Dr. Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, visited the dioceses of Chicago and Los Angeles in May 1996 where he visited a number of the outreach ministries of both dioceses, including work with AIDS patients.
The Advent 1996 issue of the International Anglican Family Network "tells of just a few of the projects, linked with churches, which are trying to alleviate the suffering and halt the spread of the disease. In this terrible situation there are signs of hope." Article includes reports from 12 different countries.
"As late as the 1988 Lambeth Conference, bishops from Africa were denying that there was a disease called AIDS". The situation has changed now and the Cape Town joint meeting passed a resolution "that calls for a universal response to AIDS". Several African churches, including those of Uganda and Tanzania have developed AIDS education and prevention programs.
A personal reflection by an Episcopal priest in which he discusses sharing the common cup with an AIDS patient. He confesses that even though he knew the risk of infection was greater for an AIDS patient to receive and that all scientific evidence indicates that AIDS itself cannot be transmitted through the chalice, he was afraid to receive after his parishioner until he truly heard and reflected on the words of administration "The Blood of Christ, the cup of Salvation".
"Reprinted from Anglican Advance, Diocese of Chicago."
Archbishop of Carey, the Most Rev. George Carey, and his wife Eileen, visited the London Lighthouse and CARA, an church run AIDS charity. Dr. Carey said that "AIDS is one of the most important issues facing the Anglican Church worldwide today."
Photo with caption. "Bishop Swing presents a panel commemorating two Episcopal priests as a reminder that `AIDS effects and threatens men, women, children of every walk of life', according to NAMES project director Anthony Turney".
"The Primate of Southern Africa, the Bishop of Washington and a canon from the Diocese of Florida have teamed up to win a $10 million grant to combat HIV/AIDS through the work of the Anglican church in southern Africa, the United States Agency for International Development announced this week. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane, Bishop John B. Chane and the Rev. Canon Robert V. Lee of FreshMinistries, an ecumenical non-profit organization in Jacksonville, Florida, worked together on the grant which will allow the Church of the Province of Southern Africa to hire hundreds of young outreach workers and indigenous leaders who will be trained to offer age-appropriate instruction in AIDS prevention to children and young adults". "Mr. Lee said the program in southern Africa will be modeled on practices pioneered in Uganda where HIV/AIDS rated have dropped dramatically due to changes in sexual behavior. Among its priorities are teaching abstinence before marriage, increasing the number of people who know their HIV status, promoting open discussion about the disease, and decreasing the stigma that surrounds AIDS in much of Africa". "Both Archbishop Ndungane and Bishop Chane said the grant came at an important time for the Anglican Communion, which has experienced upheaval over its member provinces' conflicting teachings on homosexuality." "This is a wonderful example of how different provinces can work together to build God;s Kingdom, and witness to his Gospel', Ndungane said. `The needs of God's people mandate that we persevere with one another, rather than letting our differences tear the Communion apart'." From Episcopal News Service.
Sermon by the Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres, at the 10th anniversary service, held at the Guards Chapel, Westminster, to celebrate the life of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. "At a time when people are suspicious of rhetoric, the monarchy communicates by symbol and simple speech and the Princess brought her own gifts to this work. She was still only 26 when she shook the hand of a patient at the opening of the Middlesex Hospital's AIDS ward, the first in the UK. It is hard now to credit the degree of fear and prejudice which surrounded AIDS in the eighties. Those familiar with the field have no doubt that the Princess played a significant part in overcoming a harmful and even cruel taboo is a gesture which was not choreographed but sprang from a deep identification with those who were vulnerable and on the margin". "Her work in the very last year of her life for the victims of landmines also caught the popular imagination internationally and certainly accelerated the adoption of the Ottawa Convention, banning the use of weapon which disproportionately kills and maims women and children. She proved the eloquence of embrace and touch which of course have been used by royal healers through the centuries. And as she said 'the biggest disease today is not leprosy or TB but the feeling of being unwanted'." "Let this service mark the point at which we let her rest in peace and dwell on her memory with thanksgiving and compassion while we pray in the words of St. Paul for all those who serve our country as members of the Royal Family and most especially for the sons who were so precious to her".