HIV/AIDS hits African American community hardest

Social justice news
July 2001

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HIV/AIDS hits African American community hardest
Beverly Carroll is getting very tired of hearing more bad news about the rise of AIDS and HIV infection in the African American community. Twenty years into the AIDS epidemic, rates of new infections in the United States overall have slowed, but HIV incidence seems to be increasing among young, gay black men. "It appears as though we're losing the battle in the African American community," says Carroll, the executive director of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for African American Catholics.

In February, the New York Department of Health found that 30 percent of young, gay black men are infected with the AIDS virus. Last month, the Centers for Disease Control released results of a six-city study that showed that nearly 15 percent of African American men ages 23 to 29 who have sex with men became infected annually between 1988 and 2000. The comparative incidences for gay Latino men was 3.5 percent and for white men, 2.5 percent.

Finally, the NCCB is responding. Although no office is mandated to address the issue of HIV/AIDS, the Secretariat for African American Catholics has formed an AIDS Task Force to raise awareness in the African American community and to respond with pastoral outreach. The task force is comprised of representatives of several black Catholic organizations—including the National Black Sisters Conference, the National Black Clergy Caucus, the Knights of Peter Claver, and others—and is headed by Bishop J. Terry Steib, S.V.D., chair of the secretariat.

Outreach from the official church is essential, especially since many experts believe the rising incidence of HIV infection in the African American community can be partially attributed to the reluctance of black churches to face up to the issue of homosexuality. "This [increased incidence] speaks to the difficulty within the African American community in talking about sex, homosexuality, and bisexuality," says Father Rodney DeMartini, executive director of the National Catholic AIDS Network. "Whenever we don't talk about something, in any community, things can get out of hand. The risk increases."

NCAN is the sponsor of an annual HIV/AIDS Ministry Conference, scheduled this year for July 19-24 at Loyola University in Chicago. The conference gathers hundreds of those who work in AIDS ministry as volunteers, care providers, educators, agency leaders, as well as those living with HIV/AIDS, for six days of support, sharing, and exposure to new information and approached in AIDS education and ministry.

The new AIDS Task Force is working with parishes to educate Catholics in the pews about the impact of HIV/AIDS in the African American community. It also is promoting the Week of Prayer for AIDS in March and the World AIDS Day on December 1. Within the next few months, the task force members also hope to identify and partner with others who are engaged in this issue, possibly connecting on the Internet.

Throughout its work, the task force is stressing Christian compassion. "First of all, we have a moral responsibility to be compassionate," says Carroll. "We can't afford for our people to carry this kind of burden in isolation. We want all our families in any type of crisis to see the church as a safe haven. We hear stories of people burying their children in isolation. As church, we just can't tolerate that."—Heidi Schlumpf

For more information:
Centers for Disease Control's most recent report
National Catholic AIDS Network
NCCB Secretariat for African American Catholics

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