St George's Cathedral, Cape Town

HIV and AIDS ministries

Christ has no body now on earth but yours;
No hands but yours;
No feet but yours;
Yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out to the world;
Yours are the feet with which he goes about doing good;
Yours are the hands with which he blesses now.

We cannot ignore nor avoid HIV and AIDS.
God calls us to care. Our Lord calls us to respond.

St George's Cathedral is, with God's help, working to address, within our modest means, some of the challenges and needs to which the HIV and AIDS pandemic has given rise, through the prayers, donations and practical efforts of the Cathedral HIV & AIDS Task Team (CHATT), of individual parishioners in their personal or work capacities and of our clergy and lay staff.

Compelled by the love of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14), we are called to live out the compassion and care embodied in the life of Jesus whilst he was amongst us as a human being (Matthew 25: 34-40).

The mission and ministry of the Cathedral HIV and AIDS Task Team (CHATT) are, prayerfully and with God's help, to facilitate and coordinate our collective response as a parish to the HIV & AIDS pandemic.

St George's Cathedral's HIV– & AIDS–related ministries can be grouped under the following headings. For more information about these different clusters of projects or activities, click on each in turn:

• Caring for carers
• Caring for children
• Caring for people who are spiritually, emotionally or physically unwell
• Awareness, education and prayer
• Prevention

How can you yourself assist with these ministries and personally make a difference?

The Lord has blessed CHATT abundantly with the resources that we have needed for our ministries. We give thanks to God and to everyone who has helped to make our work possible. For other sites where you can get more information about some of what the wider church's involvements are in responding to the HIV and AIDS pandemic, click on the following links:

• Christian AIDS Bureau for Southern Africa: CABSA guides and supports Christian communities to become HIV competent, through advocacy, providing information, mobilising and networking.
• Fikelela: Fikelela means reach out and is the name of the HIV /AIDS outreach programme of the Anglican Church in Cape Town, South Africa. Fikelela was founded in 2000 with the vision to provide an active Christian response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa.
• Anglican AIDS and Healthcare Trust: A holistic and engaged AIDS ministry accessible to all in Southern Africa, reflecting the unconditional love of Christ to all through our HIV and AIDS programmes.
• Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) Integrated HIV/AIDS TB & Malaria: The Anglican Communion across Africa has been increasingly involved in contributing to the global plan to reduce HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Here is a list of members of the Cathedral HIV and AIDS Task Team and their news.

New CHATT website

Click here or on the picture to the left, to travel directly to the separate CHATT website.

If you wish to return to the old version, it will remain in place until the next major overhaul of the Catehdral website.

Back to the Cathedral Ministries page