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Black faith groups spend week grappling with AIDS
(cont. page 2)
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Belynda Dunn, 49, founded the Who Touched Me Ministry, a faith-based
education program of the AIDS Action Committee that targets Boston's
black community, in 1993.
She said until recently, black churches were in "total denial"
about how AIDS affects their community, and it took years to convince
church leaders to confront the disease.
"This is a very important Sunday in a very important time,"
said Bishop Hessie Harris, Scott's minister, preaching to several
hundred members of his congregation Sunday. "We cannot afford
to wait for someone to come and do it. You've got to do it for yourself.
Do you hear me?"
"Trust me, it was not an easy task. We had a lot of doors
slammed in our face," she said. "I think, especially within
the churches, the attitude has changed, because with the church,
people have become infected or affected."
Her own experience as a person with AIDS goes to the heart of the
ministry's mission.
"When I tested positive, the first thing I did was go to my
pastor," she said.
Alfred Smith, a Men's Health outreach Coordinator for the nearby
Codman Square Health Center and a member of Harris' congregation,
set up a table in the lobby of the theater where the service took
place, displaying pamphlets on quitting smoking, prostrate cancer
and AIDS.
"The church is the pillar of the community, and people will
go to the church before they go anywhere else," said Smith,
47. "People who are sick and lost need prayer. With an agency,
they say 'fill out a form."
But while "prayer heals everything," he said, black churches
have been slow to confront AIDS. That is changing, he said.
"We're working on it, it's getting better," Smith said.
"We're breaking down walls."
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