UK Group threatens campaign against Aids Policy

Feb 3, 2005 / 22:00 pm

The U.K.-based Catholic Action Group say that a deadline given to CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Oversees Development to withdraw its policy of condom use to fight Aids has expired. Catholic Action Group adamantly points out that this policy is contrary to Church teaching, and should be revoked.

The deadline, which hit last Monday, now opens the door for the group’s open campaign of “writing to every parish priest, distributing leaflets and taking out newspaper advertisements.” Reportedly, the group has budgeted to print half a million leaflets for the campaign.

Catholic Action Group, stated in their press releases that they “will openly campaign against CAFOD up and down the country [on February 1^st] unless they back down and stop condoning Condoms.”

According to John Gunn, Catholic Action Group’s coordinator, CAFOD is showing “signs of concern,” especially in light of a split Bishops conference in England and Wales, from whom CAFOD would like endorsement.

The British paper, The Tablet, stated that while CAFOD has a letter of endorsement from Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, president of the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales, “a number of the bishops declared that they were not prepared to support the current policy”, and would like the charity to stop endorsing condom use.