This blog relates to my last one, I was on cnn.com today like I am everyday, and there was an article about religion and condoms, primarily condoms in the Catholic Church.

I posted the link as well, but, I find this article both good and bad..

I am going to give you a heads up, I think this is a serious issue and my mind tends to drift, but I will do my best…

I am at a catholic university, and I can relate to much of what Roland martin is saying…it seems as though Catholics turn a blind eye to the reality of this situation…

A brief history about this argument is the Vatican banned the use of contraceptions, and I have posted a link to a site that explains what happened back in the day when contraceptions were banned…contraceptions are basically anything used to prevent child birth.

Here is a snippet from the article.. Pope Benedict is in Africa this week on a six-day tour, his first since his ascension to the papacy, and he made some remarks that have sparked outrage in the motherland, where Catholicism is spreading like wildfire.

In response to written questions from reporters, the pope said this about HIV/AIDS: "You can't resolve it with the distribution of condoms. On the contrary, it increases the problem."

He is absolutely correct that condoms are not the solution to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. He is also 100 percent correct that the only surefire way of stopping HIV/AIDS, when it comes to sex, is to practice abstinence. That is clearly within the teachings of the Bible and the Catholic Church, and he will find no disagreement from me.

Now the reality.

People are having sex. Catholics are having sex. Heck, some Catholic priests have abandoned their oath and have had sex.

As a layman and the husband of a pastor, I know the difference between utopia and reality, and it is the responsibility of the faith community to deal with the real world.

And frankly, Pope Benedict clearly shows he doesn't get it.

I find this statement quite harsh, I am a practicing catholic, well, I am more of a cafeteria catholic, I pick and choose what I want to believe…and I think that is ok, you won’t always agree with everything a religion spells out for you.

I think what the pope was trying to say is that there should not even be this debate if people stuck to the principal and did not have sex outside of marriage. Die hard Catholics only have sex to reproduce. So its understanding, well at least to me that the pope and some of the Catholic Church don’t understand this issue.

But at the same time, it is the reality that people are having sex. Heres part of the article that I strongly agree with what we need today are our church leaders preaching, teaching and imploring their members not to go to bed with anyone and everyone. We also need church leaders who are willing to stand up and tell folks that if they do choose to sin -- that's what the church and other faith leaders consider sex outside of marriage -- then you had better take the necessary precautions to protect yourself.

I think this isn’t the solution, but a way to prevent the spread of diseases and unwanted pregnancies, but at the same time, my mind contradicts myself because I don’t think sex should be a topic in church.

I am an active member in my religious community aswell as on campus and I get the point, I know its a different generation and people have sex. But when does and should religion come in to play?

This is a touchy subject and I dont want to go to deep in to my opinion...I just want everyone to look in to this and form their own opinion, here are the sites..
http://www.lisashea.com/lisabase/aboutme/birthcontrol.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/18/martin.condoms/index.html#cnnSTCText
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/28/pope.condom.attacks/index.html#cnnSTCText
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/17/cameroon.pope/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/17/cameroon.pope/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/17/cameroon.pope/index.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/18/martin.condoms/index.html#cnnSTCText







 

I recently conducted some research and study about my campuses distribution policy. I found out that handing out condoms is considered promotion of sex. While I do not condone sex, I am well aware that it is happening on campus. I decided to put three small buckets in the bathrooms to see if students would take them. And of course, they did, many students were very excited about this and thanked me in the hallway. However, the next day, I was told that the resident hall director was looking for me. Jumping to conclusion thinking I was in trouble, I emailed her before the situation would get to out  of control, and tis is that series of emails.

More...

 My first attempts of distribution were quite successful. I conducted a program titled STD Bingo last week and gave away condoms and other educational, yet, humorous prizes. I set the game up like normal bingo, except participant had to enter there answers on there card, and they had a free spot. The word bank had words like "HIV, CONDOMS, ABSTINENCE.." and many other STDs. Then, descriptions and other facts were wrote on pieces of paper to be drawn. For example "This STD is known to make.." and participants had to guess the answer, and found out if they were correct when/if they had a Bingo. I had about 50 people show up to play. It was a very successful effort I gave away nearly 150 condoms. I suggest this for anyone looking for a fun way to educate and reward. This was my first effort and I was surprised about its success.

 Ok, so I was a little disappointed we cant do video blogs because I have been making videos for the past two weeks, and well, I cant use them. So now I am going to post like 5 blogs right in a row. So here it goes.

This is my first, and its basically going to be about me and why I signed up for GACC.

My name is Kristin and I am a 19 year old freshman Criminal Justice Major at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. Go Cougars! Well, I guess I will start with a little about me. I am originally from Rock Falls, IL a small town out in the middle of nowhere. Being a small town kid, I was a shining athlete and I had excellent grades. I also was in the band. So I was pretty well-known and hung out with a lot of people. Well, I experienced all sorts of things, like drunken parties and pregnancy scares. In a small town, there is not much to do, so the youth population tends to experiment with all sorts of things from alcohol and drugs to sex and homosexuality. However, my high school was right next to the health department so there were many resources to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies. This was not the case for when I went away to college.

I chose SXU because it was a small private school in Chicago. Highly rated and Catholic, I figured it was the best place for me because I did not want to go to a huge party school. However, like all colleges, SXU has its moments. However, we have kind of a double standard....I will explain.


Since were a Catholic school, we just assume young adults arent having sex or drinking or experimenting with drugs. The reality is, its 2009 and yes, most students are participating in the events I listed. Some of our school policies are: No overnight guests of the opposite sex; however, all residents of any sex have 24 hour visitation among all dorms. Also, heterosexual couples cannot room together, however, homosexual couples can. With these contradicting rules, one would think there would be available resources to help spread awareness and prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies. But, being a catholic institution, our students do not partake in anything like this. Therefore, nothing is available. No protection. No safety.

I feel as a concerned student, I need to take control and take on this responsibility. So I signed up for the GACC. I was accepted as a safesite and you can read about my distribution efforts and setbacks in upcoming blogs.