Responsibility in the Time of Aids

by Michael Shackleton · September 2, 2003

RESPONSIBILITY IN THE TIME OF AIDS: A Pastoral Response by Catholic Theologians and AIDS Activists in Southern Africa. Stuart C Bate OMI (ed). St Augustine College of South Africa/ Cluster Publications, 2003. 188pp.

Reviewed by Michael Shackleton

In South Africa there is a perception that HIV/Aids-sufferers deserve little or no sympathy because they have only themselves to blame for their plight. This censorious morality is, of course, unkind and inaccurate, but where are we to find the real reasons for the spread of Aids, and what can the Church do about it?

This poser formed the general theme of a conference held in February 2003, co-hosted by the Aids office of the Southern African Catholic Bishops� Conference, the Catholic Theological Society of Southern Africa, and St Augustine College of South Africa.

The papers presented at that conference and the comments they received make up the contents of this excellent and hugely educational book. It reveals a depth of scholarship and theology that is finely attuned to the immensity of the socio-economic and moral problems and dilemmas facing Southern Africa and the Church in our own time. Aids is such a disastrous affliction that, as one of the writers keenly notes: “No one deserves to have Aids!”

Twelve papers were presented at the conference by 12 international and national experts in their fields, particularly moral theology, psychology, law, health and education.

The book is prefaced by an introduction by Fr Stuart Bate, professor of religious education and pastoral ministry at St Augustine College, who explains the course of the discussions that follow. The responsibility mentioned in the book�s title does not mean apportioning blame but rather the empowerment of people to take charge of their lives in an ethical human response to the crisis that affects us all.

Responsibility is therefore examined in its relation to Catholic tradition, prevention of HIV/Aids, caring for one another, African culture, the media and religious and cultural healing.

Discussions are candid and even critical, and of an academic as well as a downright practical nature. They will impress any reader, particularly anyone who wrongly thought that the Catholic Church�s Aids-awareness and its policy were shallow, misinformed and puritanical.