The celebratory opening of the newly completed St Mary’s Cathedral saw a small group of "sisters" of a different kind, demonstrating against what they say are unjust and oppressive teachings of the Catholic Church.
Two members of the global satirical gay advocacy organisation, the Sisters of Perpetual Induldgence and around eight associates waved rainbow flags adorned with inflated condoms from across the road at St Mary’s Murray Street entrance.
Largely ignored by Church-goers the demonstrators held placards with the phrases such as "Jesus is Gay" and "Free Condoms Here," telling local media that the Church’s advocacy of traditional marriage and opposition to condoms could contribute to suicide rates and AIDS-related deaths.
One demonstrator shouted "Mr Hickey advocate for condoms please" as the Archbishop made his way onto the Cathedral grounds.
A man dressed in a religious sister’s costume said that the demonstrators "were not against the Catholic Church. We just want equal rights for all."
Earlier this year while visiting Africa, Pope Benedict decried condoms as part of the problem and not a solution to the world wide HIV-AIDS crisis.
“I would say that this problem of AIDS can’t be overcome only with publicity slogans,” he said.
“If there is not the soul, if the Africans are not helped, the scourge can’t be resolved with the distribution of condoms: on the contrary, there is a risk of increasing the problem.
“The solution can only be found in a double commitment: first, a humanization of sexuality, that is, a spiritual and human renewal that brings with it a new way of behaving with one another; and second, a true friendship, also and above all for those who suffer, the willingness – even with sacrifice and self-denial – to be with the suffering.
“These are the factors that help and that lead to visible progress.” The Pope was supported by leading HIV-AIDS researchers around the globe.
Cardinal George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, who was present at the Cathedral’s opening wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that condoms encouraged promiscuity and did not address the spiritual disorder which leads to non-marital sex.
‘"The idea that you can solve a great spiritual and health crisis like AIDS with a few mechanical contraptions like condoms is ridiculous," he wrote. In December last year, Pope Benedict XVI said that it was not outmoded "for the Church to speak of the nature of the human being as man and woman," adding that contempt for the "language of creation [would] lead to the self destruction of humanity."