THE EARLY YEARS (1985-1994)
3.2. The Roman Catholic Church’s Response to HIV and AIDS
3.2.1. Edward T. Rogers: A Pioneer in the Response to HIV and AIDS
3.2.2.1. Episcopal Statements on HIV and AIDS
Between 1985 and 1994 the ZCBC issued four statements whose focus was on the HIV and AIDS epidemic. The most critical ones were those issued in 1987 and 1991.
In October 1987 the ZCBC was the first religious body in Zimbabwe to issue a statement on the new disease. This came at a time when the nation was grappling with understanding the origins of AIDS, its mode of transmission, prevention of HIV and treatment of AIDS-related illness. The statement was entitled ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖490 An overview of the statement indicates that there were six points of emphasis and they include a brief introduction of AIDS, its mode of infection, Christian morality, traditional values, message to youth and the response to the afflicted.491 The ZCBC held the understanding that the disease was a consequence of the law of nature as stated:
First of all we state that our primary concern is for the AIDS sufferers, their families and friends who also suffer much distress. We consider that this severe disease is a consequence of the law of nature. Misuse of alcohol or drugs creates serious health problems. The misuse of sex is the major cause of the spread of AIDS in our society and this, too, brings most serious health problems. AIDS may be seen, too, as God‘s answer to man [man‘s] disregard for His moral law (cf. Matthew 5: 27- 52), but God is the God of compassion who bids us to be compassionate too (cf. Colossians 5: 12-15).492
Thus the bishops believed that there was a strong relationship between AIDS and moral decline in Zimbabwe. The statement issued two years after the State openly admitted the existence of AIDS in Zimbabwe gave the impression that the epidemic was a consequence of sin.
The ZCBC also agreed that AIDS, as it was then commonly called, could be contracted by the use of surgical needles and razor blades. While the epidemic was first discovered among gay people in the US, the bishops warned that heterosexual contact was the main mode of its spread in Zimbabwe:
490 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖
491 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖
492 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖
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But the main mode of transmission of this disease in Africa is by heterosexual contact and it is precisely here that all persons can help to stop its spread. Promiscuity is the root of the problem. The disease is contracted through sexual intercourse with an infected person, male or female. Some medical authorities advocate for the use of a condom during sexual intercourse to prevent infection. However, condoms are not completely reliable and their users still contract AIDS and transmit it to others.493
One could note that according to the bishops‘ statement, there was a conviction that AIDS could be stamped out through moral purity and not through using condoms. In this regard, the Roman Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe targeted Roman Catholic Christians married or single by warning them against promiscuity and exposed false security in the use of condoms. Each church member was expected to exercise Christian moral responsibility as stated:
In order to face this serious health and moral challenge we have to return to the source of morality and consider our attitude to human relationships and to sexuality within this context. Chastity before marriage, and fidelity in marriage, should not be seen as impossible ideals in spite of prevalent sexual laxity.494
The HIV and AIDS epidemic was seen by the ZCBC as a major threat to the youth for the reason that it claimed the lives of the sexually active young adults. The bishops‘
statement in October 1987 also had a specific message to the church‘s youth who were seen as the future of the church and the society. Young people were admonished to be resilient in resisting the temptation of sexual indulgence as stated:
We have a special message for our youth, both young men and young women, to resist the fashion of the day in matters of sexuality. They should try to see their companions as persons of immense worth and beauty and not sexual objects. …We believe that both partners to marriage should feel free to ask for an assurance that their future partner is free of infection even if this may mean taking blood tests to assure themselves.495
The vibe of political independence could have led young people to be immoral and therefore contract HIV. While there were very limited HIV testing facilities at that
493 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖
494 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖
495 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―AIDS and our moral responsibility.‖
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time in Zimbabwe, the ZCBC‘s message indicates the seriousness with which the bishops considered moral purity among young Roman Catholic couples.
The second pastoral statement issued on HIV and AIDS by the ZCBC came in March 1991. It built up on the statement issued four years previously in 1987. The words contained in the statement sounded rather harsh and even confrontational as suggested by the title ―Save our Families: Pastoral Letter on Marriage, Family, Sexuality and the AIDS Epidemic.‖496 Notable changes between the first and second statements were a reflection of the fact that the AIDS scene was evolving. The statement issued in 1991 indicated the intricate relationship between marriage, family, sexuality and the AIDS epidemic. According to the statement, AIDS affected society because of a breakdown in family values whereby married couples were expected to uphold chastity. The bishops pleaded with Roman Catholics to uphold African traditional cultural values on the family as well as the teaching of the church on Holy Matrimony.497 The ZCBC echoed the same sentiments as in the previous statement which argued that AIDS was a consequence of humanity breaking the laws of nature as stated: ―What was meant to be an expression of personal love has become something impersonal, even inhuman.
What was meant to foster lifelong fidelity has become a means of monetary intoxication and excitement.‖498
Furthermore, the statement repeated the notion that AIDS was a moral issue and critiqued what the bishops described as ―blind trust in technological solutions to human problems, combined with moral defeatism that claimed that the use of condoms could prevent HIV.‖499 There is also sense in which the Roman Catholic bishops in Zimbabwe appeared to appreciate that the use of condoms could prevent the spread of HIV and yet they held the same device in suspicion for undermining the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church on marriage and sexuality:
496 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families,‖ A pastoral letter on marriage, family, sexuality and the AIDS epidemic, March 1991. Signatories to the said letter included: Patrick F. Chakaipa (archbishop of Harare), Henry Karlen (bishop of Bulawayo), Francis Mugadzi (bishop of Gweru and vice-president of the ZCBC), Alexio C. Muchabaiwa (bishop of Mutare) Ignatius Prieto SMI (bishop of Hwange), Helmut Reckter SJ (bishop of Chinhoyi), and Patrick M. Mutume (auxiliary bishop of Mutare and secretary general of the ZCBC).
497 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families.‖
498 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families.‖
499 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families.‖
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We do not deny that, speaking on the level of sheer mechanics, if used correctly and regularly, [condoms] reduce the risk of HIV infection to some extent (but by no means completely). But we deny that the widespread use of such or similar devices is the answer to the deep moral crisis which has caused the rapid spread of AIDS in our country.
In fact, propagating condoms is tantamount to admitting moral defeat, and, worse than that, it encourages promiscuity, especially when they are made available to the young.500
HIV infected and affected married couples or families mainly because of the common nature of heterosexual relationships. The pandemic also attacked the central nerve of the community of the faithful. The statement appeared to give the impression that morality is the best way of preventing HIV, a position that was consistent with the church‘s teachings. However, the second statement advised married couples where one of the spouses was HIV positive to seek the services of a counsellor but remained hesitant to prescribe either the use of condoms or to abstain from marital intercourse altogether. This approach was similar to what Baffour Takyi in Ghana viewed as sexual behaviour modification that includes ―abstinence (where possible), the use of condoms in sexual encounters and the treatment of STDs among those viewed as at higher risk of AIDS.‖501
The statement issued in 1991 also drew attention to cases of increased deaths among infants and young children. The bishops responded to the ravages of the AIDS epidemic among mothers and their children when it stated: ―Even now many small children die of AIDS, having been infected by their HIV positive mothers in the womb or at birth.‖502 The Roman Catholic Church has always held the view that all human life was sacred and therefore deserves to be respected. As its bishops were to contend:
There have been some voices advocating abortion of children expected by HIV-positive mothers. This is unacceptable. Even children of with a life expectancy of no more than a few years have a right to life. Not every child who is born of an HIV-positive mother will be infected
500 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families.‖
501 B. K. Takyi, ―Religion and women‘s health in Ghana: Insights into HIV/AIDS preventive and protective behaviour,‖ in Social Science and Medicine 56 (2003), 1223.
502 ZCBCH, ZCBC, ―Save our families.‖
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with AIDS. More than half of such children have a chance of being born healthy and without any infection.503
Members of the ZCBC were also aware of the challenges of caring for such babies and other OVC orphaned by AIDS. In the light of this need, the Roman Catholic families were encouraged to take new roles in caring for OVC. In 1992 the bishops maintained the stance that human life was sacred as noted from a pastoral statement entitled ―Even children of HIV-positive mothers have a right to life.‖504 The bishops thus stated:
Both HIV positive mothers and their children need our care and support. This is a great challenge to society in general and the church in particular. AIDS is killing many people already. We have no right to add to their number by deliberate killing. It is our duty even under these tragic circumstances to preserve and cherish the gift of life.505
The ZCBC repeated the same message in 1994 in a pastoral statement entitled
―Human life is sacred: Catholic bishops strongly opposed to abortion.‖506