AIDS shows need for justice

By Fr. James Herring, O.Praem.

	Fr. James Herring

The AIDS pandemic reflects an image of the ongoing struggle to bring Gospel justice and more equitable sharing of human and financial resources for the sake of the poor. Advent celebrates our commitment to respond to the "waiting" for care and compassion that faces so many people in the world today.

At Masses all around the United States in cities as diverse and distant as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Anchorage, Denver, Spokane, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta, St. Paul, Wilmington, Las Vegas, Chicago, Providence, Richmond, Detroit, Phoenix, Albuquerque, and De Pere, we mark World AIDS Day, a day when the entire world community recognizes the impact of AIDS on the global family.

World AIDS Day is also a day when the world joins hands and hearts to address the pain, the stigma, and the great loss of so many lives; a time for us to unite with the international community in addressing AIDS, a time for us to witness, by our words and actions, the compassion of Jesus and to pray as a people of faith and hope for the healing of HIV/AIDS.

	Related article: from December 1, 2006 issue: • Solidarity calls us to see, affirm human dignity     We must act as Jesus did with the woman     at the well when we meet those with AIDS

The Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care joins with other national and international organizations to bring more awareness and education in the world campaign of combating AIDS. It is estimated that in 2005, there were approximately 38.6 million people living with HIV and AIDS in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region with 24.5 million cases in adults (age 15 and older) and children.

The Catholic Church continues to make her contributions both in prevention and in caring for persons afflicted by HIV/AIDS and their families, through medical care and assistance and at the social, spiritual, and pastoral levels, serving 25% of those who suffer from the disease. Local churches, religious institutions, and lay associations have promoted many projects and programs dealing with training and education, prevention and assistance, care and pastoral companionship of those affected, through love, a sense of responsibility, and a spirit of charity.

The grim reality of AIDS presents the church with more than just a public health crisis; it also involves issues of moral, spiritual, economic, political and social concerns. They particularly challenge the local Catholic Church to marshal its resources and to cultivate a clear and vigorous ministry that is sensitive to and aware of the cultural and social particulars of the many faces of AIDS.

The body of Christ has AIDS. We are the body of Christ and when a member of the Body suffers, we all suffer. It is in the concrete reality of AIDS that the Christian community is called to minister and witness to God's love for all, not just many or some. It is in the concrete reality of being that the human person encounters the Holy Mystery. It is in the concrete reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that the mystery of pain and suffering is unlocked. It is in the compassionate encounter between human persons that the awesome power of God's grace is unleashed.

(Fr. Herring is prior of St. Norbert Abbey, De Pere, and a member of the board of the National Catholic AIDS Network in Chicago. He and Fr. Conrad Kratz, O.Praem., will conduct a day of reflection for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality at St. Norbert Abbey.)