God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

Reflections / Gedanken

09/03/2009 • 10:44 pm Comments Off on 03.09.2009 imposed conditions?

03.09.2009 imposed conditions?

Controversial Priest Continues Working

Even though he is known for disagreeing with Catholic Church policies on AIDS and condoms, a German priest has been cleared to continue fighting the disease in Cape Town, South Africa. A spokesperson for Stefan Hippler’s home diocese in Trier, Germany, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, “Despite his critical statements, Hippler has earned great achievements with his work.” (HIVPLUS Magazine)

Quite a lot of people asking me after reading such notices more or less frank whether the permission to stay and work in South Africa is connected to any conditions..   And here is the answer: No, there are no secretly imposed conditions.

There is only the agreement between me and the Bishop of Trier that we want to foster the cooperation between Europe and Africa, between Germany and South Africa, between the dioceses on both continents and the desire to develop a good pastoral care and a good theology regarding the topic HIV and AIDS. To bring Africa more in focus for the department of World Church Affairs in my home diocese of Trier and to work together with Justice & Peace as I do it already here in Cape Town – these should be fruits of my future work with HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic AIDS Network of the Archdiocese of Cape Town.

We both see the immense needs in the field of HIV and AIDS and we both have the desire that the church  indeed serves the people living with the HI virus as much as possible.

Filed under: HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Reflection, , , , , , , , , ,

08/31/2009 • 11:00 am Comments Off on 31.08.2009 A normal Monday…

31.08.2009 A normal Monday…

What do priests do on a normal weekday, as they normally only work on a Sunday, as I hear again and again.  Well, just to tell – at the office at 7 am – reading all emails and answering most of them – then at 8 am brief meeting with the secretary to oversee the work to be accomplished today. After that some phone calls, and the preparation of a talk, I have to give in two weeks time in Durban about “lay piety and religious discipline”. That takes me almost to the middle of the day. In front of me still the first sketches of the sermon for next Sunday, where I have to preach @ the Lutheran Church. HOPE Cape Town also requires still some attention and two meetings outside the office are still due to take place this afternoon. In between some unannounced visitors and the day is complete.

Leaves me at the end of the day with a brief lookout for tomorrow – meetings the whole morning with different people – and giving a talk to a visiting group in the afternoon, followed by a dinner with the group in the evening.


Filed under: Reflection, Uncategorized, ,

08/29/2009 • 1:04 am Comments Off on 29.08.2009 Religious Leaders Absent in the Anti-AIDS Fight & the POZ initiative

29.08.2009 Religious Leaders Absent in the Anti-AIDS Fight & the POZ initiative

The following article I found today on the website “the body” – and caught my attention:
Religious Leaders Absent in the Anti-AIDS Fight  August 21, 2009
Though they exert great influence in the communities in which they serve, religious leaders are not doing enough to fight HIV/AIDS, said experts at the recent ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, held in Bali, Indonesia. “Many religious groups and leaders are unwilling to address HIV/AIDS and make it a priority. Their commitment level is quite low, particularly when compared to the size of their budget and the amount of work they do,” said Donald Messer of the US-based Center of Church and Global AIDS. “We’ve been talking about HIV/AIDS and the religious groups’ response for three decades now. We’re still talking too much even now,” said Fiji’s Dominica Abo. The “most powerful contribution” religious leaders can make is addressing stigma, discrimination, and biases that put groups like women at high risk for the disease. The epidemics impact on women and children needs to be addressed from a faith-based perspective, said the Rev. Youngsook Charlene Kang of the United Methodist Church in the United States, noting that women account for nearly half of all infections worldwide. “We need to call on religious leaders to educate and create new pathways within our churches for parishioners to learn the role that faith communities can play.” Messer noted that many conservative Muslim and Christian groups continue to preach against contraceptives, including condoms, believing they promote promiscuity. “[Yet] when used directly and consistently, condoms are humanity’s best protection and weapon against HIV/AIDS,” he said. “Some religious leaders are more eager to preserve the purity or correctness of theological perspectives than their task to save human lives.”
I guess, that the POZ initiative of HOPE Cape Town and the Justice & Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Cape Town will make a difference and highlight, that we take the fight against stigma, discrimination and bias serious. By working with and for priests, religious and seminarians, who are living with the virus, we address the double stigma of being infected and being infected as a “sacred” person, so to speak.  In this sense we can see a double discrimination – and of course also the bias, as many church leaders do not acknowledge that the pandemic also is amongst us, the clergy.
I am personally thrilled that we got the permission from the local Archbishop of Cape Town to work in this field – and when I will visit the papal council for health care workers end of the year, I will address it and hope that they join hands to work for a transformation from stigma to charisma.

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

08/28/2009 • 9:04 am Comments Off on 28.08.2009 Light at the end of the tunnel…

28.08.2009 Light at the end of the tunnel…

Friday morning, a new day and slowly but surely the clouds of uncertainty are fading away. As it looks in the moment, I will stay in Cape Town to continue my work in the fields of HIV and AIDS with HOPE Cape Town and the Catholic AIDS Network (CAN) of the Archdiocese of Cape Town. This would enable me to built on the last more than 8 years of work in this portfolio. I must admit that I would be very happy to dedicate my time and energy for this cause and to create, develop and foster relationships in this field between Europe and South Africa.

Regarding the German speaking Catholic Communities in Cape Town and Durban the future is now also decided. I accept the fact that there is a termination of contract and I will not take the matter for a juridical review within the church. It would damage the church, waste a lot of energies and I cannot see the need to fight those, who decided to get me out of this portfolio. I don’t feel any need to have a dependency of any kind to them. My farewell in Cape Town will be on the 4th of October 2009, in Durban on the 13.9.2009.
I feel sad about leaving the communities – I felt home with the people in the last 12 years, but I guess, for a priest it is normal to change positions – and in our days, it applies for a lot of professions. The good old times, where priests where sitting for ages in one little village are gone….

But I am also looking forward to the new challenge and I know that I can continue to build on a good foundation – life is good and at the end, the bible is right:  God can write straight on twisted lines. Light at the end of the tunnel…

Filed under: General, Reflection, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , ,

08/20/2009 • 4:13 pm Comments Off on 20.08.2009 Positive clergy

20.08.2009 Positive clergy

Whether it is because people have read some postings or otherwise heard about it, it is amazing that there are people out there believing that a normal priest, a normal religious can not be HIV positive. Why not – I ask back. Also clergy, religious and seminarians, even nuns are only human beings, having a life before entering the state of religious life or being ordained. They continue to be human beings with all what comes with it, they can fail and raise again, and not only once.

Being a priest, religious or seminarian means to be called to holiness, but humanity remains – holiness without humanity, mistakes, errors and a life with ups and downs is not existing. There is nobody being born, raised and then lived a life without falter in this world. And when it comes to the official saints of the church, their holiness can only shine against the humanity, they have shown and experienced in their lives.

Only knowing to be weak, to make mistakes, to go wrong ways – and accepting that, can lead to maturity and to show compassion to others as I am able to show compassion to myself.

Writing this, I also feel, that even to think in the categories of “right” or “wrong” in connection with HIV is wrong. It is not even up to me to judge anybody in this matter. Decisions, we humans make and have to make every day leads to all sort of consequences. The main thing is to accept the consequences and to live your life to the fullest. Leave the judgment to God…

Filed under: HIV and AIDS, Reflection, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blog Categories

Follow God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE on WordPress.com

You can share this blog in many ways..

Bookmark and Share

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,711 other subscribers

Translation – Deutsch? Française? Espanol? …

The translation button is located on each single blog page, Copy the text, click the button and paste it for instant translation:
Website Translation Widget

or for the translation of the front page:

* Click for Translation

Copyright

© Rev Fr Stefan Hippler and HIV, AIDS and HOPE.
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Rev Fr Stefan Hippler and HIV, AIDS and HOPE with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

This not withstanding the following applies:
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.