news

NEWS
Condoms4Life - Catholics challenge the Vatican, 24 November 2003
Catholics for a Free Choice www.condoms4life.org

Media Contact: Jon O'Brien Office: 202-986-6093 x202

GOOD CATHOLICS USE CONDOMS
New Condoms4Life campaign challenges Vatican misinformation about condom effectiveness with an international media campaign to be launched on World AIDS Day 2003

WHY: Good Catholics are being misled about condoms by the Catholic hierarchy. From cardinals to bishops to priests, the Catholic hierarchy is falsely claiming that condoms are ineffective in preventing HIV transmission. Their policy has been called dangerous by the World Health Organization. For Catholics who follow the Vatican's policy and Catholic health care providers who are forced to deny condoms, the Vatican's policy on condoms is a disaster.

WHAT: This advisory is to alert reporters that a new global public Education effort to counter Vatican misinformation on condoms will begin on December 1, 2003, World AIDS Day. The campaign kicks off in Washington, DC, and worldwide throughout 2004. The campaign will include newspaper and billboard ads, internet action alerts and educational materials. This global effort to reach Catholics at risk everywhere with the truth about condoms is a new phase of the Condoms4Life campaign (www.condoms4life.org).

Elements of the global campaign will include:
-Print Ads: Provocative and eye-catching ads will appear first in magazines and newspapers, including the Washington Post and National Catholic Reporter, followed in 2004 by ads in African, Latin American and European press.
-Metro Dioramas: Starting December 1, 2003, poster ads will go up in highly traveled Metro stations throughout the United States capital.
-Bus Shelters: Starting January 1, 2004, ads will go up on 46 bus shelters around Washington, DC, in areas where young people gather, including colleges and nightclubs.
-Action Alert at www.condoms4life.org enables the public to send individual letters and to use the e-mail network to lobby local and national elected officials as well as international policy makers asking them to end the Vatican's ban on condoms.
-Access to Ads for local use: All campaign materials, including ads, Will be available at www.condoms4life.org for individuals and organizations to download and use as posters or adapt for their own purposes.
-Brochure: A new publication will assist at-risk Catholics who are struggling with questions around faith and conscience, sexuality and the use of condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention. A first printing of 10,000 copies will be distributed globally and on the web.

WHERE: In the US, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the World Wide Web.

WHEN: Starting on World AIDS Day, Monday, December 1, 2003, and throughout 2004.

Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) is a non-governmental organization with special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Catholics for a Free Choice shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to women's well-being, and respect and affirm the moral capacity of women and men to make sound decisions about their lives. Through discourse, education and advocacy, CFFC works in the United States and internationally to infuse these values into public policy, community life, feminist analysis and Catholic social thinking and teaching.