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Thirty-five years into the response to HIV and AIDS, it remains a disease that not only thrives on, but exploits the lines of exclusion and inequality in society. In the Philippines, where there has been an alarming increase in people testing positive for HIV, the country’s National Council of Churches recognized that more than words were needed. While dialogue and debate were important, they needed to translate into action, given the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor in Filipino society, and a faith-based and societal milieu still dominated by a sex-negative theology.

Churches are engaged at the grassroots level throughout the world in the response to HIV and AIDS, but the struggle against the disease and those stigmatized for being HIV positive needs to continue, say church leaders.

As participants in a workshop on HIV offered their personal reflections, they shared how their hearts have been deepened and changed by a dialogue facilitated by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP).

„Ich bin hierhergekommen, um mich über den Unterschied zwischen HIV und AIDS zu informieren und etwas über die Rolle von Frauen und besonders weiblichen Pastoren zu erfahren, die die Menschen in ihrer Gemeinde informieren, sie zu einem selbstbestimmten Umgang mit HIV anleiten und sie über diese Krankheit aufklären“, sagte Pastorin Mary Ann Kadile von der Vereinigten Kirche Christi in den Philippinen. Um an dem HIV-Workshop des Nationalen Kirchenrats der Philippinen (NCCP) teilnehmen zu können, nahm sie die Reise von Mindanao nach San Pablo City auf sich.

“I came here to know the difference between HIV and AIDS, and to distinguish the role of women, especially women pastors, in educating, empowering, and enlightening people in her flock about their view on HIV,” said Rev. Mary Ann Kadile, a pastor from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. She traveled from Mindanao to San Pablo City, Laguna to participate in a workshop on HIV led by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

“Vine aquí para saber la diferencia entre el VIH y el SIDA, y para discernir el papel que tienen las mujeres, especialmente las pastoras, en la formación, la capacitación y la difusión de información entre las personas de sus congregaciones sobre sus perspectivas con respecto al VIH”, explicó la Rev. Mary Ann Kadile, pastora de la Iglesia Unida de Cristo en Filipinas.

«Je suis venue ici pour apprendre la différence entre le VIH et le sida et pour distinguer le rôle spécifique des femmes, en particulier des pasteures, pour éduquer, responsabiliser et éclairer leurs ouailles à propos de leur conception du VIH», déclare la pasteure Mary Ann Kadile, de l’Église unie du Christ aux Philippines. Elle a fait le voyage de Mindanao à San Pablo City, dans la province de Laguna, pour participer à un atelier sur le VIH organisé par le Conseil national des Églises aux Philippines (NCCP).

A resource book on HIV and AIDS has recently been launched by a member church of the WCC promoting visions of a strengthening partnership among churches and faith-based organizations in the Philippines to address country’s HIV epidemic.

Dr Erlinda N. Senturias, a physician, educator, ecumenical activist and former WCC staff member from the Philippines, has been named by President Benigno Aquino III to the nation’s new Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board.

"€œA church has to embrace its sick, go out in the world, and work with its people to heal the communities,"€ said Dr Erlinda N. Senturias from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, in an interview.