Bishops Will Make a Sweeping Review of Controversial Policy on AIDS

Because of internal disagreements over a controversial AIDS policy statement it issued three months ago, the U.S. Catholic bishops’ administrative board announced in Washington on Thursday that the full body of more than 300 bishops will make a sweeping, “open-ended” review of the document in June.

Archbishop John L. May, president of the nation’s bishops, announced the review and left open the possibility of significant changes in the policy document, which gave limited but unprecedented permission for Catholic agencies to discuss the use of condoms in the fight against the epidemic.

The statement’s brief reference to condoms triggered public disagreement among bishops over whether it might mislead Catholics into believing that the church was easing its teaching against sex outside marriage. Church officials have traditionally opposed public health references to the use of condoms as a method of restraining the spread of the AIDS virus.

Agree on Discussion

May said the 50-member board agreed that a discussion by all the bishops should clearly formulate policy and “should focus on the pastoral, theological and moral dimensions of AIDS, and that it be open-ended in format with its direction determined by the will of the bishops.”

The 30-page document on AIDS, which was considered urgently needed by Catholic hospitals and social agencies, was approved by the U.S. Catholic Conference administrative board in November, then released on Dec. 10.

But many bishops objected to confusing wording in a small section mentioning prophylactics. New York Cardinal John O’Connor, not a board member, refused to approve it for his archdiocese and predicted that others would follow his lead.

Archbishop J. Francis Stafford of Denver said it was “seriously flawed,” and Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston issued a clarification on behalf of the 17 bishops of New England. But the bishop of Worcester, Mass., called it “excellent” in an independent evaluation. It also was defended by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, who helped write the statement.

The section of the AIDS statement most criticized by bishops said that “some people will not act as they can and should,” and consequently public education should include “accurate” information about condoms.

Part of Factual Picture

“We are not promoting the use of prophylactics,” the statement said, “but merely providing information that is part of the factual picture. Such factual information should indicate that abstinence outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage as well as the avoidance of intravenous drug abuse are the only morally correct and medically sure ways to prevent the spread of AIDS.”

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony adopted the document for the Los Angeles archdiocese after he reworded that section and one other sentence. The new wording concentrates on the moral role of Catholic educators and Catholic teaching, rather on the behavior of those who differ with the church.

The Vatican has not commented publicly on the American bishops’ AIDS document. On March 10, the semiofficial Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano published an unsigned article critical of condoms as a preventive, but the observations were similar to those of the U.S. bishops’ document. May spent the first week of March conferring at the Vatican.

Meeting Closed to Public

The U.S. hierarchy will review the AIDS paper at its next regular meeting, which is closed to the public, June 24-27 in Collegeville, Minn.

Speaking for the administrative board, which ended a three-day meeting Thursday, May said in a statement that he looks forward to the discussion, “which will do much to focus attention on both the teaching of the church and its ongoing response” to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.