February 1997

Episcopal Church Commission Issues Report

The Commission on HIV/AIDS has issued its report to the Executive Council and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. If accepted, the Report will appear in whole or in part in the proposed legislation of the General Convention in the Blue Book (named for the color of the binding). The Report brings to an end the work of the Commission which, as an interim body of the Church, ceases to function after issuing the Report.

In presenting the Report, the Commissioners noted that, “Since the earliest days of the epidemic, the Episcopal Church has been at the forefront of faith community responses to HIV/AIDS. In direct fulfillment of Presiding Bishop Edmund Browning’s pledge that ‘this church of ours is open to all; there can be no outcasts,’ many Episcopalians have lovingly sought to care for gay men, injection drug users, women and children, and adolescents of all races and creeds and colors suffering due to HIV.

“But as Resolution A003s of the 71st General Convention reminded us, ‘as part of our own growing understanding of the complexity of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the systemic nature of its modes of transmission and our own inability to seek repentance of our prejudices that make a direct contribution to the spread of HIV/AIDS…we will work for…accessible drug treatment, needle access, safe sex programs, and the affirmation of monogamy in all sexual relationships…to ensure the dignity of every human being.’ We must continue to support the vital work of ministries and commissions which help us live into our Baptismal covenant.”

The Commission’s Report calls for sustained action in six broad areas of witness and ministry with special intention and action for populations more recently ravaged by HIV: women, adolescents, people of color, substance abusers, and the poor. For them, and for all God’s people, we must continue to work for Justice, Care for Bodies and Souls, Prevention Education, Sound Public Policy, Fairness in the Church Workplace, and Collaboration.

As a service to the Commission, this issue of the NEACtion Report features the Report in its entirety.

Report of the Commission on HIV/AIDS to the Executive Council and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church

1. Membership

Bishops:

The Rt Rev M. Thomas Shaw, Boston, MA, Chair

Clergy:

The Rev Lucy Talbott, Fayetteville, NC
The Rev Jennifer Walters, Ann Arbor, MI
The Rev Richard Younge, Seattle, WA

Lay Persons:

Mr. Warren W. Buckingham III, Washington, DC
Barbara Cambridge, PhD, Dallas, TX
Mr. Benneville Strohecker, Marblehead, MA, Interim Convener
Ms. Esther Walter, Des Moines, IA, Convener and Secretary
Ms. Jane Wilson, Golden, CO

Liaisons:

Episcopal Church Center Diane Porter, Senior Executive for Program, New York, NY
Executive Council The Rt Rev Frank Turner, Philadelphia, PA
National Episcopal AIDS Coalition The Rev Ted Karpf, Washington, DC

2. The Continuing Crisis

AIDS is the leading cause of death among American men aged 25 to 44. It is the third leading killer of women in the same age range. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 40,000 more men, women, and children in our nation are infected each year. By the turn of the millennium 80,000 American children will have been orphaned by AIDS. World wide, it is estimated that upwards of 20 million people are infected with HIV. Every single infection is preventable. The truth, and changed behavior, can stop AIDS. Telling the truth and calling people to changed behavior is the model set for us by Jesus Christ. We dare do no less.

3. The national Church Responds: Summary of The Commission’s Work

Goals and Objectives In response to resolutions passed at the 71st General Convention, the Commission on HIV/AIDS at its 1995 meetings adopted the following statement of purpose and broad goals to guide its work.

Purpose: Jesus commands us to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. We insist that the Episcopal Church live out these commandments — the Gospel Imperative — in responding to HIV/AIDS. We work to focus the continuing resources, energy, and attention of our Church on achieving these imperatives through four explicit goals:

Goal 1: Advise the Church on the policies and procedures needed to respond to the epidemic in accordance with the Gospel Imperative.

Goal 2: Confront the Church and individual Episcopalians with the personal reality of AIDS to provoke action in love.

Goal 3: To know AIDS and to make AIDS known to the Church.

Goal 4: To announce God’s love in the HIV/AIDS epidemic and call the church to lead and inspire responsible and effective programs and policies on HIV/AIDS in the world.

Actions The Commission is pleased to report that the following work was completed:

  • presented two sessions of extended anti-racism training for Commission members

  • consulted with the AIDS National Interfaith Network, National AIDS Fund, AIDS Action Council, and other secular bodies in our work and deliberations

  • engaged the Union of Black Episcopalians, the Office of Government Affairs and its Public Policy Network, and other Church associations in a more complete response to the AIDS/HIV pandemic

  • helped secure national church support of Episcopal leadership of the AIDS National Interfaith Network

  • prepared and updated a report on the “State of the HIV Epidemic” and delivered same to Executive Council on two separate occasions

  • surveyed all Episcopal seminaries on ways they prepare seminarians to engage in HIV/AIDS ministries; prepared and disseminated a report on the survey results

  • participated in the October 1995 meeting on the structure of the Church

  • participated in the October 1995 consultation of some 20 Episcopal organizations and agencies who are potential partners in HIV/AIDS ministry

  • provided consultation to program personnel at the National Church Center; actively promoted use of the Episcopal Guide to Teen AIDS Prevention (TAP); supported National Episcopal AIDS Coalition leadership in conducting Provincial TAP training

  • established partnerships with other Church bodies to secure General Convention action on fairness in the Church workplace, health care quality and access issues, and others

  • developed a Theological Reflection describing how our Christian faith, Anglican tradition, and human reason inform the Episcopal response to the AIDS pandemic

Meetings The Commission met in person five times during the Triennium, including a meeting in conjunction with the October 1996 display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and the In Returning and Rest Retreat of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition (NEAC). Meetings of the full membership and/or the executive committee took place at least once each quarter by teleconference, and a joint meeting with the NEAC Board of Directors was held in early 1997.

4. Goals and Objectives for the Coming Triennium

In celebration of the work of The Joint Commission on AIDS, and that of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, and in recognition of the continuing AIDS crisis, this Commission calls for sustained action in six broad areas of witness and ministry. In each area, we call the whole Church to special intentions and actions with regard to populations more recently ravaged by HIV: women, adolescents, people of color, substance abusers, and the poor. For them, and for all God’s people, we must continue to work for Justice, Care for Bodies and Souls, Prevention Education, Sound Public Policy, Fairness in the Church Workplace, and Collaboration. Summary statements on each of these areas are as follows:

Justice: The sin of racism directly contributes to the transmission of HIV and to inadequate care of those who are ill. We must address the political, social, and economic injustices which put poor and disenfranchised people at grave risk for HIV. We live in a culture that practices punishment and mean-spiritedness before prevention and socially responsible investment. As Christ’s own, and as a Christian Church, it is imperative that our response be rooted in the Gospel Imperative to love one another as God loves us.

Care of Bodies and Souls: We must continue our good works with those we have served since the beginning of the epidemic, as we face new challenges as well. Spiritual and practical needs of those newly encountering AIDS require our response. We must also develop new ministries to care for the souls of those who grieve, of those who are challenged to live into the promise of restored health, and of those who care for the sick and dying. We must develop and expand practical and spiritual ministries which respond to the special needs of care givers, and on the emerging and — with God’s help, the growing — population of long-term survivors of HIV infection and AIDS.

Prevention Education: We must be active and vocal participants — in the Church and in the larger community — in efforts to stop the transmission of HIV. We must advocate continuing and ever greater use of effective prevention education programs that speak candidly, accurately, and with a Christian voice about all behaviors that contribute to infection or that reduce risk of infection. We must confront and repent of our participation in any actions or attitudes that increase the vulnerability to HIV infection of women, people of color, children, and the poor in this nation and around the world.

Sound Public Policy: We must advocate, in collaboration with others wherever possible, for public policies at the national, state, and local levels that reduce both the transmission of HIV and the isolation of all people and families affected by HIV/AIDS. We must honor the extensive and positive legislative tradition of past General Conventions of the Episcopal Church, seeking full implementation of prior resolutions which endorse sound public policies in response to the pandemic. We must develop and pursue Christian responses which protect the well-being of people with HIV and AIDS by engaging in emerging public policy debates about managed care, welfare reform, and changes in Medicaid and Medicare.

Fairness in the Church Workplace: Despite resolutions passed at three General Conventions of this Church (1988, D020; 1991, A007 and A008; 1994, A003s and B028a), lay and ordained employees of our Church continue to lose jobs or health insurance or both as a result of disclosure of their infection with HIV. Every congregation, diocese, province, and agency of the Church must repent of this sin and act affirmatively to end it. These actions must include adoption and consistent application of policies which prohibit such discrimination, and appropriate training of all individuals responsible for personnel actions at every level of the corporate life of our Church.

Collaboration: We must forge creative and productive partnerships with other faith communities, government at all levels, and all people and organizations of good will. We must maintain the network of Episcopal AIDS ministries supported through the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition, and we must also actively support the interfaith and ecumenical ministries in which many individual Episcopalians, congregations, and dioceses are engaged.

5. Recommendations for Action by General Convention

5.1. Proposed Resolution for Continuation of the Commission

Resolution Axxxx: Continuation of the Commission on HIV/AIDS

Resolved, the House of ___________ concurring, That the Commission on HIV/AIDS be continued for the 1998-2000 Triennium due to the expanding and changing HIV pandemic and its effects on individuals, the Church, and the World, and be it further

Resolved, That the Commission on HIV/AIDS report at least annually to the Executive Council of the General Convention on the state of the Church’s response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with particular attention how General Convention resolutions are being implemented, and be it further

Resolved, That the following amounts be included in the budget of the Executive Council for support of the Commission on HIV/AIDS:

$ 12,500 for 1998

$ 12,500 for 1999

$ 12,500 for 2000

$ 37,500 for the Triennium

5.2. Draft Resolutions Proposed to Implement Commission Recommendations

Resolution Axxxx: Program for the National Church: AIDS and Racism

Resolved, the House of ___________ concurring, That the Episcopal Church Center, in collaboration with the Commission on HIV/AIDS and the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition convene consultations during the Triennium to (1) examine in depth the impact of HIV/AIDS in communities of color, (2) clarify the role of racism in AIDS among these communities, and (3) identify specific actions which Episcopalians in communities of color and in the majority community must take in response to HIV/AIDS; and be it further

Resolved, That the sum of $40,000 be appropriated for the conduct of these consultations and distribution of the results of their work.

Resolution Axxxx: Program for the National Church: Prevention

Resolved, the House of ___________ concurring, That the life-saving work of prevention education in the Episcopal Church be continued by providing further Provincial training in the use of the Episcopal Guide to Teens for AIDS Prevention (TAP); and that the ministry of prevention be expanded to young adults, a population at especially grave risk for infection, through development or adaptation of existing resources, to include emphasis on abstinence as well as on proven harm and risk reduction strategies; and be it further

Resolved, That $15,000 per year be appropriated for further Provincial training in Teens for AIDS Prevention, with such sums to be matched by at least one dollar in funding from other sources for every five dollars from the budget of the Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the sum of $25,000 be appropriated for development and publication of a prevention resource for young adults.

Resolution Axxxx: Continuing Witness to God’s Love

Resolved, the House of ___________ concurring, That each congregation, diocese, province, and agency of the Episcopal Church reaffirm its continued commitment to a Christian response to the AIDS/HIV pandemic in our nation and world by signing “The Council Call: A Commitment on HIV/AIDS by People of Faith” as endorsed in Resolution B028a of the 71st General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That during the 1998-2000 Triennium our Church and its members will with special intention preach, pray for, and pursue Justice, Care for Bodies and Souls, Prevention Education, Sound Public Policy, Fairness in the Church Workplace, and Collaboration in our individual and corporate responses to HIV/AIDS.