CALLED TO COMPASSION AND

RESPONSIBILITY: A RESPONSE
TO THE HIV/AIDS CRISIS[1]

[1] Based on - NCCB. «Called to Compassion and Responsibility: A

Response to the HIV/AIDS Crisis» in Origins 19/26 (30 November
1989):421,423-34.
 .
Source: UNAIDS. AIDS Epidemic update: December 2004. Geneva: WHO/UNAIDS, 2004
 INTRODUCTION

 The AIDS pandemic challenges the Church

and the world.
 It issues five crucial calls…
…to compassion
…to integrity
…to responsibility
…to social justice
…to prayer and conversion
I. A Call to Compassion

 Compassion is much more than sympathy. It

involves an experience of intimacy by which one
participates in another's life.
 The truly compassionate individual works at his or
her own cost for the others' real good, helping to
rescue them from danger as well as alleviate their
suffering.
 Compassion – love toward persons infected with
HIV – is the only authentic gospel response.
II. A Call to Integrity
 In his 1980 encyclical Rich in Mercy, John Paul II says that
compassion and mercy are rooted in the recognition of human
dignity and integrity.
 All human beings are created in God's image and are called to
the same end - eternal life in communion with God and one
another.
 Everyone, whether believer or nonbeliever, is obliged to honor
the integrity of the human person by respecting himself or
herself along with all other persons.
II. A Call to Integrity

 The meaning of sexuality and personhood can only be fully

discerned within this framework of human integrity.
 Man and woman are made to be a gift to each other and for
each other.
 By their very existence as male and female, by the
complementarity of their sexuality, and by the responsible
exercise of their freedom, man and woman mirror the divine
image implanted in them by God.
 All this requires that we live in a manner that respects the
integrity of our personhood and of our sexuality. Through the
grace of the Spirit it can be done.
II. A Call to Integrity

 Human integrity requires the practice of authentic chastity.

 Chastity is the virtue by which one person integrates one's
sexuality according to the moral demands of one's state in
life.
 It presupposes both self-control and openness to life and
interpersonal love, going beyond the mere desire for physical
pleasure.
 Chastity calls us to affirm and respect the value of the person in
every situation.
 All men and women are meant to live authentically integral
human lives.
II. A Call to Integrity

 Many factors militate against the practice of

chastity today.
– People are pressured to seek power and domination,
especially over other persons, or else to escape into self-
gratification.
– Television, movies, and popular music spread the
message that “Everybody's doing it.”
– Casual sexual encounters and temporary relationships are
treated on par with permanent commitment in marriage.
– The reality of sinfulness is denied ultimately leading to
alienation and disintegration in individual and social life.
II. A Call to Integrity

 The obstacles mentioned above are especially

daunting to youth, the hope of the future.
 Most young people want to be responsible and are
capable of accepting the challenge.
 The rest of us need to help young people live chaste
and responsible lives.
 Adults should not stand by idly while the media and
other social influences bombard youth with amoral
and immoral messages.
II. A Call to Integrity

 Studies of teen sex behaviour indicate that:

– there is a large group of heterosexually active but relatively
immature young people;
– there is little understanding of how to encourage change in their
behavior patterns once these are already well-established.
– the young struggle to establish their sexual identity and to fit
sexuality into their lives. They lack (in many cases) the moral and
religious values that can ground their lives.
Chastity needs to be seen as both a human
attitude and a spiritual gift which empowers
people to act lovingly, while avoiding destructive
relationships that are superficial and trivializing.
II. A Call to Integrity

 Integrity and chastity are virtues that - with God's grace - can
be realized by all people of goodwill, by people of any religion
and of no religion.
 This presupposes a willingness on society's part to create and
sustain a social environment in which individuals truly can
know and choose what is right.
 Perhaps the most important thing that adults can do in this
regard is themselves to be models of upright living. Young
people are confused by adult preaching on sexual responsibility
and adult models of extreme irresponsibility in the sexual
sphere.
II. A Call to Integrity

 Sexual intercourse which is meant to be exclusive

and committed, is an expression of maturity
achieved within the committed relationship of
marriage.
 Casual sexual encounters tend to be exploitative.
They are not indicative of marital suitability and
compatibility.
 Sexual intimacy has two inseparable aspects: It is
unitive, and it is procreative.
III. A Call to Responsibility
 One of the major groups of people affected by HIV
are homosexuals. Awareness of the danger is
growing among them but while some do opt for risk
reduction (use of condoms), few are choosing the
safest and best option – risk avoidance (chastity).
 The Church teaching remains valid - While the
homosexual inclination in itself is not a sin, neither is
homosexual activity “a morally acceptable option.”
 All expressions of homophobia are to be avoided
and condemned; and, homosexuals are urged to
enter into chaste, stable relationships.
III. A Call to Responsibility

 Another major affected group are intravenous drug

users (IDUs). Education in the risks and dangers
along with treatment options aimed at behaviour
change are the best approach to control the spread
of HIV.
 Needle exchange programs might encourage drug
use and indicate that IDU can be made safe which is
never the case.
 The best approach therefore is risk avoidance rather
than risk reduction.
III. A Call to Responsibility
 One of the risk reduction initiatives is by way of prophylactics
or condoms. The “safer sex” approach compromises a truly
human approach to sexuality, encouraging promiscuity, creating
a false sense of security and enabling the spread of the virus.
 It is not condom use that is the solution to this health problem
but appropriate attitudes and corresponding behavior regarding
human sexuality, integrity, and dignity.
 There is an urgent need for education campaigns in the
media, in schools, and in the home that foster a view of
human sexuality that is sound from every point of view.
IV. A Call to Social Justice
 The common good entails
1. preserving and protecting human dignity while guaranteeing the
rights of all;
2. second, caring for all who need help and cannot help
themselves.
 Developed countries need to do more to ensure that
developing nations often the worst affected receive
assistance for prevention programs and to treat those already
affected with the necessary medication and health facilities.
 Scientific and medical research must continue seeking a cure
for HIV and perfecting drugs to treat those infected. Clear
guidelines on the use and effectiveness of new and emerging
drugs are essential.
IV. A Call to Social Justice
 All forms of denial, stigmatization and discrimination make a
serious problem worse. All health and human services for PLWHA
should be delivered in a sensitive and non-discriminatory manner.
PLWHA need to be treated as handicapped or disabled persons and
accorded the fullest measure of personal development of which they
are capable.
 Voluntary testing accompanied by counselling which guarantee
anonymity and provide support are needed.
 Respect for persons requires informed consent from those being
tested, voluntary testing with clear information of test results,
accompanied by counselling and support. Anonymity must be
guaranteed.
IV. A Call to Social Justice

 While presumption should always favor

confidentiality, in some circumstances disclosure
may be warranted.
 If done disclosure should only take place to
prevent the infection of others and to provide
medical care to PLWHA.
 When made it should be done only to those who
have a right to know, and who will use the
information for proper purposes while in turn
maintaining confidentiality.
IV. A Call to Social Justice
 The provision of HIV/AIDS services places stress on health
care workers. Many feel a growing and eventually intolerable
sense of helplessness. They need help to prevent burnout and
support systems to help them deal with their own grief and
anger.
 An HIV diagnosis marks a crucial moment in the lives of many
families. Anger, guilt, sorrow and even rejection are common
reactions. Jesus has set us an example of loving kindness to all
and calls us to reconciliation with those from whom we have
been estranged. Catholic communities (dioceses and parishes)
need to reach out to such families offering understanding and
practical help to cope with the situation.
V. A Call to Prayer and Conversion

 We need to discover Christ in those who suffer that

they in turn may be able to encounter Christ in us.
 This will happen if we are able to look beyond
suffering and culpability to see the human dignity
and goodness of those who suffer.
 We reject the idea that this illness is a direct
punishment from God.
 Even as he permits human suffering, God wills to
bring out of it some greater good for our sake.
V. A Call to Prayer and Conversion
 While none of us is asked to seek suffering we can
use the experience of suffering to appreciate life,
experience love from caring people and to prepare
for life hereafter.
 Suffering has meaning also for the entire Christian
and human community – they are called to respond
with compassion, love and support. We refuse to
contemplate any suggestion of assisted suicide or
euthanasia.
 Life and death are not polar opposites but points on
a continuum that leads to eternal life.
V. A Call to Prayer and Conversion

 One of the important messages we need to communicate to

PLWHA is never to lose heart. Hope is an essential
component of the Christian response to suffering and death.
 PLWHA, their families and loved ones need prayer and
spiritual support to sustain them in hope.
 The lives of holy men and women offer us examples of hope
and joy in the midst of debilitating suffering. We think of St.
Therese of Lisieux – a person who suffered greatly and yet
surrendered in faith to the Lord; and of Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta who personified the human capacity for extraordinary
courage and compassion towards suffering humanity.
V. A Call to Prayer and Conversion
 The Church offers all its members the treasures of sacramental
grace.
– For those who are ill, the Church offers the Sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick, together with the Sacrament of Penance and
the Eucharist. These offer healing, forgiveness and the restoration
of the life of grace - profound moments of conversion and renewal.
– For family members, as well as health-care workers, these
same sacraments provide the inner strength and needed hope that
the world cannot give.
 Other means of support are daily prayer for PLWHA, preparing
lists of resource persons and support systems for PLWHA and
their families, utilizing expertise in Catholic health care facilities
to provide effective responses to the pandemic, etc.
V. A Call to Prayer and Conversion

 The crisis of HIV/AIDS continues but it can be met

with understanding, justice, reason and deep faith.
 HIV/AIDS brings with it new anguish, new terrors and
anxiety, new trials of pain and endurance, new
occasions for compassion.
 But it cannot change one enduring fact: God’s love
for us all.
 “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him should not
perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
REMEMBER…

“If you are compassionate,

you will find practical ways to show you care.”

THE END