LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C.: 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:
- Write and distribute for publication their personal reflections and convictions on the issues discussed at the council meeting.
- Participate in a public event in their respective areas in connection with World AIDS Day in December.
- 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.
- 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:
- 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.
- Pamela D. Couture, a professor at Colgate 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.
- 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.
- 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."
- 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.
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."
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."
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."
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.
November 8, 2001
See Also
- Hope for the Children of Africa (part of the Bishops' Initiative on Poverty)
- Statement on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, The Council of Bishops, The United Methodist Church (1988)
- World AIDS Day 2001
Source: United Methodist News Service: McAnally is director of United Methodist News Service, the church's official news agency.