Capital Heights, USA - Church and political leaders grew silent as the Rev. Anthony Moore, pastor of the Carolina Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Washington, told how in the early days of the AIDS crisis many in the clergy were less than willing to reach out to those battling the disease.
It was 1992, Moore said to the group gathered at the Sanctuary at Kingdom Square in Capital Heights for World AIDS Day. He was visiting a young man at the Washington Hospital Center.
"What caught my attention was this priest who was administering Communion from outside the door," Moore said. "He placed the bread and cup on a hospital tray and pushed the tray inside the door." The priest prayed for the man, but from just outside the door.
Moore recalled the that day during Prince George's County World AIDS Day breakfast to make the point that too many members of the clergy still never deal directly with people stricken with the virus.
"Check your theology. . . . Don't just sit on the sideline while people are dying," he said.
HIV/AIDS first struck gay men, and because many religions preach against homosexuality, many were slow to offer assistance. But Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson said what he heard at the breakfast shows that things are changing. Several churches talked about their efforts to fight the disease.
"The resolve of the faith community to work with our community is good," Johnson (D) said. "Every church has committed themselves to somehow make a difference in the lives of our people and because of that we are going to move forward."
Prince George's Health Officer Donald Shell said many of those now affected by the disease are African American. And in a black-majority county such as Prince George's, the need for services is great.
"The reality is that we are dealing with an epidemic in the county and in the nation's capital," Shell said. "In Prince George's County, 48 percent of the cases are heterosexual transmissions, 30 percent are between men who have sex with men and 17 percent are because of intravenous drug use."
Some of the ministers who took part in Tuesday's breakfast said they were vocal critics of D.C. legislation that would allow same-sex marriage in the District. But several said the issue of HIV/AIDS is much larger than politics.
The Rev. Frank Tucker, pastor of the First Baptist Church in the District and chairman of the Washington area's Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, said his group was created to focus on the disease, not politics.
"We really don't want to get hung up on one particular issue and forget that people are really dying right now," Tucker said. "We must be hard on the issue and deliberate in our effort to address this problem of HIV/AIDS. The Washington community and the Prince George's County community must come together."