Spain's Catholic Church Backs Condoms? Get real! Where are the bishops?

A good friend of mine and former student, now engaged in his doctoral program of studies, forwarded a news release to me recently reporting that "Spain's Catholic Church Backs Condoms." I told him that I'm as sorry that he has to face this sort of rubbish about the Catholic Church in the public media as I'm sorry that we Catholics do. Most readers of such "news releases" (sadly, even many Catholics) won't know enough to see the distinction between what bureaucrats in regional administrative offices of bishops conferences say about local Catholic policies and what is mandated by the Vatican as official Church policy. This is another sad example of bishops not minding the store and keeping faith with the Holy Father to whom they've taken oaths of obedience. Where's a decent protestant reformation when we could use one! Rome says: no condoms for Catholics! A local Catholic bureaucrat says: the Catholic Church approves of the use of condoms for fighting AIDS. Does he mean the Church understands why secular society, which cannot be expected to conform its moral behavior to the Catholic standards, might wish to promote comdomns to prevent the spread AIDS in society at large? It is not clear. Does he mean that the Church approves of Catholics using condomns? It is not clear. Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, the spokesman in question for the Spanish Bishops Conference, met the Spanish health minister as a representative of the church, says the report, adding--note well--"though it was unclear whether he was expressing the official view of the church." Again, it is not clear. Is this not pathetic?! Where is leadership here? Aren't bishops supposed to be shepherds? Meanwhile, the wolves scatter the sheep.