief Society Meeting two weeks prior, President Gordon B. Hinckley directed his priesthood session address to fathers.

"You already know what I am going to talk about," he said. "Your wives have reminded you that this will be my subject tonight. . . . I remind you that repetition is the law of learning."

Expressing his pride in many of the youth of the Church, he added: "Sad to say, I am confident there are some young men and women who were baptized as members of this Church, who have been faithful and active in their younger years, but who have slipped and are slipping into the foggy swamp of immorality, drugs, pornography and failure. I hope they are a minority among their peers, but even the loss of one is too many."

President Hinckley noted that he had spoken at the Relief Society meeting about secret underground parties that go by the name of "Rave."

"Here, with flashing lights and noisy music, if it can be called that, young men and women dance and sway. They sell and buy drugs. The drugs are called Ecstasy. They are a derivative of methamphetamine. The dancers suck on babies' pacifiers because the drug makes them grind their teeth. The hot music and the sultry dancing goes on until 7:30 of a Sunday morning. What does it all lead to? Nowhere. It is a dead end."

He spoke of another practice that has developed among some young people "in this search for something new and different and riskier. They choke one another. Boys choke girls until they pass out. The other day a girl with a health problem was choked until she was unconscious. Only the speedy action of paramedics saved her life."

Youth inclined to consume pornography can do so very easily by dialing a telephone number or sitting at a computer, President Hinckley said.

"I fear this may be going on in some of your homes," he warned. "It is vicious. It is lewd and filthy. It is enticing and habit forming. It will take a young man or woman down to destruction as surely as anything in the world. It is foul sleaze that makes its exploiters wealthy, its victims impoverished."

He added: "I regret to say that many fathers themselves like to hear the siren song of those who peddle filth. Some of them also work the Internet for that which is lewd and lascivious. If there be any man within the sound of my voice who is involved in this, or who is moving in that direction, I plead with you to get it out of your life. Get away from it. Stay away from it. Otherwise it will become an obsession. It will destroy your home life. It will destroy your marriage. It will take the good and the beautiful out of your family relationships and replace these with ugliness and suspicion."

Citing instances recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants when the Lord rebuked Church leaders for neglecting the teaching of their families, President Hinckley remarked: "I think He likewise speaks to us with clarity and warning. My heart reaches out to our youth who in many cases must walk a very lonely road. They find themselves in the midst of these evils. I hope they can share their burden with you, their fathers and mothers. I hope that you will listen, that you will be patient and understanding, that you will draw them to you and comfort and sustain them in their loneliness. Pray for direction. Pray for patience. Pray for the strength to love even though the offense may have been serious. Pray for understanding and kindness, and above all, for wisdom and inspiration."

He repeated several specific things he told the Relief Society women that they ought to teach their sons and daughters.

Encourage them to develop good friendships. "Open your homes to the friends of your children. If you find they have big appetites, close your eyes and let them eat. Make your children's friends your friends."

Teach them the importance of education. "The Church will be blessed by reason of their excellence. Furthermore, they will be amply rewarded for the effort they make."

Teach your children self-respect. "The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have declared that we discourage tattoos, and also the 'the piercing of the body for other than medical purposes.' We do not, however, take any position 'on the minimal piercing of the ears by women for one pair of earrings.' One pair!"

Teach them to stay away from drugs. "These illegal substances will take away their self-control, will seize them to a point where they will do anything, within or outside the law, to get another dose."

Teach them the virtue of honesty. "The boy or girl who is honest. . . can walk with head high, standing above the crowd of lesser folks who constantly indulge in lying, cheating, and who excuse themselves with statements that a little lying hurts no one. It does hurt, because small lying leads to large lying, and the prisons of the nation are the best example of that fact."

Teach them to be virtuous. "Our Heavenly Father placed within us the desires that makes us attractive to one another, boys and girls, men and women. But with that urge must be self-discipline, rigid and strong and unbending."

Teach them to look forward to the time when they may be married in the House of the Lord. "They will be grateful all the days of their lives that they were married in the temple, worthily, under the authority of the eternal priesthood."

Teach your children to pray. "To think that each of us may approach our Father in Heaven, who is also the great God of the universe, for individual help and guidance, for strength and faith, is a miracle in and of itself. We come to Him by invitation. Let us not shun the opportunity which He has afforded us."