The Condoms4Life campaign, a project of Catholics for a Free Choice, has issued its Good Shepherd Awards to Catholic bishops in four different countries for their positions on condom use to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.
A press release for Catholics for a Free Choice announced that one of the award recipients is the Commission for Health of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. In September, the Catholic church in India began to put together its first policy on HIV/AIDS prevention. Another honoree is Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium. In January, Danneels appeared on Dutch public television and advocated condom use. South African bishop Kevin Dowling continues to spread the message that, although abstinence and monogamy are preferred, people should use condoms under any circumstance to stop HIV transmission.
British cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor has publicly concurred with Cardinal Danneels, saying that the use of condoms is necessary ‘when there’s a danger of intercourse leading to death.’ The Condoms4Life campaign also applauds the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development for its work in prevention services.
In other news involving gays and religion, the Rainbow Sash movement has officially challenged the Vatican’s Statement for World AIDS Day. Rainbow Sash, in a press release, has called on the Catholic Church to apologize to HIV/AIDS-affected communities to its ‘slow and confused response to the AIDS pandemic.’
In a statement, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan proclaimed that ‘ [t] he Church has always defended women and their very great dignity with especial vigor and is struggling to fight those examples of discrimination which still today … require greater efforts to secure the elimination of disparities in relation to women, including the area of health.’ Not only did Rainbow Sash declare this statement untrue, but the organization added that the U.S. National Council of Catholic Bishops mantra of ‘abstinence, [loyalty], and no condoms’ is no good in a society where ‘women and girls have no power to say ‘no.”