| March 24, 2008 | Volume 83, Number 11 | |
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Abstinence said ‘a tough call’After reading Mr. Neill’s editorial in the February 25 issue of the CV, it occurred to me that perhaps not all Virginians would be grateful that the state Senate rejected a bill that would have required public schools in the Commonwealth to teach methods of contraception to its students. As a practicing Catholic and one who emphatically agrees with the Church’s position regarding contraception, let us not be fooled by thinking that abstinence is what many of the teenage children have practiced. Of course, at home instruction by parents is vital to a child’s understanding but unfortunately it is not the answer all to human curiosity or trial experimentation especially when peer pressure among friends of the same age exists. Statistical information reports that one of every 3 girls has had sex by age 16 — 2 out of 3 by age 18. Two of 3 boys have had sex by age 18. Nearly 4 in 10 young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 — nearly one million a year. It is a fact that the U.S. has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. In a recent survey conducted in six Boston high schools students believed that having more information on pregnancy and birth control, education about relationships, parental communication, improved contraceptive access, and education about parenting realities would prevent teen pregnancy. Abstinent teens were more likely to say that information on pregnancy and birth control was important whereas consistently contracepting teens were more likely to identify greater access to birth control. In the study conclusion it was stated that teens report that having more information from parents, school, and health arenas can prevent pregnancy. And, while we as Catholics firmly believe and choose to educate our children to practice the Church’s teaching, we also need to be mindful not to ignore or rule out knowledge of alternative protective measures. To do so entirely, may unfortunately result in one becoming another statistic. It’s a tough call. Did I forget to mention that each year 3,000 adolescents contract sexually transmitted diseases, which is about one in four sexually experienced teens? Young Americans between the ages 13 and 24 are still contracting HIV at a rate of 2 per hour.
Priest asks help for people of KenyaThank you for your wonderful recent article on the terrible situation in Kenya which highlighted prayer services at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk (“Priest prays for end to violence in Kenya,” by Barbara Hughes, Feb. 11 issue). While almost all the bloodshed has stopped, there are some 300,000 Kenyans who have been driven from their homes. Food and water are scarce and the living conditions are horrible. Here at St. Mary’s we are trying to raise funds to assist in the resettlement of the internally displaced Kenyan people. All funds that will be raised will be sent directly to the Ordinaries (Bishops) of three Kenyan dioceses. They are: Cardinal John Njue, Archdiocese of Nairobi; Bishop Peter Kairo, Diocese of Nakuru, and Bishop Cornelius Korir, Diocese of Eldoret. It would be deeply appreciated if you could publish an article on our efforts that would include a request for Catholics in the Diocese of Richmond who are interested in contributing funds to the cause to send a check and indicate that it go to Kenya Relief. I will see to it that all contributions go directly to the three Ordinaries mentioned above.
Reader asks about invitation responseI have been wondering about the harvest garnered by the seed our Bishop cast in the article in the Feb. 25 Catholic Virginian (on the invitation to former priests of the diocese to return to active ministry). Out here in the Western missions we really need more priests. Our pastor at Woodlawn serves three parishes which are located 60 miles from each other. That is, at a minimum, a 180-mile circuit each week end. I pray that the harvest will be bountiful.
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The danger here is that with more frequent changes, the chance of breakage increases in an environment where cleanup is much more difficult because of the furnishings of a home — rugs, cloth covered furniture, proximity to corners, etc. Once released into this environment, mercury will evaporate slowly over a long period of time.