Vatican blasts condom machine in Rome school
The decision by a Rome high school to install condom vending machines has set off a storm in Italy, with the Catholic Church charging the move will encourage young people to have sex and Rome's mayor saying it sends the wrong message, the Associated Press reports.
But the Keplero high school vowed Thursday to go ahead with its experiment, billed as the first in the capital. While it's a relative novelty for Italy, schools in several other European countries have installed the machines in hopes of curbing teen pregnancy and HIV.
"This is not about stimulating the use condoms or intercourse," Antonio Panaccione, the school headmaster, told The Associated Press. "On the contrary, it's about prevention and education."
The school plans to install six vending machines as part of educating students about sexuality and HIV protection. The price: euro2 (US$2.70) for a pack of three, lower than market prices.
Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the pope's vicar for Rome, said the decision trivialized sex. He said it "cannot be approved by Rome's ecclesiastical community or by Christian families who are seriously concerned with the education of their children."
The newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference said Thursday that sex was being reduced to "mere physical exercise." The newspaper, L'Avvenire, lamented that young people these days have no spiritual guidance on sexuality, and that educators are more concerned with "the health and hygiene consequences of sex" than its moral implications.
Comments
Well ... truth be told, "the health and hygiene consequences of sex" are of much more immediate legitimate concern than any "moral implications," metaphysics notwithstanding.
Posted by: BankStreet | March 11, 2010 3:33 PM
Bank,
Really? Ask a victim of rape.
Posted by: Me | March 11, 2010 3:45 PM
What I mean by that is that a victim of rape struggles with much more than STD's or pregnancy. There are emotional and psychological issues that plague the victim far beyond any physical concern. This highlights, for me, the reality that sex is about much more than "exercise." If there are such strong implications, then it is a moral question.
Posted by: Me | March 11, 2010 3:50 PM
BankStreet - I have to disagree with you and the educators on this one. If more focus was on morals especially sex by minors were emphasized more teen pregnancy and HIV might not be at the stage that the vending machines were needed. That being said in a secular society the Church needs to learn to deal with solutions it finds morally objectionable. In a sense both sides are partially right and partially wrong here.
Posted by: ravensfan | March 11, 2010 3:52 PM
My point (albeit made a bit cynically) was -- and remains -- that the immediate issue of STDs, including HIV is at least partially addressed by the ready availability of condoms. Moral education, while certainly valuable (both with and without the benefit of metaphysics) is an organic process ... and I don't think making condoms available necessarily impedes that work.
I do hear the point made by "Me," and, I guess, a bit of the Church's concern thereby. So, yes ravensfan, I will concede a bit on the "moral" ground. I suppose I was mostly reacting to the Vatican's knee-jerk rejection of any appearance of condoms in this perilous world.
But I stand by my initial thought: condoms are, by and large, a lifesaver and should be made readily available ... hopefully to kids (in this case) who have been taught some responsibility.
Posted by: BankStreet | March 11, 2010 6:34 PM
BankStreet - I'm also willing to concede a bit and acknowledge that immediate issue of STDs, including HIV do warrant more than simply teaching morals. However, the point the church makes has some validity with respect to trivializing sex and possible being construed as encouragement for sexual encounters at far too early an age. Despite the Church's position on condoms I would tell my own kids if you are going to ignore the church's teaching on sex then ignore it's position on condoms as well.
Posted by: ravensfan | March 12, 2010 10:17 AM