THE FULLNESS OF LIFE
On
April 27, 2003, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (Washington, D.C.) wrote a
pastoral letter on "The Fullness of Life" on the subject of HIV/AIDS.
Using the Gospel text "I came that they might have life and have it to
the full." [John l0:l0] the Cardinal described how HIV/AIDS infects men,
women and children and how new drugs permit sufferers to lead longer
and more productive lives.
Sub-Saharan Africa now has 30 million
people infected, of whom 3 million are children under age 15. In
Botswana and Zimbabwe 33% of adults are infected. The resulting sickness
and deaths create orphans and homelessness and cause enormous social,
economic and political devastation.
We [the affluent developed
nations] must be in solidarity with the sufferers. Cardinal McCarrick
quotes Pope John Paul II on solidarity: "Solidarity is not a feeling of
vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many
people. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to
commit oneself to the common good; that is to say, to the good of all
and to each individual, because we are really responsible to all."
Our
efforts must both treat and prevent. The Catholic Church worldwide
provides 25% of all AIDS care. The Church encourages chastity, fidelity
and sexual abstinence outside marriage This Church stance is
counter-cultural and reflects a crisis of values. Here the Cardinal
cites St. Thomas Aquinas: "The great kindness we can render to any man
consists in leading him to the truth," and quotes St. Paul's Letter to
the Romans [12:2], "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be
transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may judge what is
God's will, what is good, pleasing and perfect."
Both counselling
and early testing are required, along with CHEAP DRUGS [emphasis
supplied]. [Parishioners will recall that our parish Human Concerns
Committee has provided letter-writing opportunities to Congress urging
maximum funding for African disease and hunger relief.]
Faced with
this need for affordable drugs "There is a social mortgage on all
private property." The law of profit does not apply.
[For the full text see Origins,6/l9/03.]
Footnote: In 2004 a total of 510,000 children died from AIDS - 450,000 of them in sub-Saharan Africa. In developed nations 300 died.