10 Oct 2003
Vatican: condoms don’t stop Aids
“The Catholic Church is telling people in countries stricken by Aids not to use condoms because they have tiny holes in them through which the HIV virus can pass… The church is making the claims across four continents despite a widespread scientific consensus that condoms are impermeable to the HIV virus.”
Can someone please remind me why I continue to call myself a Catholic? If people are going to have sex, it’s safer to use condoms than not. It’s becoming harder and harder to ignore all these ridiculous statements and positions from the Vatican.
I went to the Diginity NY mass a few weeks ago. But instead of feeling affirmed as a gay Catholic, it seemed like we were committing some transgressive act against the Vatican. And that’s not really a religion I think I want to be part of.
So I’m starting to shop around for a new faith. The Episcopal Church is pretty close in teachings to the Catholic Church and seems a lot more willing to tackle GLBT issues (but far from perfect), but I’m thinking I need a bigger paradigm shift. I’m fascinated by the Jewish faith; but the more I learn about it, the more impenetrable and difficult to follow it appears to be. It’s times like this that make me wish I had taken a “World Religions” survey class in college.
Have a look at the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) Open and Affirming program. The UCC website shows three ONA congregations in “New York, NY”: Broadway United Church of Christ, Judson Memorial and Riverside Church; no addresses on that page, though.
Chuck | 10 Oct 2003