USCCB: Don't Praise PEPFAR! - Catholic Stand

According to a recent OSV news article, the USCCB backs the efforts of PEPFAR. As you might expect, the USCCB’s relief and development agency, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), does as well. The acronym, “PEPFAR” stands for the U.S. “President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.” True, PEPFAR does support vulnerable people around the world and has helped in the fight against HIV/AIDS. But–how does it do this?

CRS Supports Contraceptives for Adolescents

How, indeed? Surely the USCCB and CRS know that part of PEPFAR’s strategy includes contraception for adolescents and young women in the countries receiving its grants. Its program includes “comprehensive HIV prevention services” for adolescent girls and young women. These comprehensive services include contraception and other “family planning” assistance. Giving contraceptive prescriptions to adolescents presumes that they will have sex. And given that they’re adolescents, it’s reasonable to assume they likely will do so outside of wedlock.

The Catechism tells us that sex outside of marriage, fornication,

..is gravely contrary to the dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of spouses and the generation and education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young (CCC 2353).

The euphemism, “family planning services” typically includes contraceptives, and can include surgical sterilization and abortion. Yet, the USCCB and CRS encourage the efforts of PEPFAR that encourage this.

Exporting Our Woes to Africa

In our first-world culture, with all its family planning, it seems that we’ve collectively thrown in the towel in the fight for chastity. Recent CDC statistics show that 20% of people in the US have an STD. Almost half of the 26 million cases of STDs in the US were among people aged 15 to 24. The number of children living in single-parent households continues to rise. The rate of poverty among single parents is five times that of couples.

One in four women has suffered an abortion in the US, where the rate of reported abortions averages about a million a year. So, of course, this is all working so well here, so why not export it to third-world cultures and give them a helping hand? If you agree, continue to provide your hard-earned dollars to CRS, and keep quiet about how the government uses your tax dollars for PEPFAR. If not, consider alternative strategies for your almsgiving.

There Are Alternatives

Unlike PEPFAR and the relief arm of USCCB, CRS, and other organizations fighting AIDS presume that individuals wish to live up to their dignity as sons and daughters of the King. Take, for example, Universal Chastity Education (UCE), of whose board I previously was a member of. Founded nearly as long ago as PEPFAR, UCE continues to help people in Africa and the U.S. become free from the slavery of their passions, and of STDs. It does this through the promotion of abstinence and fidelity in marriage, by way of Christian principles. It subscribes to the basics of our Christian faith as stated in the Nicene Creed and in Sacred Scripture. Note the absence of any reference to family planning, condoms or other contraceptive strategies here.

A Faith-Based Approach

While omitting the use of such worldly means, UCE relies on the grace of God, a small, intensely dedicated staff and generous volunteers like the Dernovseks, who brought this program to fruition from their initial dream. Dr. Kim Dernovsek and Dr. Ken Dernovsek saw for themselves the power of prayer and turning back to God in reversing HIV/AIDS trends in Uganda a couple of decades ago.

Following the lead of the Ugandans and God’s will, they brought together the resources to allow Ugandans, and later Burundians and Tanzanians freedom from the scourge of STDs, and freedom in Christ. Since then, they’ve garnered an impressive list of endorsements from many clergy, including the Uganda Joint Christian Council, Archbishop Naumann, Archbishop Aquila, Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala, and many more, for the work their people do.

Generating Positive Results

Sure, you may be thinking, talk is cheap. What about the results? Through outreach events at schools and other venues, UCE has reached hundreds of thousands of young people. Nearly 700,000 have signed chastity pledges. UCE’s website documents a number of findings showing reductions in teen pregnancies where UCE has conducted its outreach programs.

A reduction in teen pregnancies after a UCE outreach in rural Africa is a marker for decreased sexual activity. Where there is a decrease in sexual activity, it follows that there are decreases in related consequences, including HIV/AIDS, STDs and abortions. Unlike the approach used by PEPFAR, supported by the USCCB and CRS, the UCE teams focus on abstinence until faithful marriage and chastity through Christ. Perhaps there are lessons here for us in the developed countries.

Lessons Learned From UCE

One such lesson might be to set high expectations and encourage our people, young and old alike, in those expectations. Consider chastity and abstinence in the context of our dignity as children of God. Look to the message of Theology of the Body in this regard. We each are created in the image and likeness of God, with dignity, identity and purpose:

“The human body includes right from the beginning… the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift – and by means of this gift – fulfills the meaning of his being and existence.” – Pope St. John Paul II

Another lesson we dearly need to learn, in the depths of our hearts, is that God wants to set us free, not tie us up. He gave us the Decalogue, the Beatitudes and other precepts for our good. God is a loving Father. He would never tell us to do something that is not possible. If we, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, why then, don’t we do that, instead of settling for their living in mediocrity? (cf. Mt 7:11) And why would we not expect our loving Father to give us the gifts–the graces–we need to live according to his plan for us? (cf. Phil 4:13)

When you decide firmly to lead a clean life, chastity will not be a burden on you: it will be a crown of triumph ( St. Josemaría Escrivá).