EAA - Religious leaders living with HIV share experience, hopes and dreams

[Worldwide Faith News]

Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
For immediate release
4 August 2008

Religious leaders living with HIV share experience, hopes and dreams

Speakers and participants in the Inaugural Summit of Religious 
Leaders Living with HIV shared stories of their experiences with HIV, 
and their hopes and dreams for the church and their community.

Held in Mexico City on 3 August, the summit was sponsored by the 
newly formed International Network of Religious Leaders Living with 
or Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+). The network was 
formally launched the day before as part of the faith-based 
participation at the 17th International AIDS Conference.

At the summit, some 30 participants discussed overcoming stigma and 
discrimination, living positively with HIV, and mobilizing and 
empowering faith communities. In a statement, they affirmed their 
conviction that "religious leaders are uniquely positioned to bring 
an end to the stigma and discrimination experienced by people living 
with HIV".

Overcoming stigma
Stigma originates from a cycle in which some people believe that AIDS 
equals sex, which equals sin, which equals death, said the Rev. J.P. 
Heath, acting executive director of INERELA+ and its African 
predecessor, ANERELA+, which has 3,500 members in 23 countries.

According to Heath, who has been living with HIV since 2000, in order 
to break the stigma, faith communities can deliver messages that HIV 
is preventable and manageable. Prevention messages include safe 
sexual practices, abstinence, voluntary testing and empowerment, he said.

"I believe that God can use HIV to heal the church.  I also believe 
that we are the church, the body of the Christ, and together, stigma 
and discrimination can be something of the past," Heath said.

"We religious leaders have contributed so much to the stigma and 
discrimination within our places of worship," said Pastor Maxwell 
Kapachawo, coordinator of ANERELA+ in Zimbabwe. HIV is not a moral 
issue, it's a virus Kapachawo said, urging participants to believe in 
themselves, and defeat "self-stigma" so they can work with others who 
are HIV-positive.

Living positively with HIV and empowering faith communities
The Rev. Paul Mogkethi, from the Metropolitan Community Church in 
Johannesburg, South Africa, said he learned he was HIV-positive in 
1999, about the same time he was ordained.

He began to disclose his status with one-on-one conversations with 
his family, and finally his congregation.  "I found great strength 
within my own congregation, when I shared my status.  I knew they 
would always stand by me," he said.
Religious leaders and people living with HIV can do many things 
together, said Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga, chairperson of the 
Bolivian REDBOL+.  She suggested creating spaces for dialogue, 
reviewing teachings and words about "the other," reducing blame, 
accepting that AIDS is no one's fault, and recognizing that "AIDS 
offers an opportunity to bring these principles into reality for a 
broken world."

ANERELA+ and now, INERELA+, is a "movement" not a network, said the 
Rev. James M. Matarazzo Jr., acting director of INERELA+.  According 
to him, INERELA+ makes it possible to "empower religious leaders to 
be instruments of hope and change in their communities," he 
said.  Community members respond to HIV and AIDS in many ways, 
changing "hearts and minds" when clergy are involved, he said.

For Sally Smith, an advisor to the Civil Society Partnerships Unit of 
UNAIDS, faith communities can provide HIV and AIDS education and 
accompaniment through "inreach" to members and leaders. "The 
credibility of our outreach is measured by our inreach."

Notes for Media
The summit statement is available for downloading at: 
http://www.e-alliance.ch/media/media-7357.doc
Extensive coverage, including photos, news, features, video and 
audio, of faith-based participation at the International AIDS 
Conference is available at http://iac.e-alliance.ch/ All material can 
be reprinted free of charge providing credit is given to the source.
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The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance is a broad international network of 
churches and Christian organizations cooperating in advocacy on 
global trade and HIV and AIDS. The Alliance is based in Geneva, 
Switzerland. For more information, see http://www.e-alliance.ch/