MANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- Church people working among HIV/AIDS patients in a southern Indian state want the Church to review its policy on the disease.

Their plea surfaced as all nine dioceses in Karnataka state were preparing special programs to mark World AIDS Day. The United Nations set Dec. 1 as the International World Day for AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).

Church people in the state, in line with guidelines issued by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), have also made plans to observe the first Sunday of December as AIDS Awareness Day.

The nine Karnataka dioceses aim to implement the projects in two phases through their social service centers. According to Father Onil D'Souza, who directs Mangalore diocese's social service wing, the first phase will address prevention and the second will focus on care, support and rehabilitation of the infected. He told UCA News on Nov. 29 his diocese selected 10 schools, five parishes and six village councils for the awareness building phase.

Those moves coincide with the Indian bishops' recently adopted policy to tackle the pandemic. A recent U.N. report says that more than 5 million people are living with HIV in India. AIDS is caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus is passed from one person to another through sexual contact and other ways in which bodily fluids are exchanged.

The health commission of the CBCI acknowledges that HIV/AIDS challenges Church teachings, moral values, family bonds, marital fidelity, medical care, pastoral care and social work. The policy of the CBCI, made public on Aug. 31, maintains that people become exposed to HIV due to gender discrimination, illiteracy, oppression, poverty, and social realities. Psychological factors such as loneliness and isolation are also involved, according to the policy.

However, Father D'Souza and other Church people who serve HIV/AIDS patients underline "practical difficulties" in subscribing to the Church's approach on preventing the disease. "We can clearly spell out abstaining from premarital and extramarital sex and emphasize marital fidelity among Catholics," Father D'Souza pointed out, "but we do not know what to do when it comes to the general public, especially when addressing high-risk situations."

According to the priest, the pandemic raises issues that are not just sexual or moral, but also "interlinked and so much part of the living situations." Therefore, the priest said, he allows "certain flexibility" for social workers to address the public, especially on issues related to the use of condoms.

Church policy officially rules out the use of condoms to prevent AIDS. In marriages where one or both parties are infected, the policy urges priests to "offer guidance on the basis of the Church's accepted moral principles."

In August, Father D'Souza said, diocesan social service directors in Karnataka met with Archbishop Bernard Moras of Bangalore, chairperson of the CBCI's health commission, to discuss the CBCI policy. Bangalore, 2,060 kilometers south of New Delhi, is the state capital. Karnataka encompasses Bangalore archdiocese and the dioceses of Belgaum, Bellary, Belthangady, Chikmagalur, Karwar, Mangalore, Mysore and Shimoga.

According to Father D'Souza, some directors noted certain practical difficulties that arise "in promoting Church standards" among the "general public, particularly on issues like the use of condoms as a prevention method." However, he added, the response Archbishop Moras offered was "to strictly adhere to the Church teachings while implementing the project."

The official Church position troubles some Church workers. For instance, Father George Kannanthanam, manager of a center for HIV/AIDS patients in Bangalore, told UCA News on Nov. 26 that he personally disagrees with some policies the Church has adopted to tackle the pandemic. The Claretian priest said that though he appreciates the Indian Church's concern over HIV/AIDS, he regrets its preoccupation with "sin and punishment."

While such a stand can be appreciated, Father Kannanthanam added, the document spelling out the Church's position "is still unclear about the plight of people living with HIV, especially couples." In his view, "unprotected sex" among infected married couples could produce an HIV-positive child.

The priest, who says overemphasizing the use of condoms as "sin" only creates more guilt among people, noted that "sex is a natural and normal need of a human being, which cannot be structured." He also pointed out that many Christians in India have adopted the government's two-child norm.

Father Kannanthanam condemns premarital and extramarital sex as well as abortion as grave sins, but he is calling for a change that would allow the use of contraceptives at least among HIV-positive married couples.

"Giving birth to a (HIV-)positive child could be more sinful than using condoms," he asserted. He quickly added, however, that his views are strictly personal, not representing the official position of the Catholic Church.

Father John Fernandez, another Mangalore diocese priest, says contraceptives could be an acceptable way to avoid pregnancy among HIV-infected couples. "What is important is to choose the lesser evil," he told UCA News.

Jimmy Mathew, regional manager of Caritas India, which funds some projects that include AIDS awareness programs, advises Church people not to mix religion with concerns related to HIV/AIDS. The guiding principle, he told UCA News, must be "what works where and when."

According to Indian government estimates, 85.5 percent of infections in the country are contracted through sexual relations, mainly heterosexual. The rest are through blood transfusions, and from mother to child through conception.

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