YES to Clean Water! NO to Contraceptives!

Your Excellency:

I heard a wonderful missionary appeal this morning at Holy Angels from a Ugandan priest. In that country of 13 million Catholics, Father explained that candidates for the priesthood and religious life are actually being turned away! On behalf of his bishop, Father appealed for assistance with training future priests and religious, so that they would not be turned away for lack of resources. There certainly appears to be much which American could learn from the Church in Uganda!

A few years ago, I was edified to read that

• "in much of the world the core advances in public health pioneered between 1890 and 1920 in New York City had yet, a century later to take hold. Drinking water remained contaminated; human waste was dumped untreated; children went unvaccinated and malnourished; hygiene was ignored in hospitals and precious antibiotics were dispensed like candy in black markets worldwide" (Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health, pp. 10,11).

Spouting tired, old Malthusian bigotries, some still try to sell the lie that contraceptives hold the answer to disease and impoverishment. I have called the office of one of the two Catholic U.S. Senators in my own state, only to have a young aide spout the supposed benefits of Planned Parenthood's self-serving promotion of contraceptives! As per the Vatican's Family Values Versus Safe Sex:

• "where abstinence before marriage and fidelity to one’s spouse have been successfully promoted, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has dramatically decreased. For instance, Uganda has pushed for a chastity-based program, and there the incidence of HIV/AIDS is managed relatively better than in other countries....Are there not many who fall victim to a false sense of security generated by campaigns promoting 'safe sex', oblivious to the fact there are multiple factors that lead to condom failure?"

Again, there appears to be much which we could learn in this country from the Church in Uganda. In vast contrast to those tired, old Malthusian bigotries, Father appealed on behalf of his bishop for assistance in providing clean water to people in his diocese.

Thank you for hosting Father in your Diocese.

Sincerely,