from: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013
Some of our readers have requested if I could make a comment on the Archbishop Peter Kairo of Nyeri’s statement on Sunday at St Cyprian Kagicha Catholic Church in Othaya that the position of the church was clearly against the use of condoms, when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI encourages the use of it.
Although Benedict was quoted by some sections of media to have said that the use of condom in the case of prostitution was “first step” towards morality for the prostitute to use condom “in order to diminish the risk posed to another person is intending to reduce the evil connected with his or her immoral activity, the church hierarchy has maintained the pope was misquoted.
The media reported that the pope pointed out that the use of a condom ‘with the intention of reducing the risk of infection, can be a first step in a movement towards a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality- An action which is objectively evil, even if a lesser evil, can never be licitly willed.
The pope made in an interview with journalist Peter Seewald regarding condom use in 2010. The interview attracted attention in the media. This explanation was interpreted by many as a change of tack by the Vatican which necessitated a clarification from the Vatican that “the pope does not morally justify the disordered exercise of sexuality, but maintains that the use of the condom to diminish the danger of infection may be “a first assumption of responsibility”, as opposed to not using the condom and exposing the other person to a fatal risk.”
A number of Episcopal conferences have also been quoted to have suggested that condom use may be acceptable in some circumstances to prevent Aids. One of the first Episcopal conferences to take such a stance was the French Bishops Council which asserted in 1989 that, “The whole population and especially the young should be informed of the risks.
Archbishop Kairo while reacting to an advertisement which appeared on the Sunday Nation said: “As the Catholic Church we are not promoting use of condoms. I don’t agree with the advertisements on the billboards and newspapers that say Catholics believe in sex which is sacred and that they believe in using condoms.
The advertisement was run by Catholics for Choice movement advocating for use of condoms to save life. The advert attempts to redefine church teachings on condoms, saying- “Good Catholics use condoms.” Good because they save life.
According to Kairo the stand of the church on sex was that married couples must be faithful to each other and unmarried women and girls must abstain from sexual activities until marriage.
“We as Christians should learn how to live respecting each other in the holy sacrament of marriage and I urge the youths to respect and guard themselves in our day-today as the world is not the same as the olden times,” he said.
The Archbishop stated that the Catholic Church did not comply in any way with the campaign dubbed “Good Catholics Use Condoms.” In other words-‘Bad Catholics Use Condoms’.
While the Catholic Church hierarchy argues that the Church is concerned that promotion of condom use will lead to irresponsible, risky sexual behavior (promiscuity and prostitution), those who advocate for the use of condoms argue that if used during the intercourse it will reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases.
They argue that as a method of birth control, male condoms put on a man’s erect penis and physically to block ejaculated semen from entering the vagina, it has the advantage of being inexpensive, easy to use, having few side effects, and offering protection against sexually transmitted diseases.
Male condoms have been used for at least 400 years, having been one of the most popular methods of contraception in the world since the 19th century. Its disadvantage however is that, it may slip off the penis after ejaculation, break due to improper application or physical damage (such as tears caused when opening the package), or break or slip due to latex degradation (typically from usage past the expiration date, improper storage, or exposure to oils).
Some couples also find that putting on a condom interrupts sex, and therefore they can do without it during sex, and only to incorporate condom application as part of their foreplay to prolong erection and delayed ejaculation. This is because in some men use of condoms during intercourse make them loose sexual excitement.
In 1996, the Social Commission of the French Bishops’ Conference said that condom use “can be understood in the case of people for whom sexual activity is an ingrained part of their lifestyle and for whom [that activity] represents a serious risk.”
In 1993, the German Bishops Conference noted: “In the final analysis, human conscience constitutes the decisive authority in personal ethics… consideration must be given…to the spread of Aids. It is a moral duty to prevent such suffering, even if the underlying behavior cannot be condoned in many cases…The church…has to respect responsible decision-making by couples.”
In April 2006, in response to a very specific question from the bioethicist Ignazio Marino, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini opined that in certain cases, the usage of condoms might be allowable stating, “The use of condoms can, in certain situations, be a lesser evil”.
Cardinal Martini, who used to be Archbishop of Milan, made the comments in an interview with the Italian weekly magazine l’Espresso. In it he says that the fight against Aids, which has caused more than three million deaths, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, must be pursued by all available means-Cardinal backs limited condom use. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4929962.stm
This wa about the time the Agence France-Presse reported that a Roman Catholic newspaper in South Africa, The Southern Cross, has threw its support behind a local bishop who believes the church should lift its ban on condom use to prevent HIV infections in Aids-ravaged sub- Saharan Africa.
Bishop Kevin Dowling said that the Aids crisis in South Africa requires the church to permit the use of condoms to stop “transmitting death.” The editorial backed Dowling’s comments, explaining that this view should be seen as an attempt to balance Catholic doctrine with the compassion the Church should how toward the most vulnerable people in society.
The editorial went on to say, “Bishop Kevin Dowling’s contribution to this debate articulates what many Catholics, including moral theologians, have been reasoning for a long time.” One South African Bishop Supports Condoms To Prevent AIDS http://www.religiousconsultation.org/newsletters/January_2002/South%20African%20Bishop%20Supports%20Condoms%20to%20Prevent%20AIDS.htm
Zenit gives the statement by the Vatican reacting on pope’s remarks on condoms. The statement was released on November 21, 2010 by Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office. “STATEMENT ON PONTIFF’S WORDS REGARDING CONDOMS – “The Pope Does Not Reform or Change the Church’s Teaching”. http://www.zenit.org/article-31024?l=english
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002
EMERGING ISSUES FROM CONDOMS DEBATE
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013
Many of our readers have contributed on the debate of my article of yesterday: ‘Good Catholics use condoms’ with particular reader from Kakamega, Western Kenya who wrote: “Dear Omolo, The issue of use of condom you have commented without the use of proper moral principles between objective and the principle of lesser evil. Please consult your moral books. Also make use of proper moral articulation-love-Boniface-Kakamega.
Some of the readers had different views, with one particular one who has asked me not to mention her name reacting bitterly, saying you priests are hypocrites, you tell us not to use condoms and you are the very ones who use them on us.
She writes: “You tell us that the use of condoms is evil-but I just read recently that one of the priests in Nyeri impregnated his house girl- A Catholic PRIEST in Nyeri slept with a HOUSE GIRL. Although the priest denied, when the court granted him his wish and ordered the two to take a DNA test, something the priest has kept postponing”.
Another reader writes: “A Luhya man from Kakamega town is undergoing sleepless nights, after a Catholic priest impregnated his just married wife and sired a baby with the “man of cloth”, had the priest used the condoms he would have not been in this problem”, she argues.
The reader was referring to a story where a priest from Kakamega Catholic Diocese who presided over the couple’s wedding ceremony sometime back, impregnated the woman at Eregi Primary School in Kakamega County in a secret love affair.
The writer continued to argue that the number of catholic priests and bishops who are sexually active are many. In Europe and the States, the scandal of numerous pedophile priests, whose victims are rightly suing the catholic church is widely reported in the media, very little by contrast is heard about priests and bishops in Africa who continue sexually abusing female minors (or vulnerable women) with no legal action taken.
Apart from legal action in civil and ecclesiastical courts against offenders, strict ‘child protection’ codes and practices, must be enforced, by the state which for instance should prohibit young or vulnerable females from residing in parish houses, where some of the abuses occur.
The writer goes on to argue: “Thus the unnecessary and unpalatable deception about celibate priests, that they are chaste when they are not is clearly contradicted by what is on the ground. The deception is of course not tenable for much longer”.
Another reader writes: “Father I am a staunch catholic but when it comes to protection of life I agree with a number of Episcopal conferences who have been quoted to have suggested that condom use may be acceptable in some circumstances to prevent Aids”.
One of the first Episcopal conferences to take such a stance was the French Bishops Council which asserted in 1989 that, “The whole population and especially the young should be informed of the risks.
In 1996, the Social Commission of the French Bishops’ Conference said that condom use “can be understood in the case of people for whom sexual activity is an ingrained part of their lifestyle and for whom [that activity] represents a serious risk.”
In 1993, the German Bishops Conference noted: “In the final analysis, human conscience constitutes the decisive authority in personal ethics… consideration must be given…to the spread of Aids.
It is a moral duty to prevent such suffering, even if the underlying behavior cannot be condoned in many cases…The church…has to respect responsible decision-making by couples.”
One of the readers was concerned about our children, especially the danger of pornography and wondered if I could also comment on this issue.
This is definitely a very vital concern. Two years ago William Gitau who works for the Amani Counseling Centre and training institute in Nairobi revealed shocking information how more children and youth are being sucked into the habit of viewing sexually explicit materials from their mobile phones and computers, with some turning into actual addicts.
He adds that serious and systematic action needs to be taken to tackle the problem.
There is fresh concern about increasing cases of addiction to Internet pornography in Kenya.
Many children today in Kenya, even those in rural areas where we thought children are ignorant posse mobile phones that access the internet and can use them in their bedrooms, classrooms or toilets or even in the presence of their parents, to view and listen to sounds of sexually explicit images, without anybody noticing what is going on.
Some of these images is feared, might come from adults, particularly paedophiles – a person who is sexually interested in children – who are going to take advantage of this new phenomenon to send sexual images to children they are stalking.
Already, parents in the United States and European countries who have bought children phones are now worried that erotic images or content accessed from pornographic sites on the internet are easily reaching the minors.
Operators in other countries who have enabled their customers to use internet on their mobile phones say they cannot monitor or control internet sites children visit, lest they be accused of infringing on individuals privacy.
Even so, both local mobile phone and internet service providers say the names used for sites with pornographic materials are very unsuspecting that is so difficult for them to know what to block.
At the moment, those using Safaricom picture messaging services cannot receive an image from someone in the developed country as the service is restricted to the company’s postpaid subscribers only, but can still access to pornography elsewhere.
In November 9, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) reported shocking story where within only a few years, child pornography has become a multi-billion dollar commercial enterprise, and is among the fastest growing businesses on the Internet.
Through the use of digital and web cameras, child pornography has become easier and less expensive to produce. Distribution on the Internet has facilitated instant access by thousands and possibly millions of individuals throughout the world. The ability to use credit cards to purchase child pornography has made it easier than ever to obtain.
Worldwide pornography revenue in 2006 was $97.06 billion. Of that, approximately $13 billion was in the United States (Internet Filter Review, 2006). Every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography.
It explains why the era of pornography primarily available in cover-wrapped magazines and films in “adults-only” stores is gone. Pornography’s availability has exploded, and yet it is to explode further.
Internet and other wireless technologies have created new arenas with very easy access to it, especially in your own home. The wireless world also has enabled availability in new, disturbing ways. This easy accessibility has engendered alarming trends.
Internet and wireless pornography, especially on cell phones, has grown particularly fast. According to one study, fully 20 percent of searches on the Internet involve pornographic images. Newsweek reported on the growing incidence of workplace time spent surfing pornographic websites.
A recent study of college students shows that 40 percent viewed Internet pornography at around the age of 10 years. Carnes says many parents are unaware of the availability and accessibility of Internet pornography to their children.
On April 29, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) writes unbelievable story– “Guidance” on sex education classes from a government-approved campaign group has advised teachers to tell high school students that “not all pornography is bad” and that it can be a “helpful” and “hugely diverse” educational tool.
Teachers need to instruct children “how to view porn” in terms of “media literacy and representation, gender, sexual behaviour and body image”. Children as young as five can benefit from instruction on the uses of porn, the group from London has said. 11-year-olds should discuss the dangers of “sexting” and those students 14 and over should be told that online porn videos are done by actors, and that “the sex and bodies are mostly unrealistic.”
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002