Archbishop Cordes, Cafod and condoms

From the director of Cafod SIR – Your headline (Vatican Notebook, July 1) seems to suggest that the Vatican is officially disapproving of Cafod’s work, without any direct quotes from the official criticising Cafod. In fact, our policy on HIV prevention has the support of our own bishops’ conference and, on a recent visit to Rome, the bishops discussed the policy with senior cardinals at the relevant dicasteries of the Holy See. They were content and raised no objections to it.
Cafod abides by the Church’s teaching: we do not fund or advocate the supply, distribution or promotion of condoms. Cafod is proud to be the official aid agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and we take that role seriously.
We do not see Cafod being “disconnected” from evangelisation. We are one expression of the Church’s mission, promoting human development and social justice in witness to our Christian faith.
Our vision, mission and values are deeply rooted in the Gospel and in the Catholic Social Teaching that is the foundation for all we do in the name of the Catholic community in England and Wales. We share in the Church’s task of transforming the world to reflect the Kingdom of God.
Cafod sees working with others as a strength and not a compromise. As part of fulfilling the Church’s mission in the world, Cafod has followed the lead of the Second Vatican Council in establishing good ecumenical and interfaith relations; none of this leads us to watering down our Catholic beliefs. In our interaction with the government Department for International Development (DFID) we have made clear our own stance on moral issues, particularly around condoms and other areas that they term “reproductive health”. Our views are respected and this was shown in our joint document on the original international development targets that took account of our position from within Catholic moral teaching.We are not dependent on government funding. Eighty per cent of Cafod’s funds come from the generosity of the Catholic community in this country and we never take this for granted.
Your article rightly commends the work of Catholic aid agencies in the tsunami response. In Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India, Cafod is implementing a £20 million programme that will run for the next five years. In Darfur, on behalf of the ecumenical alliance ACT-Caritas, Cafod is leading a £20 million programme, reaching 500,000 internally displaced people. Your misleading headline is likely to result in a flood of mail to our office: this is a serious distraction from crucial, life-saving work.
Yours faithfully, CHRIS BAIN London SW9 From Mr Edward Pentin SIR – Archbishop Cordes responded directly to a question about Cafod’s position on condom use and Aids, reemphasising that “the Church forbids their use” and that for a Catholic aid agency not to follow this teaching was “illogical”.
He praised agencies such as Cafod for their excellent work, but his criticisms echo those of a number of Vati can officials I have spoken to who are concerned about what they see as an all-too-frequent failure of these agencies to uphold the whole gamut of Catholic social teaching. For this reason, I believed that Archbishop Cordes’s views merited inclusion.
Yours faithfully, EDWARD PENTIN Rome