By Peter J. Smith
NAIROBI, Kenya, August 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A majority of Catholics in Kenya now support the use of condoms in this East African country where 1/3 of the population is reportedly Catholic, and 1/5 of citizens are suffering from HIV/AIDS, according to the Nation. A report released by the Steadman Group indicates that Catholics more than any other faith group support the use of condoms for contraception and preventing sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV/AIDS.
According to the Steadman report, more than three quarters of Kenyans support condom use for family planning and prevention against sexually transmitted diseases, a report that comes as a shock to Kenya’s Catholic hierarchy.
“It is very apparent that the Catholic church’s official position is at odds with most of its members, and thus needs to do a lot more work in its pursuit of its policy in this particular area, or simply tolerate their dissent,” says a section of the report released by Steadman Group.
The Steadman Group reports one third of the adult population feels that religion’s role in upholding social morals has not changed, but another third believe otherwise, saying its influence over morality is waning. Religious attidudes also seemed to be dropping. However, a majority of Kenyans support the Church’s role in politics and believe that the Church should be more involved than it is.
However, the united message of the Kenyan bishops has been undercut by the new Catholic Archbishop of Kenya’s coastal city of Mombassa, who is advocating to Catholics the use of condoms among HIV-positive married couples; a blatant contradiction to Catholic teaching which prohibits condoms for separating the procreative from the unitive functions of the marital act.
Archbishop Boniface Lele, saying infected couples were a unique situation, told the Catholic Information Service for Africa: “Since these people are married, what do you tell them? Do you tell them to separate? That would be against Church teaching. With some counseling – and this is something we don’t tell everyone – you can ask couples to use condoms, so that the rate of reinfection goes down.”
The Steadman data comes several months after the National AIDS Committee head, Dr Sobbie Mulindi, claimed that Catholics form the majority of the 800,000 Kenyans infected with HIV, and obliquely accused the Church for the rise of infections. He said that “although the church is anti-contraceptives, there is need for it to acknowledge the dangers of engaging in unprotected sex”.
However, the polling results indicate that if indeed infections are rising among Catholics, the result may be the consequences of ignoring the Church’s teaching on chastity and fidelity in favor of condoms, which have been proven to be far less than 100% effective at stopping diseases like HIV. According to Meta analyses and UN studies condoms used properly provide only between 80% or 90% effectiveness, meaning infection is a matter of when, not if.
Kenya’s bishops, under the leadership of Archbishop Mwana a’Nzeki of Nairobi, Kenya’s Primate have advocated the model of promoting chastity and fidelity that has worked in Uganda to cut the rate of AIDS/HIV drastically in contrast to their neighbors whose infection rates increase despite millions of dollars spent on sex education and condoms.
Related LifeSite coverage:
Kenya First Lady: Condom “is causing the spread of AIDS in this country.”
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06052307.htm