Intervention: Condom Conundrum

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youkokun

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I am a (transfer) first-year university student at a public school, so I didn’t expect godly behavior. I knew about the condom express program because the flyers are at the front door in the dorm lobby; applicants fill out their information, send it, and get a nondescript envelope in their mailboxes.

I live in a triple dorm and saw that each of my 18 year old roommates had picked up a flyer. I didn’t comment because it’s none of my business, of course, and I didn’t want to cause friction (I do have lots of religious décor, though…Catholic art calendar, my calligraphic renderings of the Angelus and Apostles’ Creed…) but today I decided to try opening my mailbox and found en envelope addressed to one of my roommates. In hindsight I now know this was stupid but I didn’t immediately make the connection because there’ve been a lot of things to keep track of and I had already sent my mailbox out through a social networking site which my roommates had connected themselves to me on, so I thought maybe the package was FROM the roommate (I just remembered–duh! the name in the center is the recipient!). Anyway, I opened the package and found my roommate’s ordered condoms.

I asked a nearby staffmember what I should do with mismatched mail and he said even if I opened it, it’s not an uncommon problem in the first few weeks and tomorrow I could straighten it out. But now I’m wondering…

Is this an opportunity to throw away the condoms? If she never gets them will that be that much sex she won’t have until she orders more? Would it be a lie of omission? On one hand, I don’t want to lie. On the other hand, I don’t want to, even at that small level of redirecting property to its rightful owner, be involved in sin. Would it be sinning to redirect the condoms? Right now they’re still in my box.
 
In my opinion, and as you said yourself, your dorm-mate’s sex life is none of your business and it’s not your mail. You should give the mail to the addressee.
 
Actually, It is a golden opportunity for evangelization about the Gospel of Life! You hand her the condoms as you tell her you accidently opened her mail, etc. and then present some Church teaching. Pray the Holy Spirit gives you the right words to use and take a deep breath and then ask her if she is aware there are alternatives to peer pressure sex life in college, etc. Ask her if she’d like to join you in your evening Rosary or something. If you are going to remain roomates, you will have plenty of other opportunities. Keep the door open to conversation.

Glenda
 
Actually, It is a golden opportunity for evangelization about the Gospel of Life! You hand her the condoms as you tell her you accidently opened her mail, etc. and then present some Church teaching. Pray the Holy Spirit gives you the right words to use and take a deep breath and then ask her if she is aware there are alternatives to peer pressure sex life in college, etc. Ask her if she’d like to join you in your evening Rosary or something. If you are going to remain roomates, you will have plenty of other opportunities. Keep the door open to conversation.

Glenda
I probably would not do that. Right after handing her mail that you accidentally opened, you will hand her church teachings on contraception? That is going to close that “door” to conversation so fast. In addition you have to live with this person at least for awhile.
 
I probably would not do that. Right after handing her mail that you accidentally opened, you will hand her church teachings on contraception? That is going to close that “door” to conversation so fast. In addition you have to live with this person at least for awhile.
Correct.

The condoms are not your property.
The matter is not your business.

Evangelizing at that point would be a big turnoff.
 
Is this an opportunity to throw away the condoms?
It’s probably a sin, if not against the law, to take something that clearly belongs to someone else, especially if you know to whom it belongs.

I’m assuming the package didn’t come via U.S. mail.
 
If some Catholic Church-related material was accidentally delivered to your roommate, would you appreciate having the roommate destroy it to save you from being exposed to it? The Golden Rule is probably one of the easiest moral codes to understand.
 
If it was via US mail it’s generally a felony to intentionally destroy or misdirect it. Plus, that would be stealing, too. Whether or not what your roommate ordered is moral, it’s still your roommate’s right to not have his or her mail intentionally destroyed.

Think of it this way, Catholic postal workers deliver mail of all kinds, and aren’t expected to only deliver magazines or packages of materials they agree with.

Plus, you never know the reasons behind it. It could have been a mistake! A very devout family member checked the wrong box on a sign up card for free magazines and accidentally ended up on a ton of gay and lesbian magazine mailing lists! Haha
 
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