AIDS Day: Remembrance and Hope
Lutheran and Episcopal Christians have long been invested in improving life for persons living with HIV and AIDS, yet unless efforts are increased "we face the danger that our dream of an AIDS-free generation will remain just that," ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson and Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori wrote in a World AIDS Day message to the churches Nov. 29.
The annual commemoration on Dec. 1 "is an opportunity for us to remember the 30 million lives that have been lost to the deadly pandemic over the last three decades, to rededicate our energies in support of those 34 million living with HIV and AIDS today and to work toward building a future without AIDS," the bishops wrote.
The bishops wrote their annual AIDS Day message jointly because the denominations "have embarked upon a new age of full communion by sharing staff for international issues in our Washington, D.C., advocacy offices, acknowledging the common needs of our global church bodies."
