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Black churches begin prayer week for AIDS
GERMANTOWN COURIER
Philadelphia, PA
03.07.01
By CARISA MCGHEE, STAFF WRITER
The Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS is being
held this week in almost 100 churches across the city, including
several in the Northwest. Its aim is to increase awareness, education,
and compassion for AIDS and those who suffer from it.
Sponsor of the event is The Balm in Gilead, a national faith-based
AIDS service organization, with the Right Foundation, a Philadelphia
faith-based human service provider, acting as local facilitator.
Judy Henderson, founder and director of the Right Foundation, says
that eight out of ten new AIDS cases in Philadelphia are among African
Americans. Until about three years ago, she says, 54 percent of
total cases in the city were gay or bisexual African American men.
Now, 43 percent of cases in Philadelphia are women. "Our numbers
are increasing," she says.
Henderson adds that AIDS is a huge problem in Africa, with one
third of the population infected in some countries, leaving countless
children orphaned or dead.
Nationwide, says Henderson, 62 percent of AIDS cases are among
African Americans and 60 percent of pediatric cases.
Henderson says the reason that the Right Foundation and The Balm
in Gilead are attempting to get Black churches involved in the AIDS
cause is that the church is the oldest and most respected institution
in the African American community.
"People listen to the church," says Henderson. "The
Civil Rights Movement came from the church."
The number of AIDS cases in the African American community can
partly be attributed to ignorance, says Henderson. Many people,
she says, still think of it as a "gay" disease.
But, says Henderson, "It does not discriminate. We are not
listening, as a people, and our numbers continue to increase."
Henderson asserts that churches can make a difference and that
churches are seeing the AIDS numbers, too.
"They [churches] viewed it as a part of sin. They are seeing
that it's affecting more than homosexuals," she says, adding
that no matter whom the disease affect, the churches should be involved.
The opening event for the Week of Prayer was held Sunday, March
4, at Deliverance Evangelistic Church, 2001 Lehigh Avenue.
Activities at local churches include prayer services at the Holy
Temple of Deliverance, 5044-46 Wayne Avenue and at Faith Chapel
Sanctuary of Praise, 108 E. Price Street. On March 11 at 4 p.m.,
the African Christian Fellowship will hold a prayer service at the
Germantown Church of the Brethren, 6611 Germantown Avenue.
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