Posts Tagged ‘Africa’

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

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

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

A report for Catholics & others who are fed up with the half-truths & distortions of the media

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Catholic social teaching expert Stratford Caldecott says the new report on AIDS from the CTS, helps banish the ignorance through which anti-Catholicism in this much discussed but often inadequately understood area of sexual ethics, thrives.

“Anti-Catholicism is still a potent force, which flourishes in a secular society, and feeds on ignorance.

One of the accusations most often thrown at Catholics is that the Church, or the Pope, has been responsible for the deaths of thousands if not millions by blocking the promotion of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS. Often Catholics do not know the facts of the situation, or how to respond to such accusations. This booklet, written by a world expert on the problem, contains the essential facts and will be invaluable in the war against both ignorance and the AIDS virus itself.

“Matt Hanley demonstrates not only that the use of condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS has been ineffective, but that the only effective method is precisely the one adopted by the Catholic Church, namely ‘partner reduction’. The Church is the largest single provider of health-care and support for those suffering from AIDS-related illnesses worldwide; besides which her teachings offer the only hope of an integrated and humanistic approach to human sexuality.

“The booklet is a based in empirical data, presented in a way that is easy to read and assimilate, and does not shy away from the difficult technical and moral questions that make this issue so difficult to discuss and deal with. This forthright and intelligent defence of the Church’s policy on AIDS will be welcomed by Catholics and others who are fed up with the half-truths and distortions that dominate much media coverage of this serious problem.”

Stratford Caldecott, Director, Centre for Faith & Culture, Oxford.

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, 06 June 2011 09:02

Just how effective are condoms campaigns in the battle against AIDS?

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Since HIV/AIDS was first identified in 1981 a staggering 65 million people have contracted the disease. Twenty five million of them have been killed by it and a further 33 million are living with their infection, knowing it may eventually claim their lives. Many of these people are in sub-Saharan Africa where AIDS has taken the form of a pandemic.

The response of Western governments generally has been to try to prevent the spread of the disease by encouraging the use of condoms. But why do the rates continue to rise unabated both in Africa and in the western world. Is it really the fault of the Catholic Church, as some commentators would have us believe? Or are there other reasons for its prevalence? Could it be that such campaigns are just not working?

Such questions are examined and answered in a major new booklet from the Catholic Truth Society called The Catholic Church and the Global AIDS Crisis. Written by Matthew Hanley, a U.S. public health expert with experience of working on AIDS prevention programmes in Africa, he uses hard evidence to show how condoms campaigns are in fact flawed and that they contribute to the AIDS crisis rather than provide solutions to it. Hanley concludes by saying that what is needed – and is indeed possible – are AIDS prevention strategies based on a change in lifestyles, with an emphasis on fidelity within marriage and abstinence outside of it. In his report he offers evidence to show that:

•    condom campaigns fail because they are susceptible to the phenomenon of “risk compensation” in which people who use such devices tend to be more promiscuous than those who do not in the belief that they are protected from harm;
•    similar rates of failure and infection also exist in high risk groups in countries like Britain who are “knowledgeable about condoms and could not be more motivated to use them”;
•    condoms campaigns are ideological and philosophical rather than scientific and that the real reason why western government and agencies invest in them is because they are wedded to the notion of “absolute sexual freedom” as well as the opportunity to make huge financial profit.
•    rates of infection have risen most sharply in those countries which have been flooded with condoms but have fallen in the few places that have encouraged monogamy and fidelity;
•    if, instead of condoms, fidelity and abstinence were promoted across Africa some six million new infections may have been averted in less than a decade, with four million fewer AIDS orphans created;
•    some 3.2 million lives in South Africa alone  might have been saved between 2000 and 2010 by the adoption of abstinence programmes and that 80 per cent of infections in the hardest hit areas of the continent might have been prevented.

Fergal Martin, General Secretary of the Catholic Truth Society, commented on this latest report:

“This publication makes a significant and incisive comment on what is, in essence, a global tragedy. Amid the staggering data on global death rates, and the hard evidence as to which prevention methods succeed and which don’t, the author sets out a measured, sensible and convincing assessment of their effectiveness and morality.

“For those who either want to hide their head in the sand of ideology, or to pretend that AIDS is just not their problem, or at best a problem that no one can ever solve, then read this report. In my view it is excellently researched and written, and is very accessible. Hanley covers a great deal of ground concisely and cogently. Highly informative and gets you thinking.”

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, 03 June 2011 10:15
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