CTS author Matthew Hanley wins top award for AIDS book

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CTS author Matthew Hanley has won a top award, given by the Catholic Press Association, for his book on AIDS.

Matthew Hanley is the author of the CTS booklet, The Catholic Church and the Global AIDS crisis. It was Hanley’s fuller-length book on the same subject that has won him this new accolade.

His winning title, Affirming Love, Avoiding AIDS: What Africa Can Teach The West, co-authored with Jokin de Irala, took the top award for its frank and clear look at which methods are successful and which are not in the prevention of AIDS. Here’s how the CPA described it:

“First Place – Affirming Love, Avoiding Aids: What Africa Can Teach The West, Matthew Hanley and Jokin de Irala, The National Catholic Bioethics Center, Philadelphia, Pa.

A well-documented case for what is happening and not happening in working with AIDS in Africa and what and how the West can learn from all this research. A well written, important topic at an important time in history.”

The same could be said of the shorter study which we have published – its combination of top research and real readability makes it an informative and vital read. The award also confirms that we have succeeded in our attempts to get the best and most knowledgeable authors writing for us about some of the most controversial subjects being discussed both inside and outside the Church today.

You can read about the Catholic Press Association award-winners in other categories, including biography, science, and family life, by following this link.

Our congratulations to Matthew Hanley for his excellent achievement!

The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis is available from CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

EX39 The Catholic Church & the Sex Abuse Crisis - This excellently researched booklet sets out the nature and extent of clerical sexual abuse, its prevalence, likely causes and consequences. Its robust analysis of the crisis and its handling by Church authorities is both illuminating and balanced. The position, teaching and pastoral response to the crisis of the Catholic Church are rigorously assessed.
DO798 25 Tough Questions on the Catholic Faith – Written by experts familiar with the varied contexts in which Catholics are called on to explain what they believe in and why, it covers sexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce, women priests, married priests, war, environment, purgatory, the pope, scripture, Catholic Mass, confessions, and suffering, just to name a few.
Do750 Questions & Answers about Sex and Marriage – Dr Charlie O’Donnell answers 24 of the most common questions put to him by couples at marriage preparation classes. The beauty, practicality and advantages of the Church’s teachings on these issues are explained in this easy to read booklet.
Friday, 15 July 2011 13:29 0 Comments

The media does not report AIDS successes by methods it does not agree with – Says CTS author

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One of the Holy Father’s prayer intentions this new month is for those suffering from AIDS.

The Pope’s general intention is:

“That Christ may ease the physical and spiritual sufferings of those who are sick with AIDS, especially in the poorest countries.”

CTS author Matthew Hanley has written on theCatholicthing.org, of how the world media is very interested in what the Church says about AIDS, but does not report when a fall in the number of infections is achieved through means they do not agree with.
Hanley, who wrote the CTS booklet, The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis, shows that in Zimbabwe, where a change in sexual behaviour is emphasised, has seen success, as Hanley writes:

“In a nutshell, changes in sexual behavior – substantial reductions in casual, extramarital, and commercial sex – accounted for the drop in AIDS. Accordingly, the study authors argue that behavior changes deserve much greater policy emphasis.  It is a tribute to them that they do so clearly and firmly, since the ‘risk reduction’ philosophy is still king in public health circles – despite its prolonged and colossal failures to reverse AIDS and other epidemics.  The study shows, however, perhaps a bit too much deference towards that philosophy by depicting Zimbabwe’s success as ‘surprising.’”

He goes on to highlight the ideological problem that many, who have championed the condom in combating AIDS face. To change tune would be to admit their past mistakes, and this requires a re-think which it seems some governments and charities are not capable of, as the article concludes:

“Zimbabwe’s progress is heartening, but we should not find it surprising any longer. It reinforces the preponderance of evidence and obliterates any justification for shying away from emphasizing behavior change as the optimal means of avoiding AIDS. But it would be surprising, sad to say, if public health leaders actually executed that recommendation without apologies.

For people morally blinded by what they would like to be the case, even demonstrably poor ideas can seem too precious to give up.”

The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis is available from CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

EX39 The Catholic Church & the Sex Abuse Crisis - This excellently researched booklet sets out the nature and extent of clerical sexual abuse, its prevalence, likely causes and consequences. Its robust analysis of the crisis and its handling by Church authorities is both illuminating and balanced. The position, teaching and pastoral response to the crisis of the Catholic Church are rigorously assessed.
DO798 25 Tough Questions on the Catholic Faith – Written by experts familiar with the varied contexts in which Catholics are called on to explain what they believe in and why, it covers sexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce, women priests, married priests, war, environment, purgatory, the pope, scripture, Catholic Mass, confessions, and suffering, just to name a few.
Do750 Questions & Answers about Sex and Marriage – Dr Charlie O’Donnell answers 24 of the most common questions put to him by couples at marriage preparation classes. The beauty, practicality and advantages of the Church’s teachings on these issues are explained in this easy to read booklet.
Monday, 04 July 2011 10:17 0 Comments

Truly Catholic identity vital for Catholic charities – says CTS author

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The Catholic Church is on the frontline of the battle against AIDS, and her charitable institutions are a large part of that.

Caritas is one of the largest, a confederation of Catholic charities, operating in over 200 countries. Recently, Caritas – or to give it its proper name, Caritas Internationalis – has been going through changes at the top level of the organisation.

Matthew Hanley wrote the CTS report, The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis, and here, he comments on why the importance of fidelity to Catholic Teaching when it comes to overseas development and aid is so vital. Writing on the website, Catholicthing.org, he laments the western moral regression he sees all around him, saying that:

“African bishops would tell me (after my talks about AIDS) how surprising it was to hear a young Western CRS employee speak the common Catholic language, whereas my superiors back in Baltimore told me that I would change my thinking about the way we should approach AIDS prevention – that I’d begin to oppose Church teachings – once I spent yet more time in Africa.”

He notes that the people running these charities, are often unfamiliar with, or unsympathetic to, the teaching of the Church, this coupled with an over reliance on state funding makes upholding the Magisterium a difficult and dangerous business within the world of international development. These issues come down to more than a case of “What’s in a name?” or when and where is the title “Catholic” appropriate for an aid agency? it is to do with holding on to truths that are indispensible for the proper care and development of peoples and persons.

There are many agencies offering aid, but only Catholic ones can offer a different view of who we are and where each person’s value comes from, they should do so bravely.

The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis is available from CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

EX39 The Catholic Church & the Sex Abuse Crisis - This excellently researched booklet sets out the nature and extent of clerical sexual abuse, its prevalence, likely causes and consequences. Its robust analysis of the crisis and its handling by Church authorities is both illuminating and balanced. The position, teaching and pastoral response to the crisis of the Catholic Church are rigorously assessed.
DO798 25 Tough Questions on the Catholic Faith – Written by experts familiar with the varied contexts in which Catholics are called on to explain what they believe in and why, it covers sexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce, women priests, married priests, war, environment, purgatory, the pope, scripture, Catholic Mass, confessions, and suffering, just to name a few.
Do750 Questions & Answers about Sex and Marriage – Dr Charlie O’Donnell answers 24 of the most common questions put to him by couples at marriage preparation classes. The beauty, practicality and advantages of the Church’s teachings on these issues are explained in this easy to read booklet.
Monday, 20 June 2011 09:34 0 Comments

Holy See U.N. observer speaks out over AIDS

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Archbishop Silvano Tomasi is the Holy See’s permanent observer at the U.N and he gave an address at the Vatican’s recent conference on AIDS.

It’s a lengthy speech entitled, “The Centrality of Care for the Person in the Prevention and Treatment of Illnesses Caused by HIV/AIDS”, which you can read here. In it, he highlights what he has seen over his years in Geneva and New York. His assessment of the situation and its history is both candid and clear:

“Much educational energy and expertise has been focused on the area of preventing the further spread of HIV infection. Many governments, public health authorities, and even some UN agencies, have preferred to promote an incomplete ‘quick fix’ prevention approach that almost exclusively relied on the promotion and distribution of condoms. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, insisted on prevention strategies in conformity with its teaching on the dignity of the human person, the sanctity of marriage, and the need for exercising responsibility in intimate human relationships by observing sexual abstinence outside marriage and mutual and permanent fidelity within marriage.

“This led to false claims that the Catholic hierarchy was an obstacle to effective HIV prevention and even was ‘guilty’ of the AIDS-related deaths of millions of persons. We can be thankful for the courage and the wisdom of experts such as Dr. Edward C. Green who has been able to demonstrate the evidence base that promotion of behaviour change toward more responsible sexual relationships has been much more effective than condom promotion in decreasing new HIV infections.”

Matt Hanley is another professional, along with Dr Green, who has taken the evidence-based approach. Hanley’s report, The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis shows the Church’s position, based on the Magisterium, is borne out by the facts. As Hanley writes:

“This crucial distinction between theoretical effectiveness and practical results is generally not well understood, particularly by the Western media. Respected researchers, however, were pointing out as early as the year 2000 that ‘massive increases in condom use worldwide have not translated into demonstrably improved HIV control in the great majority of countries where they have occurred.’”

The Archbishop concluded by reminding his audience that the Catholic Church is a community of faith, hope and love that should place the person at the centre of the global struggle against AIDS. That those people “May have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10: 10)

The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis is available from CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

EX39 The Catholic Church & the Sex Abuse Crisis - This excellently researched booklet sets out the nature and extent of clerical sexual abuse, its prevalence, likely causes and consequences. Its robust analysis of the crisis and its handling by Church authorities is both illuminating and balanced. The position, teaching and pastoral response to the crisis of the Catholic Church are rigorously assessed.
DO798 25 Tough Questions on the Catholic Faith – Written by experts familiar with the varied contexts in which Catholics are called on to explain what they believe in and why, it covers sexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce, women priests, married priests, war, environment, purgatory, the pope, scripture, Catholic Mass, confessions, and suffering, just to name a few.
Do750 Questions & Answers about Sex and Marriage – Dr Charlie O’Donnell answers 24 of the most common questions put to him by couples at marriage preparation classes. The beauty, practicality and advantages of the Church’s teachings on these issues are explained in this easy to read booklet.
Tuesday, 14 June 2011 15:30 0 Comments

AIDS is about more than numbers – says Vatican conference

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Last week was the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the HIV virus. A conference at the Vatican marked the occasion, where the Church reminded the wider world that care at every level and for every sufferer at every stage was needed.

The two-day conference showed that the Church runs 117,000 health organizations ranging from centres in jungles to ultramodern polyclinics in large cities. But at the same time, the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone reminded those present that helping those with AIDS is about more than numbers:

“It would be ridiculous to limit ourselves to consider the ‘numerical’ aspects — though they are important — in the work of care. An essential part of the contribution offered by the Church in this struggle is, in fact, on the plane of the construction of that ‘invisible capital,’ without which the struggle would be deprived of lasting efficacy and of the best networks of health care.”

An “invisible capital” – that has as its basis a moral judgement of the situation – is clearly explained by Matthew Hanley in the Catholic Truth Society’s report, The Catholic Church and the Global AIDS Crisis.

“The Church holds that there is objective truth, that there are things which are objectively good. Human beings have the capacity to recognise and aspire to what is good; this cannot be understated given our topic of AIDS prevention. Indeed, one of the most basic imperatives of the Christian life is that we are called to choose what is good and avoid what is evil – an imperative which gives humanity a noble dimension. We are called to be holy. This takes discipline, and involves struggle. We need encouragement and God’s grace along the way.”

He also stressed that science cannot tell us how to act, and it often sidelines the human person.

“The Church, like all of us, must rely on what science tells us to inform our judgments about what is effective or not. But science cannot tell us about the morality of an action. It is here, in the area of morality, particularly in matters relating to human sexuality, the Church stands at odds with the predominant strains of thought in modern Western culture. The crucial point to stress is that the Church differs from modern secular culture not so much over questions of science, but as John Paul II put it in his 1981 encyclical Familiaris Consortio, over ‘irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.’”

The conference remembered the story of the Good Samaritan, as an example of being moved to care for someone else with suitable instruments, to the best of our ability.

The Catholic Church and the global AIDS crisis is available from CTS priced £2.50

Of related interest:

EX39 The Catholic Church & the Sex Abuse Crisis - This excellently researched booklet sets out the nature and extent of clerical sexual abuse, its prevalence, likely causes and consequences. Its robust analysis of the crisis and its handling by Church authorities is both illuminating and balanced. The position, teaching and pastoral response to the crisis of the Catholic Church are rigorously assessed.
DO798 25 Tough Questions on the Catholic Faith – Written by experts familiar with the varied contexts in which Catholics are called on to explain what they believe in and why, it covers sexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce, women priests, married priests, war, environment, purgatory, the pope, scripture, Catholic Mass, confessions, and suffering, just to name a few.
Do750 Questions & Answers about Sex and Marriage – Dr Charlie O’Donnell answers 24 of the most common questions put to him by couples at marriage preparation classes. The beauty, practicality and advantages of the Church’s teachings on these issues are explained in this easy to read booklet.
Monday, 13 June 2011 15:30 0 Comments
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