Both the “Sexually Transmitted Infections” and the “H.I.V./AIDS” sections of the college’s Web site say abstinence is the best way to prevent disease and do not mention forms of birth control. The ban on the distribution of condoms on campus is similar to bans at other universities with Catholic founding missions, like the College of the Holy Cross and Stonehill College, both in Massachusetts, and the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana.

The members of the sexual health group say they have no intention of ceasing distributions.

“Students are going to be having sex regardless, and unless they have the education to know that you need to use a condom every time — for pregnancy prevention, S.T.I. prevention — and unless they have them available, they’re not going to use it,” said Lizzie Jekanowski, a senior and the chairwoman of the group. “It harkens to a much deeper Catholic morality of caring for your neighbor — and that’s literally what we’re doing, is caring for our neighbors.”

Ms. Jekanowski estimated that the group hands out up to 5,000 condoms a semester, some of them donated by the Great American Condom Campaign. The group receives money from outside sources like Washington-based Advocates for Youth, and is affiliated with the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

“We just wanted to help normalize the presence of condoms, whereas before, they were super taboo,” said Scott Jelinek, a founding member of the group, who graduated from Boston College in 2010 and teaches at a public school in Denver. “Students need the resources to make safe and healthy decisions.”

The group’s actions have for years stirred opposition from the college’s more conservative students, some of whom have written letters to campus publications and, in 2011, held a demonstration in which they handed out packages of dental floss while the group distributed condoms.

“To sort of be treated like either we’re not adults enough to provide for ourselves, or in some instance we’re animals that can’t control our passions, I think it’s degrading to the student body,” said Nathaniel Sanders, a Boston College senior.