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DignityUSA DATELINE

Volume 10, No. 7
Summer 2001

Gay Catholic Group Rebukes Church on Response to AIDS

Notes Insufficient Response over 20 Years; Calls for "Examination of Conscience," Concrete Action on HIV

Washington, DC — Noting the 20th anniversary of the first reports of AIDS in the June 5, 1981 edition of the Center for Disease Control's Morbidity and Mortality Reports, leaders of DignityUSA are calling on the Roman Catholic Church to review its response to the epidemic. Dignity is the largest organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Catholics in the US.

"We call on our Church leaders to engage in a serious Examination of Conscience about how they have treated AIDS and people with AIDS and HIV," said the group's President, Mary Louise Cervone of Philadelphia. "I think they will realize there have been grave sins of omission as well as sins of commission on their parts."

Cervone continued, "Over 20 million people worldwide have died of AIDS in the past 20 years. Nearly 36 million people are currently infected with HIV. Over 14,500 people get infected with HIV every day.  This disease has affected the lives of millions of God's children.  Our Church should be using its enormous moral, political and financial resources to fight for them.  Instead, our leaders have been reluctant to get involved."

DignityUSA applauded the fine care that thousands of Catholic hospitals provide to people with HIV and AIDS. However, Cervone noted, "It's not enough to help people once they are sick, and bury them when they die.  The Catholic Church should be in the forefront of efforts to eradicate HIV. Instead, our bishops' actions, and lack of action, virtually guarantee that HIV continues to infect people."

Cervone pointed to Church leaders' opposition to scientifically proven prevention efforts such as condom distribution and needle exchange programs as socially irresponsible and morally bankrupt.  She also questioned their relative silence on efforts to make AIDS drugs more affordable and universally accessible.

"Where are the voices of the Pope and the Bishops? Why don't we hear them calling on drug companies and wealthy countries to demand that medications be made more accessible in developing countries? Why aren't they challenging pharmaceutical manufacturers to reduce the cost of these life-saving drugs? Given the vast financial resources of the Roman Catholic Church, why isn't the Vatican buying AIDS drugs and providing the means to make them available to the world's poorest people?" asked Cervone.

Cervone also noted that people living with HIV or AIDS still hesitate to turn to Catholic officials for help.

"People tell us they expect the Church's reaction to be condemnation, especially if they contracted HIV through sexual activities," said Cervone. "After 20 years, we continue to hear from parents who are afraid to tell anyone in their parish that their son or daughter has HIV or died of AIDS. The Church has created a climate of shame for people who have this disease and their caregivers.  It is the Church that should feel ashamed."

DignityUSA said that it is time for the Catholic Church to become a leader in the fight against HIV. The group called on Church leaders to take the following actions:

• Make a public statement recognizing the 20th Anniversary of AIDS, honoring those who have lost their lives to the disease, pledging support to people currently living with HIV and committing Church resources to work for the eradication of the virus worldwide.
• Call on pharmaceutical companies, philanthropic institutions and governments of developed nations to make treatment of HIV/AIDS more widely accessible in poor countries, especially sub-Saharan Africa.
• Use Vatican funding to purchase AIDS medications and distribute them to impoverished people.
• Immediately cease public opposition to measures that reduce or prevent transmission of HIV.
• Institute Masses for people with HIV, their families, caregivers and survivors of those who have died of AIDS in every US diocese and every parish in the world.
• Apologize for attitudes and actions that have demeaned people with HIV/AIDS and their families and have led people to avoid seeking pastoral care from the Catholic Church.

"For Church leaders to do these things would send a clear and powerful message to the entire world that Catholics understand the devastation that HIV and AIDS cause to people in every nation on the planet. These six simple steps would vastly improve the quality of life and standard of care for people living with HIV, and most assuredly, will save lives," concluded Cervone.

WERE YOU A PART OF DIGNITY HISTORY?

July 3-8 marks what could be a truly historic gathering of the DignityUSA family, as over 300 people will be meeting for the House of Delegates and Fifteenth Biennial Dignity Convention in Chicago. During the House, decisions about how DignityUSA will be structured to meet the challenges of the future will be made by representatives from every Chapter in the country.

During the Convention, DignityUSA will hear from past and present leaders of our movement, including John McNeill, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, Fr. Bob Nugent, Christian de la Huerta, and a number of our own past Presidents. Gramick and Nugent will receive Dignity's prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for their decades of courageous and groundbreaking ministry to the LGBT community and our families. If you were not able to be a part of this important organizational milestone personally, find out about it from a friend who was there. And plan ahead now, so you'll be there when we next come together in Las Vegas during the summer of 2003!

Dignity News Service - Keeping in touch

The Dignity News Service has now expanded to include even more news.  If you are a current subscriber to the Dignity News Service then you already know that DignityUSA has posted nearly 30 messages as of June 9 since the inception of this service in October, 2000.  If you are not among the over 1000 current subscribers then you are missing out on a lot of information.  The DignityNews Service has fast become the major source of up-to-date information for our membership.  If you would like to be kept informed of news that is relevant to you then subscribe now or send an email to our Vice-President, Pat McArron (ptmcarron@cox.net) and he will personally see to it that you are subscribed to the service.

SET YOUR OWN COURSE

…for Ft. Lauderdale and a departure with DignityUSA members, family and friends on an Eastern Caribbean cruise.

DignityUSA is sponsoring a sun-filled, week-long cruise on board Princess Cruise Line's GOLDEN PRINCESS. Depart Ft. Lauderdale on February 16, 2002, and visit St. Maarten, St. Thomas and a private island, returning on February 23rd. There will also be three full days at sea. Cruise prices range from $1,475 to $2,050 per person (air from your home is extra), and this includes a contribution to DignityUSA! Register by August 20 to assure your space on board.

More information…

Solidarity Sunday - Never too early to plan

Solidarity Sunday is dedicated to the memory of the many who have lost their lives through violence because of who they were or who they were perceived to be. May their deaths not have been in vain. Let us work together to end verbal and physical violence against anyone, including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders! Visit the DignityUSA website to get all the information you need for Solidarity Sunday, 2001. http://www.dignityusa.org/solidarity/

Three CTA National Conferences in 2001 Celebrating 25 years of Call To Action

You are encouraged to participate in any one or more of the three Call to Action National Conferences being held this year in: LOS ANGELES, Aug. 3-5, 2001; PHILADELPHIA,  Sept. 14-16, 2001; CHICAGO, Nov. 2-4, 2001.

DignityUSA will be conducting workshops at two of the conferences, staffing information tables and hosting receptions at all three.  Dignity welcomes all volunteers interested in helping with the information tables and receptions.  For more information on the conferences visit the CTA website at www.cta-usa.org, and to volunteer to help contact Marianne Duddy at DignityExecDir@aol.com.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

People of Dignity! Speak Up… and Take Personal Responsibility!

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