ROME, MAY 8, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Superiors-general of religious communities are calling for better teamwork among their congregations so as to make their voices heard in international forums that allot funds to aid and relief projects in the fight against AIDS.
The superiors-general voiced their resolve at a forum held Saturday through Monday in Rome. During the forum, the religious presented the results of a study titled "In Loving Service."
Participants in the forum represented close to 2,000 institutes of consecrated life. In Africa alone, religious institutes have some 800 orphanages and 5,000 medical dispensaries.
"And nevertheless," Father Robert Vitillo told L'Osservatore Romano, "despite their wide-ranging involvement in providing assistance, despite covering 26.7% of all the services related to aid for patients and for populations in general, religious congregations receive only a small fraction, close to 5%, of the U.N. global fun for the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which reaches close to $10 billion."
Father Vitillo is a special consultor on HIV and AIDS for Caritas Internationalis.
"In Loving Service" aimed to give an accurate overview of the work being provided by religious institutions. Some 446 representatives of religious communities responded.
Father Vitillo noted that Catholic centers "welcome everyone, believers and nonbelievers. The Catholic Church is very active both at the medial-sanitary level and in the prevention of the transmission of the virus from mother to child, in caring for orphans, in spiritual assistance, in sexual education, in the promotion of women, in the fields of investigation. But too much of our time is spent seeking funds for all of this."
"For us religious" said Camillian Father Frank Monks, president of the Health Commission of the superiors-general, "lots of challenges remain in areas like justice, ministry, ethics and education; this is why we are asked to overcome the fragmentary approach among us so we can speak with one voice and establish a new culture of communion and cooperation. There are poor nations where Christians offer up to 40% of health services, but have no voice and are left to fight their battles alone, with poor results."
And the needs are often basic. Father Jacques Simporé, molecular geneticist in the Hospital of St. Camilo of Ouagadougou, and a consultor for the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, explained: "Of the 40,000 people who contract HIV every year in Burkina Faso, 10,000 are children infected during pregnancy, birth or from breastfeeding.
"The treatment for preventing the vertical passing-on of HIV has been fully demonstrated, but it loses its efficacy if there is a lack of access to potable water: If they opt to use powdered milk where there is no potable water, where there is no refrigeration, where the most basic hygienic norms are not followed, the child will always be at risk for gastrointestinal infections that can easily be fatal."
ZE08050802 - 2008-05-08
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-22526?l=english
Religious Seek More Funding in AIDS Fight
Superiors-General Call for Teamwork to Get Voices Heard
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