Leading African prelate responds to CDF statement on condoms

January 28, 2011

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg, one of Africa’s leading prelates, addressed the bishops of South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland on January 25.

Archbishop Tlhagale said that the three nations are “characterized by graft, violent crimes, corruption, the serious lack of service delivery, and self enrichment by those in positions of responsibility … To the majority of the ordinary citizens, the promises of democracy and rule of law are not only dreams that have failed but in many a reminder of the painful experiences of the past.”

In this context, the prelate introduced “some pressing questions”:

If our Christian morality is based on our faith in God and if faith is a matter of choice (personal), is morality also not a question of personal choice? There is such a thing as a secular morality? How does Christian morality face up to it? Can Christian leaders discuss moral issues with non believers without reference to God? Is it a fair assumption that our countries are Christian Countries? If so, does this allow Christian leaders to impose on the people Christian moral principles or threaten them with the fires of hell? What about African Traditional morality, de we as Christians simply dismiss those who believe in traditional morality pagans (levirate, polygamy etc)?

Archbishop Tlhagale then reacted to the recent statement by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the immorality of condom use by prostitutes. In the statement, the Congregation noted that “some commentators have interpreted the words of Benedict XVI [in his recent book-length interview] according to the so-called theory of the ‘lesser evil.’ This theory is, however, susceptible to proportionalistic misinterpretation. An action which is objectively evil, even if a lesser evil, can never be licitly willed. The Holy Father did not say – as some people have claimed – that prostitution with the use of a condom can be chosen as a lesser evil. The Church teaches that prostitution is immoral and should be shunned.”

Reacting to the Congregation’s statement, Archbishop Tlhagale said:

The second issue concerning morality which I wish to raise flows from the statement released by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith explaining the context of the statement of the Holy Father concerning the use of condoms by gay men. The statement points out that the real challenge is to focus on behavior change rather than on condom use.

My question is: What the status of the principle of a lesser evil in Catholic moral theology today? Is casuistic moral thinking still in vogue? Again here I sense a stagnation, a poverty of moral thinking in Africa and a dependency on American-European thinking. HIV & AIDS is not a North Atlantic problem. It is an African problem. It is a disease Africa shares with gay people in Europe and North America. When Europe thinks about moral issues around HIV &AIDS, they think of gay people. In Africa, we think about millions of ordinary men, women and youth, it is high time we challenge our moral theologians to assess the moral challenges of HIV &AIDS. It is high time for the conference to invest in the training of moral theologians in a more systematic fashion. Cynics would say, what more is there to think about? We have the Ten Commandments! We have a duty not to allow the imaginative genius of the human spirit to stagnate or die.

 

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Further information:

• The role of the church in Society (Fides)
• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: Regarding Certain Interpretations of "Light of the World"