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'Silent Far Too Long,' Churches Address AIDS

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By MICHELLE BEARDEN

mbearden@tampatrib.com

Published: March 25, 2009

TAMPA - It's a taboo topic in religious circles.

Although Florida ranks fourth in the nation for people living with HIV or AIDS, "you wouldn't know it in the church community," said the Rev. James Favorite, pastor of Beulah Baptist Institutional Church in Tampa.

"We've been silent far too long about this epidemic. It's time to speak up and speak out."

On Friday, religious leaders will launch a Tampa Bay affiliate of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, a New York-based group that targets cities with high rates of HIV/AIDS. A daylong program at St. Lawrence Catholic Church's Higgins Hall will include personal testimony from a person living with the disease, medical facts and figures, and discussions of an action plan and legislative measures.

Hillsborough County has almost 6,000 people living with HIV or AIDS, and Pinellas County has nearly 3,500, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. With an AIDS rate of 21.7 percent per 100,000 residents, Florida has almost twice the national rate of 12.5 percent.

Church leaders bear some blame for those statistics, Favorite said.

"We've looked at it as a disease of promiscuity. And when family members were affected, they felt too guilty to come and talk to their pastors about it," he said. "It's time to take the curtain off this mystery. We have to help save a person's physical life before we can save a soul."

One of the first things Favorite wants to organize is an AIDS awareness program through which ministers of all denominations address the subject from the pulpit. He also wants more churches to sponsor free AIDS testing clinics and health education workshops.

"This isn't just a black disease. It affects every religion, every color," he said. "So we need collaboration across all religious lines. Whatever we're doing now in our community isn't working, so we have to find another way to turn this around. I think the church can make the impact we need."

The local initiative aims to involve clergy, elected officials, medical practitioners, business professionals and social policy experts.

Monsignor Laurence Higgins, retired pastor at St. Lawrence, said he signed on when Favorite showed him the numbers.

"I was shocked. I didn't know it was that bad," Higgins said. "If we can play a role in educating people, it's our obligation to do so. We can't look the other way; we're all God's children."

Registration for Friday's program runs from 9:30 to 10 a.m. at Higgins Hall, 5221 N. Himes Ave., Tampa. The speakers and presentations will run through 2 p.m.

For information, call Mac MacDowell at (813) 786-8872 or go to www.nblca.org.

Reporter Michelle Bearden can be reached at (813) 259-7613.

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