Dear Mark Fuhry and any other students who support the opinion that condoms do not violate the Catholic tradition: first, Catholicism is a faith not a tradition. Traditions are things like holidays or rituals. Your idea that condoms do not violate Catholic morals because it’s the year 2011 is idiocy.

Statements from Pope Benedict XVI about condoms became an ambiguity after the fact. He does not think it’s a moral solution to stopping AIDS but rather could be a step for male prostitutes to take moral responsibility for their actions.

Is he just trying to start dialogue about this issue to see what the responses will be?

I think the Pope is simply trying his best to be faithful to God’s word. I hope you know using condoms does violate Catholic faith because artificial contraception violates God’s word (Genesis 1:28). Also if you do this outside of marriage, you could be stealing or advantaging your needs over another through peer pressure and therefore breaking the 8th Commandment. I’m not Catholic, so I am not familiar with all of the reasons why condoms and pre-marital sex go against Catholicism.

If you don’t understand the relations between love, marriage, faith and protecting yourself from diseases, then why don’t you do what most people do-research to find knowledge about these subjects instead of looking for personal pleasure or what you call “entertainment.” Look up the word entertainment. Next to it you don’t find sexual intercourse. You don’t need to experience everything in order to learn from it.

Neither Mercyhurst nor the Catholic faith should be responsible for making condoms available to students for health reasons. It goes against their morals and ethics. It is ultimately an individual’s responsibility to provide their own protection.

What you are asking for is another free handout; next you will want something else for nothing. If you haven’t noticed, this very issue is causing many problems in our country right now from banks to businesses and citizens asking our government to fix everything for us. That’s not what the government was designed to do. Unless the government makes it a law for schools to provide this item for students, you simply have no chance of this happening.

We all know that diseases are out there and have increased in numbers significantly over time; if you decide to have sexual intercourse you are at a higher risk of receiving diseases. If you decide to participate in sexual acts and want a condom, then go buy one yourself, and then be sure to see your doctor for an STD test.

Every person is given free will, and I hope that students at Mercyhurst will make the right choice.