The Manila Times: Courageous Cabral

The Manila Times, Saturday, March 13, 2010 – I read an interesting editorial the other day.

It said that if some bishops were to be believed, it would seem as if Department of Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral were committing a crime more vile and heinous than mass murder and more objectionable than blatant election fraud.

She had her department officials take to the streets and distribute condoms.

Que horror! Mon dieu! Susmareosep! OMG!

For those who couldn’t even say the word “condom”, there they were casually being handed out on the streets of Manila right next to flower stalls and of all days on Valentine’s, a day which is auspiciously enough, named after a saint. Certain newspapers carried headlines that read: “Gov’t gives out condoms.”

The bishops were bristling. They immediately issued out statements condemning condom distribution, calling it “lewd,” “vulgar” and “gross.”

Other defamatory statements followed; the Health secretary’s morality was questioned and even the integrity of the little latex was denigrated. “Condoms promote promiscuity. It is common knowledge that condoms do not aid in the prevention of STIs and HIV because they don’t work,” read other statements from the bishops’ camp.

As you can imagine, I have been monitoring this controversy closely and my reaction has been one of amusement and amazement and admiration—not necessarily in that order. I guess you can say that my reaction is one of a triple-A rating.

Amusement

I am amused at how giving out condoms has visibly irked the bishops. More than a month after the issue, they’re still livid—going as far as challenging Secretary Cabral to a debate on the efficacy of condoms. It seems that even the findings of the World Health Organization (WHO), which have stated that condoms, when used properly and consistently, offer the best protection against both STIs and unplanned pregnancy are being questioned. (Can you imagine having an organization like the WHO, for example, questioning the existence of God? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?)

I am amused that a worker’s group marched to the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) office in Manila carrying inflated condoms and flowers as a sign of peace. To mark the celebration of International Women’s Day, they asked the priests to bless the flowers and the condoms. This request was declined.

Amazement

I am amazed at how the bishops continue to self-righteously denounce condoms and the Health department’s initiatives to raise awareness for HIV and AIDS prevention, but have carefully chosen to remain quiet on the controversies that are currently plaguing the Church on a global level.

For one, there is the issue of Papal Gentleman Angelo Balducci allegedly running a gay prostitution ring along with a choir member.

(A singer in the Vatican choir had sex with one of the Pope’s gentlemen-in-waiting and procured male escorts on his behalf, the Italian weekly Panorama says.

Telephone intercepts collected as part of an extensive corruption probe into Angelo Balducci showed that 40-year-old Nigerian Chinedu Thomas Ehiem would find men on the “Pianeta Escort” [Planet Escort] website and set up encounters between them and Balducci in his apartment in Rome, the weekly said on Friday.

In an interview with Panorama, Ehiem said he had sex with Balducci “for five or six months” because of financial problems.

After a lengthy period without making contact, Balducci then got back in touch with Ehiem, asking him to organize encounters for him via the Internet.

“He asked and I executed. He would give me 50 or 100 Euros, never more than 1,000 or 1,500 euros a year,” Ehiem said, adding that for Balducci “a 26-, 27-year-old man was too young. He preferred meeting mature people—40 or older.”

The last meeting between Mr Balducci and Ehiem took place in January when Ehiem said he organized an encounter with “a dark-haired Hungarian in his forties.”

Balducci is part of the Gentlemen of His Holiness, a group that helps the Pope greet dignitaries visiting the Vatican. – Agence France-Presse)

Even the Pope himself is not beyond reproach. His brother priest Georg Ratzinger was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview that he slapped pupils across the face after he took over a renowned German boys’ choir in the 1960s. Ratzinger also said that he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir, but did nothing about it.

(The Catholic Church is currently enmeshed in a scandal over alleged sexual abuse of members of a boy choir formerly headed by Pope Benedict XVI’s brother Georg, now 86, in the southern German city of Regensburg.

A bishop in Germany on Friday acknowledged sexual abuse of members of a boys’ choir in the southern city of Regensburg that was directed for 30 years by Pope Benedict XVI’s elder brother Georg Ratzinger.

German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger on Monday accused the Vatican of hindering investigations into abuse in Catholic institutions. – Agence France-Presse)

Even more amazing is the fact that these cases of sexual abuse within the supposedly celibate order of the Catholic Church are not rare.

(Elsewhere in Austria, a Catholic boarding school spoke out about another case in the 1980s, while revelations emerged in the press of a priest who had abused up to 20 children in his care.

One priest in Ireland admitted sexually abusing more than 100 children, while another said he had abused minors on a fortnightly basis over 25 years.

The first major predator priest scandal erupted in the United States in 2002 when the then archbishop of Boston confessed to having shielded a priest he knew had sexually abused youngsters.

The Church in the United States estimated that there had been 14,000 victims of some 4,000 to 5,000 clerics since the 1960s.

US Catholic dioceses have paid out billions of dollars in compensation to victims of abuse, including some 436 million dollars in 2008 alone.—Agence France-Presse)

Admiration

But mostly, above all that, I am in awe and admiration of Secretary Cabral for her tenacity, her courage and mostly, her calm yet firm resolve.

Cabral has tirelessly repeated one line in defense of her department’s initiatives. “I am simply doing my job as health secretary and watching out for the health of the people.” Cabral has put this in the context of the increasing number of HIV cases in the country, which have risen to a record high. But notably, she is also promoting the other forms of prevention and protection, citing the ABCs of safer sex: A-abstinence; B-being faithful and C-condoms.

Even while the Reproductive Health Bill continues to languish in Congress, a woman with authority (and balls) can carry out its main provisions of universal access to all forms of contraception—both modern and traditional.

If I were the secretary, I would probably rest in the knowledge that, apart from the support of Facebook fans, women’s groups and other concerned citizens, I have the law behind me.

According to Republic Act 8504, or the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act of 1998:

“The State shall promote public awareness about the causes, modes of transmission, consequences, means of prevention and control of HIV/AIDS through a comprehensive nationwide educational and information campaign organized and conducted by the State. Such campaigns shall promote value formation and employ scientifically proven approaches, focus on the family as a basic social unit, and be carried out in all schools and training centers, workplaces and communities.”

This seems to be exactly with Secretary Cabral is doing. And from the looks of it, will continue doing, come “heaven” or high water.

According to Catholics for Choice:

• We believe in God.
• We believe that sex is sacred.
• We believe in caring for each other.
• We believe in using condoms.

For details, visit www.catholicsforchoice.org/about/jobs/default.asp