Mahony to Head AIDS Committee : Will Redraft Statement Clarifying Stance on Condoms

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony has been named head of a committee to draft a new statement on AIDS to augment one that many of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops considered morally inadequate.

At a meeting last June, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to leave in place a controversial document on AIDS accepted by the bishops’ 50-member administrative board that suggested that information about condoms might legitimately be included in education designed to prevent the disease. But they acknowledged that the December, 1987, statement had shortcomings and asked that an additional statement be written and voted on by the whole body of 300 bishops.

Some bishops had criticized the 1987 statement, “The Many Faces of AIDS,” on grounds that it left the impression the church had abandoned its official rejection of artificial means of birth control. But other prelates defended the statement, arguing that it opposed a resort to condoms but recognized their value in preventing AIDS among persons who do not follow the church’s teachings on sexual morality.

Also appointed to the new drafting committee by Archbishop John L. May of St. Louis, president of the bishops’ conference, are Cardinals Joseph L. Bernardin of Chicago and Bernard F. Law of Boston, and Bishops Raymond W. Lessard of Savannah, Ga. and William H. Keeler of Harrisburg, Pa.

Less than two weeks after the administrative board released its first statement on AIDS, Mahony issued a revised version for the Los Angeles Archdiocese that eliminated what he called “confusing” language about the use of condoms. Mahony’s clarification said materials explaining “the use of prophylactic devices are not to be endorsed by educators operating under Catholic auspices.”

The proposed statement by Mahony’s committee is expected for consideration at the bishops’ general meeting next June in New Jersey.