Brooklyn AIDS Ministry

Many Parishes in Brooklyn offer AIDS ministry. Below is information from St. George's AIDS Ministry Program. Please email your own ministry information to the Web Master for inclusion on this page.

Saint George's Church AIDS Ministry

·         MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry of St. George's Episcopal Church is to support, educate and act as a resource for referrals and information to individuals and their families, affected and infected with the virus, and to bring a whole spiritual aspect to communities of color especially in Brooklyn in dealing, with HIV/AIDS thereby helping to remove the current stigma of the disease.

WE MUST BREAK THE SILENCE

Brooklyn continues to be the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic for African-Americans and women in NYC and the nation. Brooklyn has 41.4% of NYC's African-Americans, 37% of African-Americans diagnosed with AIDS and 32% of women living with AIDS in NYC.

Almost 600,000 children under the age of 15 and 2.5 million of people aged 15 to 24 contracted HIV in 1998. This averages six new HIV infections among young people every minute.

St. George's HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry is in a position to help other churches continue or form an AIDS Awareness Ministry in their own church. This newsletter is mailed to over 300 churches in Brooklyn, and through the help of one of our advisors, Yvonne Archer, Director of the Bed-Stuy/Crown Heights HIV Care Network it is included in mailings to members of the Network. Inquiries can be addressed to the HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry, St. George's Episcopal Church, 800 Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, attention Mavis Thompson, M.D., Chairperson and Newsletter Editor. Telephone messages can be left with the church secretary at 718-789-6036. Faxes can be sent to 718-789-2399 or 718-601-0125. We look forward to hearing from you.

PRAYER FOR THE HEALING OF HIV/AIDS

O God, we praise you and rejoice that you are a God of healing, hope, power, and persistence. Bring us each and all into the safe space of your presence, free from our judgments of others and ourselves. Heal the wounds of distrust, betrayal, rejection and shame. Bring healing and hope into the lives of all persons living with HIV/AIDS.