New York, NY (AHN) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has rejected calls by the Catholic church to end its program of offering free condoms.The Mayor explains that the condoms will help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, adding, "This is not an issue of faith, this is a health issue for the city."
Catholic authorities Cardinal Edward Egan, head of the Archdiocese of New York, and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn criticized Bloomberg in a statement saying he's failed "to protect the moral tone of our community when they encourage inappropriate sexual activity by blanketing our neighborhoods with condoms."
"The taxpayer money that is being spent to distribute condoms and promote the attitude that anything goes would be far better spent in fostering what is true and what is decent."
However, Bloomberg fired back against the statement saying, "They should preach to their congregants what they think is the appropriate ways to live your lives, but the health department has to work with the real world of people not practicing protected sex, not practicing abstinence, and this is a ways to keep people alive."
New York City has contracted LifeStyles to supply the 1.5 million condoms the Big Apple gives away each month. This Valentine's Day the city also unveiled a new design, with volunteers handing the free condoms out across the city.
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