Contact: Anne Morse, Media Coordinator, PRI, 540-660-2733, anne@pop.org; Michael Hichborn, 540-847-5501, mdhichborn@LepantoInstitute.org

FRONT ROYAL, Va., March 11, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic Relief Services implemented Shuga, a three part video series produced by MTV which actively encourages teenagers to use condoms. Over the course of 75 minutes, Shuga features explicit sex scenes, lingerie-clad women, and lewd dancing - all of which contrast with Catholic teaching. Information on Shuga, jointly released by the Population Research Institute and the Lepanto Institute, can be seen here.

Steven Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, condemned CRS' involvement in Shuga: "At a time when the Catholic Church is concerned to protect children from even a hint of sexual abuse, I find it mind boggling that CRS would be involved in an MTV production that promotes sex and condoms to children. What was CRS-Kenya thinking?  And why did it take a year for the head office in Baltimore to shut this project down? There are a lot of unanswered questions here."

Michael Hichborn, President of the Lepanto Institute, echoed Mr. Mosher's concern. "The CRS reports on Shuga confirm that the Catholic charity exposed over 3,000 kids to what amounts to a 75 minute condom commercial."

The new report on Shuga follows on the heels of last week's press conference by the two institutes, at which they reported on a failed attempt by Catholic Relief Services to cover up its involvement with another condom-promoting program, Healthy Choices 2[1] [2] . Shuga is further proof of CRS' collaboration with the federal government to promote contraceptives in Kenya to teenagers.

For background information, see: pop.org/content/kenya-examination.

For further information, please contact:

PRI media coordinator: Anne Morse: anne@pop.org; 540-660-2733

Michael Hichborn: mdhichborn@LepantoInstitute.org; 540-847-5501