AIDS Priority Nearly Overlooked by Convention
Episcopal News Service. June 25, 1991 [91167]
Bruce Campbell
The response of the church to the AIDS crisis is a program priority of the Episcopal Church and, by alphabetical arrangement, informed the first resolutions listed in the Blue Book. But key resolutions on AIDS before the 70th General Convention were passed quickly and late in the legislative flurry.
The Joint Commission on AIDS itself, described in resolution A-001, waited until the day before convention ended to be given new life for the next triennium. Joint commissions, unlike standing commissions, exist one triennium at a time and require General Convention ratification to continue.
Other legislation concerning AIDS/HIV education and anti-discrimination policies hurried through the Houses of Bishops and Deputies on the last two days of convention. Deputies skirmished briefly over a message from the House of Bishops requesting concurrence for AIDSHIV youth education.
The deputies eventually concurred in a voice vote on the resolution, dealing with the creation of sensitive, multicultural HIV/AIDS educational resources for youth (A-005a), after Robert Randolph of Fort Worth protested its content as supporting what he termed "the homosexual lifestyle."
By contrast with the pace of legislation, the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC) launched a new churchwide outreach program on the first day of convention, following testimony that the epidemic will claim at least 215,000 lives before the next General Convention.
"AIDS Spoken Here," the new outreach program, is designed to place emphasis upon pastoral care and "challenging the indifference of the human family," NEAC President Holly McAlpen told a news conference.
"We hope to identify parish churches as places of sanctuary, especially during the Decade of Evangelism," Seattle priest Richard Younge, NEAC vice president, added. Also, the program seeks to dispel the myth that AIDS is "old news, or under control," Younge said.
Bishop Barbara Harris of Massachusetts, a new NEAC board member, endorsed the program and its ability to avert "the strain of burnout" among those who have been working in AIDS ministry for some time.
Earlier the morning of the news conference, U.S. Public Health Service specialist Ted Karpf testified before the Joint Committee on Social and Urban Concerns. He stated that some 68,000 people have died with AIDS during the last triennium, and that toll is expected to double by 1993.
Karpf, also a priest in the Diocese of Dallas, testified at the request of federal officials. He urged the committee to endorse all legislation aimed at stopping the spread of AIDS, at enabling those infected with the HIV virus to live as healthfully as possible, and at eliminating discrimination -- especially as the epidemic escalates. AIDS cases increased 34 percent among children and 23 percent among women during the past year, Karpf said. In all, 1.5 million people worldwide are believed to be infected with the HIV virus. Of the 100,000 who have died during the past decade, 75 percent have ranged in age from 22-44.
"That's too many too young," Karpf said, calling upon the church for advocacy and education of all church members -- a call answered by bishops and deputies nearly eight days later.
The convention passed the following resolutions on AIDS policy, which now become the policy of the church:
- Continue the Joint Commission on AIDS (A-001a).
- Affirm the church's AIDS ministry (A-002).
- Continue to prohibit discrimination on the basis of AIDS or HIV infection, and call on every diocese to establish an HIV/AIDS task force (A-003).
- Authorize development of diocesan and congregation-based adult education programs on HIV/AIDS (A-004s).
- Begin culturally sensitive dialogues with and among youth on the HIV/AIDS epidemic especially as it relates to sexual experimentation; prepare multi-language materials (A-005a).
- Encourage ecumenical groups in the National Council of Churches to openly address the HIV/AIDS global epidemic (A-006a).
- Call on all church-related bodies and organizations to review 'Ten Principles for the Workplace" on AIDS discrimination and report to the Joint Commission on AIDS; ask Episcopalians to share these principles with their employers and urge adoption (A-007a).
- Define the church's public policy with regard to the HIV/AIDS epidemic (A-008a).
- Ask for early intervention and anonymous testing for the HIV virus (A-009).
- Advocate a comprehensive health care and medical benefits program with emphasis on the needs of persons with acute and chronic conditions and limited self-care capabilities (A-010).
- Remove HIV from the list of diseases warranting entry restrictions into the United States (B-025).
- Call upon the Congress of the United States to seek means to include the particular issues of women and children in the funding and design of AIDS/HIV research, treatment, and experimental protocols (D-096a).