The focus of World AIDS Day 2017 is the ending of isolation, stigma and HIV transmission. Vincent Manning considers the important role that churches can play in meeting those challenges. How can church members, teaching and resources respond to the individual pastoral needs of people living with HIV and, in doing so, enter into a valuable partnership with the NHS in order to fight the virus?

The pandemic of HIV/AIDS has been with us for nearly thirty years now. The situation for those living with HIV in the West has dramatically altered with the development of more effective treatments that delay or prevent the onset of AIDS for those who are diagnosed HIV positive at a sufficiently early stage of infection. This paper will review the last three decades in brief, and consider the similarities and differences between then and now. With a very close look at the experience of Catholics living with HIV in the UK, we shall consider the particular ministry of ‘Positive Catholics’ and reflect upon the challenges and gifts that those involved have experienced.

The society in which the early Church first proclaimed the Gospel, regarded the Cross and Crucifixion, as symbols of shame, stigma and rejection. They were words not to be mentioned by decent people.