Catholic church attitude on condoms promotes misery

BY PETER KRANZ

READERS MIGHT FIND IT INFORMATIVE to learn that, with 1.28 percent of its adult population estimated by the UN to be HIV -positive in 2006, Papua New Guinea has one of the most serious HIV/AIDS epidemics in the Asia-Pacific subregion.

The figure is substantially higher six years down the track, with PNG leaders' history of promiscuity and polygamy substantially worsening the problem, as mentioned by Dame Carol Kidu in her closing address to Parliament this week.

As if the Catholic Church’s medieval prohibitions against any birth control (apart from abstinence) were not bad enough, it has again condemned the use of public sexual education promoting condom use as 'anti-Christian'.

The PNG Education Department's new HIV/AIDS policy calls for condoms to be supplied to fight a high rate of infection among students.

But the Secretary for Education with the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands, says the new requirement clashes with Catholic teaching on sexuality, and the church will not obey it.

The head of the Vanimo Catholic diocese, Bishop Cesare Bonivento, has said the use of condoms is like “a gun that instead of killing the enemy, very often exploded in the hands of the one who wanted to use it for personal defence.” He said in reality the condom was not protection but a killer.

Bishop Paul Marx of the Diocese of Kerema insists that an Australian National AIDS Council campaign "is sending out the wrong message that promiscuity is the normal, ordinary way of life.… By distributing condoms all over the place it will facilitate even further that promiscuity, which is the main breeding ground of HIV/AIDS."

Then there was the laughable argument promoted by a senior Catholic official of the Department of Health a few years ago that condoms have holes which actually promote the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus - which received prominent attention in the national media, and misled thousands.

Catholics of PNG - it's time to stand up for human rights and the lives of women and children, not the blind support of ancient religious dogma (written and promoted by men 1,000 years ago seeking to retain their power).

It is time to work to save living souls instead of condemning thousands to an early grave, and tens of thousands to a repeated cycle of poverty and misery through lack of family planning.

Further reading at the Radio Australia website here

Comments

[Peter Kranz]

The official Catholic Church's condemnation of the use of condoms seems to be becoming somewhat diluted.

"...in 2010, Benedict seemed to make a sudden about-face. In an interview with journalist Peter Seewald, the Pope maintained that the solution to AIDS lies in fighting the “banali[s]ation of sexuality,” but that certain situations allowed for the use of condoms in order to protect others.

“There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a morali[s]ation, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants.”

Meaning, the use of condoms is acceptable not in preventing potential life, but in preventing potential death — a lesser evil than risking passing HIV on to one’s partner. Benedict did not say anything that would condone the use of condoms as pregnancy prevention, only as an attempt to protect someone else from infection."

http://www.consultancyafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1135:the-catholic-church-versus-hivaids-in-africa-&catid=61:hiv-aids-discussion-papers&Itemid=268

So good Catholic sisters and brothers - what is your response? Is Papa promoting the use of condoms?

[Josh McCreery]

The prevention of HIV should be taken serious. It is a life threatening illness and must be stopped or prevented.

href="http://www.christianeducation.com/"Christian Colleges

[Peter Kranz]

Bob Carr has just announced a doubling of Australian aid funds to promote family planning and women's health services in Pacific island countries. He specifically mentioned PNG and the Solomons as countries to be targeted.

The aim is to prevent 200,000 unnecessary women's deaths each year globally.

Health workers will be funded to visit women in remote areas and provide family planning information, resources and medical help.

When asked if this would meet with opposition from religious organisations he replied no. The need is so overwhelming and the lives to be saved so important that any group opposing this would be quickly marginaliosed by public opinion.

AusAID will be working with local Governments, UN organisataions and NGO's to deliver the services.

Source - ABC interview with Bob Carr

[Adam Elliott]

Well it is great that someone has acknowledged that 'many Catholics think the condom policy is misguided'. Stating the bleeding obvious.

This is a policy imposed from the top, it is not adhered to by everyone at the bottom.

The irony is that bilateral donors are looking to churches in PNG for leadership in development and they will continue to jam development money through churches, including the catholic church, despite this issue.

[Lindsay F Bond]

Arthur (among others), it is not only about spouses being faithful to each other in orderly society.

HIV/AIDs is about life-threatening attack by one (perhaps) unknowing person on another (also perhaps) unknowing person. Despite their own best intentions, the issue is that the weaponry has changed.

In World War I, the machine gun brought to the human race the need to adopt alternative life-saving strategies, where for too long ill-advised troops paraded in stylistic combative arrays.

That set of arrays came to an end, yet meanwhile, the lesson was hard on those who chose obedience to an advice not suited to particular instance.

Let all humans be acquainted with the realities affronting each of them, the conduct and instruments available, the actual or lack of support, the training available, the societal interventions that are or likely to be imposed, and yet all this matching the mind of each person so at risk.

Now about each lesson plan...

[Mrs Barbara Short]

At least condoms are better than the terrible injection they used to give the university girls back in the 1970s.

I know of one very talented Sepik girl who died from the effects a few years later after she had a few children.

Probably killed off many other very talented PNG women.
They banned it down here but allowed it to be used in PNG! Shame!

[Peter Kranz]

Free condoms with books! I thought this a brilliant idea to promote literacy as well as sexual health education.

We got a regular supply of condoms every week (I think courtesy of AusAID) until one white female volunteer got precious about being alone in her office with all these PNG blokes around and had to be repatriated back to Australia.

[Peter Kranz]

The HIV/AIDS council of PNG distribute free condoms to sites of public gatherings. This included UPNG - until a public demonstration by Catholic students halted this.

I take some pride in secretly reintroducing this by placing the boxes of free condoms next to the check-out counter for books from the Michael Somare library.

When first introduced in 2005 we ran out of supplies in 2 days.

I hope this benign subversive service is still in operation.

[Peter Kranz]

To be fair, many Catholics think the anti-condom policy is misguided. Even a Vatican official has come out in limited support for the use of condoms to fight HIV/AIDS.

And this site has some very interesting opinions from Catholics…

http://www.catholica.com.au/forum/index.php?id=102830

[Denis McLaughlin]

Australian Bishop Kevin Dowling, who cares for a diocese in the poorest part of South Africa, displays common sense, compassion and courage in advocating the use of condoms for life.

Dowling said "Abstinence before marriage and faithfulness in a marriage is beyond the realm of possibility here. The issue is to protect life."

Undertstandably he is criticised by his colleagues but loved by his people.

See http://www.americamagazine.org/blog/entry.cfm?id=24947991-3048-741E-1288626171072423

Hopefully, some PNG bishops might display such pragmatic love and understanding in the complexity of PNG.

[Dr Peter McGlynn]

The Catholic Church once again shows its ignorance of the reality of human behaviour, even within its own ranks. This ignorance translates to an abrogation of their pastoral responsibilities.

Abstinence from sex or monogamous sex between HIV negative spouses is undoubtedly effective in prevention of HIV transmission.

Unfortunately, global and historical evidence suggests that human beings engage in various forms of sexual activity outside of marriage, despite the best intentions or statements to the contrary. (Many catholic clergy worldwide are examples of this).

Much of this activity is performed in a way that allows transmission of HIV and other STI's. Promoting use of condoms in all sexually active groups is a logical and moral means to halt this disease.

Along with HIV education, universal HIV testing, gender equity, use of HIV drugs and pastoral care, this comprehensive approach must involve condoms to account for the reality of human behaviour, including catholic clergy.

[Dylan Brown]

Arthur - in an ideal world abstinence/stay faithful programs would be the way to go. However, when the vast majority of us have our human failings, such programs can be very damaging. For instance, UN Aids says up to 90% of HIV-positive women in Asia received the infection from husbands and partners while in long-term relationships. There is also evidence from US programs that abstinence/stay-faithful programs can result in a *younger* age of sexual initiation. In this context - condoms are just necessary risk mitigation.

[Dylan Brown]

In a similar vein, there was a 2007 IMR study (randomised testing of 3,000 odd people over 18) that showed that up to 40% of the tested population had one *or more* STIs.

Condoms are an incredibly important part of reducing this prevalence (and it's associated impacts). For instance, congenital syphilis remains as a significant cause of infant mortality in PNG.

[Arthur Williams]

Condomed. I attended a P&C meeting at Taskul school in 2007.

After general education topic were led by ex-Premier Pedi Anis' wife, a high official in Education New Ireland, we moved on to the topic of condoms.

There had been no previous hint of this being raised at our grassroots meeting, so imagine my surprise to hear the majority of villagers were dead against promoting condoms in schools.

They each said how they felt such promotion encouraged sex in school children.

Interestingly the religious affiliations of the school catchments is a very small number of public servants children plus a few from distant Meteiangus are Catholic while the majority coming from the nearby Kulingei and Narimlaua villages would be one of several non-conformist churches including SDA.

I was amongst those who doubted the wisdom of promoting condoms as part of the push to prevent HIV/AIDS.

Certainly the only safe way not to become HIV positive is for you and your spouse to be faithful. This too was the view of the majority of rural grass roots parents at Taskul in 2007.