A History of Achievement

Rev. Robert Vitillo (Special Advisor on HIV/AIDS for Caritas Internationalis and Board President for the Network), Susan Weissert (Maryknoll AIDS Task Force), and Sr. Linda Fuselier (member of the Network) were among the delegates at the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS at the end of May.

Rev. Bryan Massingale, Associate Professor of Theology from Marquette University, was the main speaker for the Clergy and Religious AIDS Roundtable on 2 June 2005. The title of Rev. Massingale’s talk was, Stigma, The Other Virus: A Theological and Ethical Understanding.

In addition to being one of the financial sponsors of the National Encuentro of Hispanic Youth Ministry held at Notre Dame, IN from 8-11 June 2005, the Network co-hosted an interactive AIDS awareness booth with the Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop. The booth was a great success, thanks to the help of Ron Cruz (Secretariat for Hispanic Affairs), Rosemarie Philip (Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston), Brenda Tirado Torres and Irene Miranda (Archdiocese of Atlanta), Gustavo Orellana, Marco Krebber Espinoza, Marguerite St. Clare (Network Staff and Volunteers) and Cristian Alemán and Alonso Martínez, from El Salvador.

The 19th Annual National Catholic HIV and AIDS Ministry Conference held on July 12-16 was well received by the conference participants. The College Leaders Program — a joint program with Catholic Relief Services — was a powerful experience. The Conference continued to attract diverse participants with nearly half of them from communities of color.

The Ecumenical Pre-Conference and the International AIDS Conference were both charged with energy.

On 16 September 2006, Irene Miranda (Director for the Office of HIV and AIDS Ministry, Archdiocese of Atlanta) and Dan Lunney presented on a panel entitled “Congregations and Communities Respond to HIV/AIDS” at the Catholic Charities USA Annual Gathering 2006 in Minneapolis.

Gustavo Orellana (Office Manager for the Network) and Irene Miranda (Archdiocese of Atlanta) presented on engaging in HIV and AIDS ministry at the National Catholic Council for Hispanic Ministry Annual Gathering in San Juan, Puerto Rico in October 2006.

The Network convened the AIDS Educators Roundtable at the offices of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on 25 September to continue to develop ways and resources for increasing HIV and AIDS education for youth.

The Catholic AIDS Partners collaborated with The Leadership Campaign on AIDS to host a conference call on Wednesday, 11 October to provide ideas and information for World AIDS Day Commemorations.

The Second Bilingual “Train the Trainer” (Many Threads, One Weave) took place in Atlanta Dec. 8-10 with the participation of over 25 Catholic ecclesial lay ministers from around the nation.