As a Catholic priest, I’m always delighted when people are talking about the Church. At the same time, I’m also frustrated when people are talking about the Church inaccurately. What did Pope Benedict really say about condoms in his recent book length interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, “Light of the World?”

According to some headlines, Pope Benedict “approves,” “justifies,” or “oks” condom use. Yet that isn’t what he said. From the actual book:

“There may be a basis in the case of some individuals, as perhaps when a male prostitute uses a condom, where this can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility, on the way toward recovering an awareness that not everything is allowed and that one cannot do whatever one wants. But it is not really the way to deal with the evil of HIV infection. That can really lie only in a humanization of sexuality.”

Right away, Seewald8212;a good journalist8212;wonders if something new has been said, so he follows up: “Are you saying, then, that the Catholic Church is actually not opposed in principle to the use of condoms??” The clarification and reemphasis from Pope Benedict follows: “[The Catholic Church] of course does not regard it as a real or moral solution, but, in this or that case, there can be nonetheless, in the intention of reducing the risk of infection, a first step in a movement toward a different way, a more human way, of living sexuality.”

The point being made is that some condom use might show the beginnings of humanization or growth in moral awareness8212;which is a good thing, even though sex outside of marriage is always bad. One Catholic author says the Pope’s phrase can be understood as: “if a mugger started using a padded bat to cause less damage to his victims, it certainly is a step in the right direction.” So while the Church has not, does not, and will not approve of any sex outside of natural marriage, it would be a good step in someone’s moral awakening to act in such a manner. This is far from a justification of condoms.

So nothing has changed in official Catholic teaching. If that is the case, where does blame belong? Is it the media for misreporting? No, blame belongs with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, who released the quote. Why choose this small passage from the over 250 pages of answers? Why confuse the public? In this regard, the Vatican is a mystery to this priest.

What doesn’t have to be a mystery is what sort of man is Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict believes in God, believes in Jesus as the only Son of God, and believes that we can know Jesus and know him best through the Catholic faith. Don’t take my word for it, read the book, read the section on condoms and then get to the good stuff.

Father Andrew Dickinson can be contacted at father.dickinson@gmail.com.

It is Homecoming and Hobo Day is almost here. It is near midterm and tests are piling up. Job fairs. Summer internships. As students there are so many ways that you are daily called to give, work, study and strive. I am feeling a little down my effort in Professor Tolle’s Early Political Philosophy Class8212;more accurately my inability to get there for the darn participation grade.

As your Catholic priest, I notice how tired you are this time of year. There are more dark circles around the eyes and a few more pajamas on the way to class. The cool air seems to cause colds or maybe you’re just tired. Students will come to visit me frazzled and frayed8212;I quite often tell them to take a nap. Thirteen years later I still remember how exhausted I was after my first midterm week.

College forces us to grow up in many ways: choices, future plans, friends and responsibility. One area of maturity is to realize our own weakness. We try but our efforts are not good enough. The 4.0 efforts from high school bring a 3.8 at SDSU. Looking beyond homework to our life, our friends and our future we realize that many of our efforts are good but still imperfect and incomplete. In my nine years of college and seminary I made many resolutions about study or homework, only to have them crumble after a few weeks.

There is a fundamental reality in the Christian life that we are damaged and broken by the effects of sin and incapable of mastering ourselves. I often think of Romans 7:19 “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” I know my own frustration and I hear your frustration when you try to do the good but do the evil instead. Where do we turn? Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ makes all things new (Rev. 21:5), Jesus Christ sympathizes with our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15), and Jesus Christ is the divine physician, come to heal the sick (Mark 2:17). If you are feeling old, weak, or sick then you’re in luck. In my spirit, I feel old, weak and sick as well.

I love how he meets me in my weakness and imperfection. It is in the prayer at every Mass that I can worship in spirit and in truth. This is why I love being a Catholic. His perfect sacrifice on Calvary is made present again in an non-bloody but real way so that I can join my old, weak and sick life to his perfect gift. As we pray at Mass, you and I can gather all of those imperfect efforts of the week or day that was and ask the Holy Spirit to join them to Christ on the cross. Amen. I believe. If you tire of your imperfections like I tire of mine, come and join the Church throughout the world and throughout the ages at the foot of the Cross. “Oh, that today you would hear his voice.” (Psalm 95:7).

Masses at Pius XII Newman Center, south of Brown Hall, are at 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sunday as well as 5:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

Father Andrew Dickinson can be contacted at father.dickinson@gmail.com.

“A man can be damned alone but he can only be saved with others.”

This quote, of Slavic origins and attributed to Saint John Climacus, caught my attention this summer while on retreat. In many ways it is a steep challenge to our culture of isolation and individualism. The Christian life is undeniably linked to this communal aspect and it is worth thinking about as we begin a new year.

“A man can be damned alone.” We might think of damnation, isolation or loss as something imposed on us by others. On the contrary, when the Catechism of the Catholic Church talks about Hell, it speaks of the “state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed.” (CCC 1033). Clearly, the individual chooses this “self-exclusion” and we could say that many of us choose a self-made aloneness on a daily basis. On a campus as large as SDSU and with as much technology available for communication, how many of us suffer alone and apart from the multitude with whom we live?

As I preach at Sunday Mass or as I walk through our campus, I can see those hearts that are suffering alone. They bear their pain or guilt as a private burden, certain that no one else understands or cares about their plight. We hear a similar story in that extreme anguish of suicide- “No one cares.” Sin affects our spirit in a similar way; we feel that we alone are left to bear the burden, isolating a part of our heart from God and others.

“He can only be saved with others.” Salvation often appears as an individual question but is intimately tied to others. Saint Paul makes this point in Romans 10:14, “But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?” Whether it is the hand that wrote the Scriptures, the voice that proclaims them, or the friend that invites us to Church, we are only saved with others.

Do we have friends who will help us find faith, hope and love in the midst of the challenges of life? Do we have friend who want our happiness, our virtue, and our salvation? The truth is that if we go to Church and don’t reach out for friends there, we probably won’t be long in Church and we probably won’t be long in our Christian life. The truth is that if we run a Church and don’t reach out to create friends, we won’t long have a Church.

Jesus Christ chose a human life, a human voice with which to effect our salvation. Jesus Christ continues to choose those human means to announce the Good News ever anew- as a living Gospel for all to hear. Your desires for joy and Christian living will flower in a home of kindred spirits, men and women striving for excellence for their selves and for you.

Father Andrew Dickinson can be contacted at father.dickinson@gmail.com