THE Roman Catholic Church in Livingstone has condemned the distribution of condoms to children below the age of 15 saying it is not the right intervention for combating HIV/AIDS.
Livingstone diocese Jeff Tembo said condoms distribution to children in the country was unacceptable because was not the right intervention for combating the disease.
Fr Tembo said accepting the distribution of condoms to children would also mean that people had accepted defeat in the response to HIV/AIDS.
He said people should follow the biblical teachings of being faihthful to each other and avoid sex before marriage as a condom which was made out of plastic would not help them even in their faith.
Speaking during a Youth Alive workshop in Livingstone on Friday at
Cheshire homes, Fr Tembo said better methods of responding to HIV/AIDS were supposed to be put in place.
“We are supposed to put in the best method in responding to the disease, if we fail to be faithful to each other how can we be faithful to a plastic,” Fr Tembo said.
He said giving condoms especially to children below the age of 15 would be promoting immorality as opposed to promoting being faithfuland abstinence.
“Allowing condoms into schools would be accepting defeat in the fight against HIVAIDS and introducing family planning services would also be accepting defeat in educating the children,” Fr Tembo said.
Fr Tembo said it was important to teach young people how to make informed decisions which they not capable of doing.
He also said there was need to ensure that they is a change of mindset amongst the young people.
“We have to go back to our values that existed in our tradition as it seems nowadays theses longer hold. We still have to go back and see if these can values can still work for this generation,” he said.
And speaking earlier, Youth Alive coordinator Sister Nirmala Tigga said an HIVIADS free generation was possible in Zambia if all the stakeholders worked together.
“The intervention of abstinence that the youths are implementing is like swimming against the current and it is very difficult thing to do,” she said.
Meanwhile, Livingstone District Commissioner (DC) Omar Munsanje said the Government appreciated the supplemented efforts by other stakeholders aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS.
Mr Munsanje said meetings aimed at serving humanity must be commended as HIV/AIDS still continued to be a threat to humanity regardless of their race, gender, religion or political affiliation.
Thank you for condemning this evil act. The asparants themselves are fanatics and conduits of moral corossion in our beloved country.
There is nothing with distributing them to them as long as they are taught not to use them till they are at least 25 at the earliest , commonsense that
Thanks
Catholics get with the program, please! Look a the benefits of this, don’t just be there to criticize.
mushota i dont support u on dz one.. i think it should not be given to them at all, how can u give them condoms and ask them to wait until they turn 25.. thats like giving foood to a hungry man and ask him not to eat until 2 days time, we all knw how that wl end.. it myt b difficult but the best thing is to bear until marriage as sex before marriage is forbidden by religion itself.
Thank you for condemning this evil act. The asparants themselves are fanatics and conduits of moral corossion in our beloved country. Let us all imagine our little boys and girls 7 yrs or older given this latex and oriented on how to use it. Isn’t that immoral?
I personally feel this is a good idea. I believe in giving people options. Being a teenager is tricky. You can talk to your kids about abstinence all day every day until your teenage girl comes home pregnant! In most cases boys are left to “be boys” and girls well they need to take responsibility. So while boys are being boys let them use a condom. And all of you here condemning the exercise do you realize that most teens and kids in their early 20’s now are HIV positive? These are the kids who lost their parents to AIDs and most of them where born HIV positive.
Preach to your fellow pastors also to stop having sex with youg girls below 15 and even married women,pretending to cleanse those ignorant women when they are re-infecting them with more demons
Well spoken Fr. Tembo, U are a shepherd with love for your flock. Indeed our society’s moral fiber is decaying because of these kind of advocates. Observance of God’s demand for man are less emphasised. Thanks to Youth alive and the Catholic Church in general for the firm stance against condoms and artificial contraceptives
kanshi ama infants balapena mukuyi tomba kikikikikikikikiki,thats a pasport to promiscuity if u don’t know,lesa somone…….
Thank you Father for your courage.Indeed immorality is on the increase due to fake,copy paste policies.
Father, I wish you could extend your valuable advice on circumcision. “How can men be faithful to the Knife if they cant be faithful to Water”.
Shame.!
The reality of the matter is that kids as young as 14 are having sex….
Though i’m with the Catholic’s on this one,…. Distributing condoms for them just gives them more reason to have sex….. And besides,… this is under age sex we are talking about
ARREST the one distributing for encouraging or abetting defilement!
How can the father talk about going back to traditional values instead of Spiritual restoration? Nobody can defeat sin without being restored spiritually and it is not by own own powers than we are able to defeat sin. The father had nothing to offer here. Teachings alone will not help anybody unless people are delivered from the evil spirits that make them sin.
Running out off ideas on how to handle the crisis SHAME now its time to increase on immorality in our society you are actually KILLING the next generation the leaders of tomorrow SHAME God help us
children under age of 16 have been defiled by elderly men and women, I thought it wise for the children before they are defiled to advise men and women possibly to use the condoms. “haaa dad let me get a condom for you to have safer sex with me and the dad after hearing you never know may be he may abandon that sex he wanted to commit,” whether we like it children are taught in class how to use them.
This is okay. At least the child will plead with the defiling pastor to put on the condom before the act. These pastors……….awe mwe!!
The kids are having sex anyway. Statistics for Underage pregnancies prove we have a problem. As part of the campaign to stop these pregnancies, we should give them these protectors. It’s no use pontificating morality etc. when we know children are in crisis.
Kids are being given condoms because Catholic priests are molesting them. Kids have to be protected against these peverts, Fr Tembo included.