Non-profit startup headed by Notre Dame graduate expands to national level

Recent Notre Dame graduate Josh Haskell (’24) founded AsceND in August 2023 to help college men overcome sexual vices, with a particular focus on pornography addiction. Since its inception at Notre Dame, the organization, now named Ethos National, has expanded to help college communities across the country in their battles with sexual impurity.

In an interview with the Rover, Haskell specified two motivations for founding Ethos: “Motivate people to seek accountability, and reduce the stigma surrounding pornography.” Rather than struggling alone, Haskell highlighted Ethos’ more direct confrontation of the addiction, noting that pornography “is a problem that faces almost every man.”

Haskell was inspired to start Ethos National after writing a letter to the editor titled “Escaping Porn’s Prison,” published in the Observer in August 2023. 

Currently, Ethos offers two services on college campuses. The first is the “Ethos Group”: a five-man, in-person accountability group that meets weekly. In addition to group meetings, members are paired with “an accountability partner on their campus that is at a similar stage in their journey with lust,” with whom they have daily phone check-ins. The workload is described as being similar to a one-credit class, with daily five-minute readings from Haskell and Jason Evert, a well-known Catholic speaker and author and the co-founder of the Chastity Project, an organization that is helping teens and young adults achieve chastity.

The second service is talks directly delivered by Haskell, with two topics available. 

The first talk is titled “Vulnerability is Strength,” intended for young men. In the speech, Haskell argues that authentic accountability is key to healing from sexual addiction, using both his personal story and experience with Ethos. 

The second talk is titled “Protecting Your Child from Porn,” intended for parents. Throughout the speech, Haskell provides insights into how children are exposed to pornography, exploring children’s motivations, the role of social media, and how to respond if parents discover pornography in their home. Haskell also offers practical advice and resources to help parents “pornproof” their homes. 

The reviews featured on Ethos’ website are overwhelmingly positive, with one user saying that he “[n]ever … thought [he] could conquer [his] porn addiction, but little by little, Ethos has helped.” 

Notre Dame sophomore Joseph Sciortino told the Rover, “I had been struggling with [pornography] for the better part of my life. I hit up Josh and was put in a group. It really helped. … The best part about Ethos is the focus group [where we] talk strategies.” 

Since his time with Ethos, Sciortino has overcome his struggle and is now a group leader. He concluded, “I feel I am now ready to help others along. It’s a daily reminder that this is a daily struggle, and you are getting better every day.” 

Ethos boasts a prolific board of directors, including Jason Evert; Rachel Killackey, the founder of Magdala Ministries—a similar organization to Ethos, but for women; and Dan Fredericks, vice president at Land and Resource Engineering in Walker, Michigan.

Fredricks, in a conversation with the Rover, was filled with praise for Haskell, saying, “I’ve known Josh for over 10 years as a family friend and his high school ski coach: he is a one-of-a-kind young man with many gifts and talents that God has given him.” Despite Ethos’ recent founding, Fredricks sees its mission as one that will spread: “I liken it to the mustard seed, which is the smallest of seeds planted yet becomes this huge tree. … Ideally, this would be a nationwide or even global type of program.”

Since its inception, Ethos has grown to help hundreds of students through its independent chapter at Notre Dame. Whilst Ethos will be focused on research and development at Notre Dame this semester, Haskell hopes to expand to more universities in Spring 2025. “Right now, there is a big focus on fundraising because there is a ton of demand,” Haskell told the Rover. “We’re developing a curriculum to help people quit pornography and manuals to start their own chapter on their campus. We’re launching at two additional universities in the spring. Hopefully, another four by Fall 2025.”

According to its website, Ethos has expanded to hire two new team members since its founding. Jonah Tran, Chief Editor at Ethos since this past June, told the Rover, “I had been friends with Josh for quite some time and really admired the impact he made with [Ethos National]. … He offered [me] a remote position as Chief Editor for Ethos [for which] I applied and was hired.” In this capacity, Tran is responsible for drafting Ethos’ business plan, creating descriptions on the website, and writing grant proposals for charitable institutions in the South Bend area. When asked about the group’s mission, Tran responded that he and Ethos want to see “a world where all men can love their wives as Christ loves the Church.”

Like Tran, Haskell has high hopes for Ethos. “I hope that we can have a presence on every U.S. campus,” he said. “We want to enable thousands of men to have happy marriages and families.” 

Ethos’ Notre Dame chapter—EthosND—continues to provide accountability groups to its 84 current members, with 38 having recently joined in the first weeks of the academic year. Current EthosND president Matthew LaPorte noted continued interest in the organization’s second year at Notre Dame. “A lot of the members of AsceND graduated last year, and we are seeing a huge increase in current members who stepped up to lead small groups or new members … joining us to fight the sins of lust in their lives,” LaPorte told the Rover.

In addition to a growth in membership, EthosND now has an official campus presence supported by Campus Ministry.

To sign up for one of these groups, fill out the interest form, or for more information, see their website. 

Rafael Llull is a junior studying in the Program of Liberal Studies. He can be reached at rllull@nd.edu.

Photo Credit: Ethosnational.org

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