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St. Joseph Catholic Church

1875 S C R 700 W
North Vernon, IN 47265

Rev. Jonathan P. Meyer, Administrator

Office Hours:

Monday Office closed
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 8:30 AM till 12:30 PM

St. Joseph Rectory Phone: 812-346-4783
Fax: 812-352-9033

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Is the pope promoting the use of condoms?

Quick history: The Pope sat down with German journalist Peter Seewald for their third interview. The first two interviews were published prior to Pope Benedict's election. A few excerpts of the new book were leaked by the Vatican newspaper. One of the excerpts involved the Holy Father saying that, on the issue of contraception, to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa, condoms may at least be a “first sign” of conversion for someone like a “male prostitute;” the Pope noted that it may be a “FIRST SIGN” that he, the male prostitute, is starting to recognize the dignity of the other. The press has taken this and sprinted with it. Seemingly every website you go to you see "Pope says condoms are okay in certain cases" or something similar. This is such an amazing twisting of words! As Thomas Peters said nicely, the Pope said if an alcoholic goes from 20 drinks a day to 15, that is a SIGN that they are turning around - BUT DRINKING 15 DRINKS A DAY IS STILL A SIN WITH DEADLY RAMIFICATIONS. The Pope isn't saying, "In some circumstances 15 drinks are okay." It is important to first understand that the media, the cultural elite and the powerful in Europe and the U.S. have long been pushing for contraception to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa. Some of these people genuinely are concerned with the AIDS epidemic, but I believe most of them are really just hoping to justify their own actions, tear down the Church and her teachings on contraception in general, and believe if they can get the Church to cave on the Africa argument, then the ban on contraception, in general, will fall. Let’s start with practical reason why condoms are not the solution– SAFE SEX DOES NOT WORK! In order for condoms to work in preventing the spread of AIDS, there would need to be unlimited access to condoms - unlimited because the inherent assumption if you are passing out condoms is that you could NEVER ask someone to actually abstain for ANY moment of their life from acting on their sexual urge. There is no way to get unlimited access to condoms for all the people in Africa. You would literally need to have condoms falling out of the sky over the entire continent continuously in order to guarantee unlimited access. In addition to that, condoms, in perfect conditions, fail about 10% of the time. Russian Roulette has odds of 1 in 6; apparently the condom people are saying "Africans, here are some slightly better odds, 1 in 10, and we'd like you to play thousands of times throughout your life." This practical argument is furthered by statistics. Mother Teresa's sisters went into three African countries and taught natural family planning (NFP) to the women. They also taught abstinence to the men and women, already suffering from the disease to help prevent them from passing it on to those who were not yet infected. The results have been ALARMING (although largely unreported - hum??) especially when the statistics of those three countries are compared to the three most aggressive "condom solution countries"; countries who put all of their effort into using condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. As Wayne Laugessen notes: "In Uganda, where there has been an intensive AIDS prevention program centered on abstinence, HIV among 15 to 19-year-olds has dropped from 25% of the population in that age group to 9%," Mulcaire-Jones said: "During the same period in neighboring Kenya, Malawi and Zambia — where AIDS prevention involved condom distribution and no change in sexual behavior patterns — there has been no drop in new infections," he said. "Why? Because in ideal, perfect conditions — in which the condoms are worn properly and are in perfect condition — condoms fail one in 10 times. So in perfect conditions it's not much of a guarantee, and they're seldom used in perfect conditions." (More info coming…theological arguments, Churches history etc. This column was co-written by Fr. Hollowell and myself)