Pope Benedict XVI's recent statements on the use of condoms to spread AIDS signals an important shift in the church's approach to this vexed issue. In 2000, two Jesuits--a doctor and a theologian--wrote an article for America detaling what they perceived to be tolerant signals coming from Rome on the use of condoms. Citing an article in L’Osservatore Romano, they argued that the Roman Curia was more tolerant on the matter than individual bishops:

While many readers may be surprised by the article’s tolerance, we are not. Admittedly, the Vatican has intervened otherwise, as in 1988, when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith raised questions about the U.S. Catholic Conference’s pastoral letter The Many Faces of AIDS: A Gospel Response (1987), and again in 1995, when the same congregation acted against a resource pack on H.I.V. education published with an imprimatur by the archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh. However, health care workers and moral theologians have encountered an implicit tolerance from the Roman Curia when they have first asserted church teaching on sexuality and subsequently addressed the prophylactic issue. For instance, more than 25 moral theologians have published articles claiming that without undermining church teaching, church leaders do not have to oppose but may support the distribution of prophylactics within an educational program that first underlines church teaching on sexuality. These arguments are made by invoking moral principles like those of “lesser evil,” “cooperation,” “toleration” and “double effect.” By these arguments, moralists around the world now recognize a theological consensus on the legitimacy of various H.I.V. preventive efforts.

A few days later, walking back from visiting Father Duminuco in the nearby hospital, our superior, Vincent T. O’Keefe, S.J., former vicar general of the Jesuits, had an asthma attack. Or so we thought. It turned out to be more serious. He needed surgery on a heart valve plus a double bypass, which was done on June 21. His recovery at the New York Province infirmary progressed well enough for him to enjoy the celebration of his 50th anniversary as a priest on Aug. 24. Our senior editor, John W. Donohue, S.J., had celebrated the same anniversary in June, along with our Father Minister, James Stehr, S.J., who has been a priest for 25 years. Not to be outdone, John Gallen, S.J., our peripatetic liturgist, also celebrated 50 years as a Jesuit in August.

Although Father O’Keefe will be returning to America House as soon as his recovery has progressed sufficiently, his term as superior ends this year. In the meantime, Father Duminuco, who had to cancel his teaching schedule in Italy and Poland while he mends and undergoes physical therapy, was tapped to act as superior. He will hold the reins until January, when we will welcome back to the community as superior Robert A. Mitchell, S.J., whose career has included service as provincial of the New York Province of the Jesuits, president of the U.S. Jesuit Conference and president of the University of Detroit-Mercy. Most recently he was president of Le Moyne College in Syracuse, N.Y., where as a young priest he had been a teacher and dean after his return from studies in Louvain and later in Strasbourg.

Another transition hit us with the sad departure from America of James E. Brogan, who has been a wonderful colleague and an efficient and knowledgeable assistant editor. Jamey came to us after a stint teaching at St. Aloysius in Harlem as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. As a member of Phi Beta Kappa at Georgetown and a graduate of St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, he enjoyed a thorough Jesuit education. He is now moving to Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., where he was awarded the J.V.C. scholarship. He will be joining other laypersons who are studying for the master of divinity degree, which he will use in teaching or pastoral ministry after he graduates. We wish him well and will miss him.

In the staff listing to the right of this column, longtime readers will