Lutheran bishops to be tested for HIV/AIDS at spring meeting

(RNS) The bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be tested for the HIV virus that causes AIDS at their upcoming spring conference in a bid to raise awareness about screening for the deadly disease. The ELCA Conference of Bishops, an advisory body that includes 65 synod bishops, will meet in Itasca, Ill., […]

(RNS) The bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be tested for the HIV virus that causes AIDS at their upcoming spring conference in a bid to raise awareness about screening for the deadly disease.

The ELCA Conference of Bishops, an advisory body that includes 65 synod bishops, will meet in Itasca, Ill., March 5-10, the church announced.

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presiding bishop, said African religious leaders have helped lessen the stigma associated with the disease when they have publicly stated that they have been tested.


“I believe ELCA bishops being tested will be a similar act of accompaniment and encouragement for ELCA members and global companions,” said Hanson, who also is the president of the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation. “This decision by ELCA bishops is one more sign of this church’s commitment to respond to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”

Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers, chair of the bishops’ Ministry Among People in Poverty Committee, said the scheduled tests come as the denomination is developing an HIV and AIDS strategy that is likely to be considered at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in August.

“We wanted to do something concrete to help amplify that initiative,” said Stumme-Diers, who oversees the ELCA’s Greater Milwaukee Synod. “Part of the message of doing this is to remind people of both the importance of being tested for HIV and AIDS and also the confidentiality that surrounds that whole process. That way, it’s more inviting for people to participate in that, and it ensures the health and welfare of society when those confidentialities are kept.”

-Adelle M. Banks

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