wfn.org | Bishops agree to be more involved with HIV/AIDS issues

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 8, 2001 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.     10-21-31-71B{523}

NOTE: For related coverage of the United Methodist Council of Bishops'
meeting, see UMNS stories #520, #521, #522 and #524.

By Tom McAnally*

LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS) - As a part of their ongoing emphasis on
children and poverty, United Methodist bishops have agreed to give more
attention to issues related to HIV/AIDS.

A major portion of the bishops' semi-annual meeting Nov. 5-9 focused on the
people around the world infected and affected by the virus.

After hours of presentations and discussions during a two-day period, the
bishops unanimously approved a covenant, agreeing to:

7	Write and distribute for publication their personal reflections and
convictions on the issues discussed at the council meeting.
	
7	Participate in a public event in their respective areas in
connection with World AIDS Day in December.
	
7	Seek a meeting with their nation's delegation to the United Nations
Special Session on Children May 8-10 in New York, to express the church's
concern and commitment to children and poverty.
	
7	Explore a partnership between conferences (regions) in developed
nations with those in the least-developed or developing nations. 

Bishop Ann Sherer of the church's Missouri Area is chairwoman of the Task
Force on the Bishop's Initiative on Children and Poverty. Retired Bishop Don
Ott is coordinator.

Speakers at the council sessions represented a wide range of expertise from
around the world:

7	Bishop Fritz Mutti, leader of the church's Kansas Area, and his wife
Etta Mae, who lost two sons to AIDS, told of people who are dealing with the
crisis. One story was of a hospital in India straining to serve an
increasing number of AIDS patients and of the reluctance of Christians to
get involved. "If AIDS was caused by the bite of a mosquito, the Christian
community would be at the forefront of providing care," the bishop said. 
	
7	Pamela D. Couture, a professor at Coalgate Rochester Crozer Divinity
School and a consultant to the council's initiative task force, noted that
the number of people who have died of AIDS and who have tested HIV-positive
exceeds the number of all people killed during World War II. "Poverty does
not cause the AIDS epidemic," she said, "but it certainly contributes to
it." While AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death globally, she said one
out five in Africa is dying of the virus. Of that number, she said, 79
percent got the infection through heterosexual contact; 7 percent through
homosexual contact.
	
7	Esperance M. K. Kayombo, a native of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo who works at the Church Center for the U.N., made an impassioned plea
for the church to "give voice" to women and their health issues.  
	
7	Bishop Nkulu Ntanda Ntambo, of Zambia, said the time for being
"philosophical" about AIDS is over. "We need your action, the action of your
churches and your governments.  People are dying," he declared. In his
culture, he said the discussion of sex is taboo. "It is killing millions of
people, but nobody is allowed to talk about it."
	
7	The Rev. Christo Greyling, a hemophiliac who was infected through a
blood transfusion in the late 1980s, shared issues facing his native South
Africa. The ideal, he said, would be for the church to be "the place where
HIV-positive people and their families could feel safe and at home." The
reality, he noted, is that most churches are either silent or judgmental. He
urged the bishops and other "opinion leaders" to stress the urgency of the
AIDS crisis and to call the churches to action.
	
7	Bishop Felton May, leader of the church's Baltimore-Washington
Conference and chairman of the church's Consultation on a Holistic Strategy
for Africa, said people in positions of responsibility in the denomination
are in a state of denial about AIDS, which he said is like "termites in the
our basement" or "weapons on our borders preparing for an invasion."
	
7	Bishop Daniel Arichea, retired bishop from the Philippines, said the
church in his country is also in denial. In the Philippines alone, at least
1.5 million children are living with AIDS, he said. "What is the church
doing about it? Very little."
	
7	The Rev. Fred Smith, a United Methodist pastor and seminary
professor from the Pittsburgh area and a consultant to the bishops' task
force, reported that one in 50 black men and one in 160 black women in the
United States are HIV-positive "and yet we don't believe we have a problem."
	
7	Bishop Joseph Sprague, leader of the church's Chicago Area and a
member of the bishops' task force, said the AIDS crisis and poverty must be
dealt with through reflection, research and action. "We United Methodists
are experts in reflection and research, but now it is time to act," he said.

The bishops were told that the church's Board of Church and Society has
joined with more than 75 other organizations in sending a letter asking
President Bush to submit to Congress an emergency supplemental request for
$1 billion for a Global AIDS, TB and Malaria Fund.

"We recognize the federal budget faces severe limits," the letter says.
"Nevertheless, the magnitude and projected global impact of HIV/AIDS demands
a greater response. Without bold interventions now, current projections that
50 million people will be infected by 2005 will be a reality."

The Council of Bishops includes 50 active bishops from the United States, 17
active bishops from countries in Africa, Europe and the Philippines, and
about 50 active bishops. Serving a one-year term as president of the council
is Bishop Elias Galvan of Seattle.  

# # #

*McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service, the church's
official news agency.

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United Methodist News Service
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