THE EARLY YEARS (1985-1994)
3.2. The Roman Catholic Church’s Response to HIV and AIDS
3.2.1. Edward T. Rogers: A Pioneer in the Response to HIV and AIDS
3.2.2.4. The Minority Positions
If there might be anything that the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church has been generally criticised on in recent years, it is the church‘s official position on the use of condoms in the prevention of HIV. All artificial birth control devices including condoms are considered as illicit. Thus many bishops and theologians including the ZCBC were totally opposed to the use of condoms in the prevention of HIV. While this position reinforced the church‘s moral teaching, it did not assist people who were in danger of HIV including married couples. However, a crop of Roman Catholic moral theologians and ethicists including Nader Michel argue that HIV and AIDS
549 C. E. Curran, ―Contraception,‖ Clarke and Linzey, Dictionary ethics, theology and society, 175.
550 Humanae Vitae (On Human Life), 25 July 1968, 4. This document was downloaded from the Internet in pdf.
140
endangered the life of parties to a marriage and the same applied to people who shared a sexual relationship. In this case:
AIDS prevention is about that same responsibility for one‘s own life and for the life of others. This responsibility is love and love begins with responsibility for another‘s life. …For HIV/AIDS patients, the use of the condom helps to protect life.551
The minority of Roman Catholic theologians and bishops who accept the use of condoms as a way of saving lives can be said to have built on an old Roman Catholic tradition in which casuistry allowed for the use of condoms within in a marriage where at least one partner is HIV positive.
In 2000 Jon Fuller and James Keenan, some of the most profound Roman Catholic ethicists on HIV prevention pointed out that many Roman Catholic bishops referred to the Roman Catholic moral tradition as the only option for the preventing the spread of the epidemic.552 The fact that the ZCBC did not recommend safe sex indicates a conservative stance. Morality and not the use of condoms was seen by the bishops as the safest way of protecting young people from the risks of contracting HIV. In relation to young people and sexuality in the context of HIV prevention, Roger Burggraeve, another Roman Catholic ethicist, wrote in the same volume:
―Responsible sexuality, however, not only presupposes that one aptly informs oneself, but also that one is prepared to act accordingly to prevent more serious consequences.‖553 However, it must be emphasised that the Roman Catholic moral tradition was not without flexibility, whereby moves to save lives could lead to casuistry. For example, the moral theology of the Roman Catholic Church sought to act out of compassion as the main divine strategy‘s first imperative and was fluid in the sense that it was sensitive to the conditions that face humanity: ―In the face of HIV/AIDS Christians and Catholics, the Catholic community and the Catholic moral
551 N. Michel, ―Fighting AIDS in a society where we Egyptians don‘t talk about it,‖ in J. Keenan SJ and J. D. Fuller SJ (eds), Catholic ethicists on HIV/AIDS prevention, (New York: Continuum, 2000), 157.
552 J. D. Fuller SJ and J. Keenan SJ, ―Introduction: At the end of the first generation of HIV prevention,‖ in Keenan and Fuller, Catholic ethicists on HIV/AIDS prevention, 21.
553 R. Burggraeve, ―From responsible to meaningful sexuality: An ethics of the growth of mercy for young people in this era of AIDS,‖ in Keenan and Fuller, Catholic ethicists on HIV/AIDS prevention, 305.
141
theology, must be prepared to take the risk with their own rules.‖554 This means that Roman Catholic bishops used the existing moral tradition in flexible ways and the use of condoms to prevent further infection in marriage was such an example.555
The reluctance to explore new understandings of human sexuality in the context of HIV and AIDS shown by the ZCBC was similar to the position taken by the SACBC.
For example, in February 2001 Bishop Kevin Dowling of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rustenburg‘s expressed a personal opinion in favour of using condoms in HIV prevention. While Bishop Dowling argued in favour condom use in the mining town of Rustenburg and other areas where HIV was rife, the SACBC declined the suggestion.556 Similarly, in 1991 the members of the ZCBC expressed their reservations on condom use for the purpose of preventing HIV:
No artificial device can make up for a lack of moral insight and effort.
If we want to be truly human, then we do not need more such devices to protect us from consequences of uncontrolled behaviour, but more consideration and respect for one another as persons.557
However, while this appeared to be the official position of the ZCBC, within pastoral circles, the same bishops tolerated the use of condoms among HIV positive Roman Catholic married couples. Thus, although not publicly known, using the rule of casuistics, the Roman Catholic clergy in Zimbabwe permitted the use of condoms but under strict pastoral circumstances.558 Cases of such a nature were considered as pastoral issues that could only be resolved by a priest privately. When couples confided their HIV positive status to the priest, for the sake of conscience, the clergy recommended the use of condoms.559
554 E. McDonagh, ―The reign of God: Signposts for Catholic moral theology,‖ Keenan and Fuller, Catholic ethicists on HIV/AIDS prevention, 323.
555 Fuller and Keenan, ―Introduction,‖ 21-38. See also P. Mutume, same interview.
556 A. Nolan, ―Catholics and condoms,‖ Challenge 66, (October 2001), 3. See also, S. M. Joshua, ―The Dowling controversy, the ―message of hope‖ and the principle of Oikonomia: A historical critical reflection of the South Africa‘s Catholic Church‘s stance on the use of condoms in HIV prevention between 2000 and 2005,‖ Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 137 (July 2010), 4-27.
557 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families.‖
558 P. Mutume, same interview.
559 M. O‘Regan, interview conducted by M. Mbona, St. Joseph‘s mission, Sakubva, Mutare, 25 August 2010.
142
To suggest that this position was in apparent discontinuity with the moral tradition of the Roman Catholic Church could be a misinterpretation of the point. Fuller and Keenan observed that it was not necessary to construct a new moral law in a time of HIV and AIDS because, ―…the Catholic moral tradition is a supple and balanced legacy that we need to recognise, appreciate, and utilise.‖560 Some nurses and doctors serving at the church‘s healthcare centres in Manicaland encouraged the Roman Catholic couples that tested HIV positive to meet with their priest for further direction. This was done in a spirit of prevention of further infection through possible reduction of the viral load. The practice also gave infected couples the chance to care for their children and plan for their future.561 The absence of a mechanism of ensuring that all infected couples went to the priest for spiritual guidance created opportunities for Roman Catholic married couples and others to use condoms privately. Consistent with this observation, Charles Curran, although not specifically mentioning condoms, also stated: ―In practice Catholic married couples seem to use contraception in about the same numbers as non-Catholics.‖562