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Ministers tackle AIDS issues
Times of Trenton (www)
Trenton, NJ
By JOSEPH DEE
02.07.02
Natalie Evans talks with friends at the second annual National Black HIV AIDS
Awareness Day at Maxine's Restaurant in Trenton.
Ministers tackle AIDS issues
Black ministers focus on AIDS awareness
TRENTON _ Black church ministers from throughout the state met yesterday morning
at Maxine's Restaurant to emphasize the crucial role they play in the fight against
AIDS.
More than 250 people filled the South Warren Street restaurant to learn how
to bring AIDS education into their churches and to share stories of how they are
already doing that.
Among those who spoke was Clifton Lacy, who was making his first public appearance
as the new commissioner of the state Health and Senior Services department.
``Government alone cannot solve this problem,'' Lacy said. ``We must educate
the public about getting tested regularly.''
He said ongoing medical care and early treatment for those who test positive
for the virus is essential.
The Rev. Alberta Ware, who represented The Balm in Gilead Inc., said many black
churches were slow to address AIDS. Several speakers said HIV infection rates
are disproportionately high among blacks in New Jersey and nationwide.
``One of the problems in our churches is that we don't want to talk about sexuality
and sex, but you can't talk about HIV and AIDS without talking about sexuality
and sex,'' Ware said.
She said Project FAITH, a program of The New Jersey Human Development Corp.,
which sponsored the breakfast meeting, will teach church officials how to talk
about AIDS with their congregation or will even come to their church and do the
talking.
``If you're uncomfortable talking about it, call Project FAITH or the Balm
in Gilead and have them talk to your church about it,'' Ware said. ``This disease
is 100 percent preventable, but in our community it is 100 percent out of control.''
The Rev. J. Stanley Justice, pastor of Mount Zion A.M.E. Church on Perry Street,
helped organize the meeting and officiated.
``Not only this gathering, but 81 other workshops, should put to rest this
notion that churches are apathetic about HIV/AIDS,'' he said. ``Surely we could
have done more, but we have started and we will continue.''
The Rev. J. Clinton Reynolds Jr, pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in Paterson,
said he has seen a change in how black churches have responded to the epidemic,
spurred in part, sadly, by the death tolls.
``We have been burying quite a few people who have died of AIDS,'' he said.
He said his church is creating a drop-in center for people to get tested and
obtain reliable information about the disease and how to prevent it.
Churches cannot turn their backs on the infected, he said.
``It is a disease and we need to treat it as such,'' Reynolds said. ``People
are sick and they need help and care. It doesn't matter their age, race or sexual
preference.''
Said his wife, Darlene, former Project FAITH executive director, ``People need
a place to talk, and what better place than a church.''
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