HIV/AIDS. (Letters).

ONE OF THE REASONS WE have not yet conquered the my epidemic in southern Africa is because HIV is suffused with shame ("A Moralistic Crusade: Sex, Condoms and the Catholic Hierarchy," Serra Sippel and "Catholics in Zimbabwe: Sex, Celibacy and the taDS Crisis, Paul Gundani, Autumn 2002). This shame comes from stigma and discrimination. Faith organizations must become leaders in supporting communities to overcome this fear and shame, by promoting love, acceptance, dignity and humanity, attributes associated with religious belief and spirituality.

Instead we find the leaders of the Catholic church encouraging stigma through their approach to HIV prevention and care. By preaching that abstinence is the only moral choice outside marriage, they instill a sense of failure in young people who have sex, and who do so without protection because the use of condoms is a "sin." Even within marriage, the church hierarchy instills the same sense of shame in women who want to protect themselves by asking their husbands to use condoms. They continuously ignore the realities of people's lives, the poverty and the powerlessness so many face.

Faith leaders have the most power to make a difference in this epidemic as communities look to them for guidance. Faith leaders should be preaching the reality of AIDS, work with families to be open about living with HIV, advocate on behalf of people living with HIV for treatment and care, and support men and women in responsible behavior, including safer sex: abstinence, fidelity and condom use, as appropriate.

DR. SUNANDA RAY
Executive Director, Southern
Africa AIDS Information
Dissemination Service
Harare, Zimbabwe

"LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I have loved you." (Fn. 15,12)

As a Catholic infected with the AIDS virus since 1989, this little commandment is what has given me the strength to live. To know that I am loved by God, to have confidence in his goodness and in his infinite generosity gives me the power to continue forward, day after day, on this marvelous path called life.

Love and respect for life is spoken of in the declarations of some sectors of the hierarchy of the church. Throughout the history of Christianity, we have witnessed how positions that have seemed immovable have changed. We remember the case of Galileo as just one among many.

We now have in our hands the use of the condom to save lives. For common men and women who do not understand theological or philosophical discussions, who find God in everyday experiences, the correct use of a condom prevents the transmission of AIDS. Without forgetting abstinence and faithfulness, one must teach, in Christian values, respect and love for others, and that the use of the condom is another tool to prevent the spread of a virus that each day causes the death of thousands of people all over the world.

ALEX GELONCH
Barcelona, Spain