{"id":12563,"date":"2016-05-11T18:29:15","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T01:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=12563"},"modified":"2016-05-11T18:29:15","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T01:29:15","slug":"vigil-remembers-35-million-who-died-from-aids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/vigil-remembers-35-million-who-died-from-aids\/","title":{"rendered":"Vigil remembers 35 million who died from AIDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kathy L. Gilbert<\/strong>
\nMay 11, 2016\u2502PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)<\/h4>\n

In a response of love and prayer, the 35 million people who have died of AIDS were remembered in a vigil outside the Oregon Convention Center as the 2016 General Conference meets to decide church law for the next four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a world with 38 million people who are living with AIDS and 35 million who have died,\u201d said retired Bishop Albert Frederick Mutti. \u201cToo much of the world ignores this pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mutti and his wife Etta Mae served as coordinators of the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund. They have been active in promoting the fund since the 2004 United Methodist General Conference approved it.<\/p>\n

They wrote a book, “Dancing in a Wheelchair,” after two of their three sons died of AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are determined to work together to promote the dignity, equality and rights of all people; discuss openly and accurately the basic facts about HIV and AIDS and about all the means of prevention,\u201d Etta Mae read from an adaptation of \u201cReligious Readers\u2019 Commitment towards HIV\/AIDS Issues\u201d presented during the 15th<\/sup> International AIDS Conference in Bangkok in 2004.<\/p>\n

According to UNAIDS estimates, 2.2 million children live with HIV, and the disease remains a threat to people of all ages and nationalities.<\/p>\n

AIDS is not over<\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u201cAIDS is Not Over! … Global Issues and the Church\u201d<\/a> was a daylong workshop featuring United Methodist leaders and laity from around the world, an AIDS scientist and people living with HIV\/AIDS. Rose City Park United Methodist Church hosted the event, one day before the denomination\u2019s 2016 General Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the theme of this event says it all: AIDS is not over yet,\u201d said the Rev. Don Messer, who has worked to raise funds for AIDS since the 2004 United Methodist General Conference approved the Global Aids Fund<\/a>. The church at that time committed to raise $3 million through apportionments and match it with an additional $5 million through Advance gifts.<\/p>\n

The fund has raised more than $3.5 million as of today, and the money has gone to 284 projects in 44 countries, he said.<\/p>\n

The United Methodist Global AIDS Fund Committee sponsored the vigil.<\/p>\n

Gilbert is a multimedia news reporter for United Methodist News Service. Contact her at\u00a0<\/em>(615) 742-5470<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>newsdesk@umcom.org<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit:<\/strong>
\nPhoto by Maile Bradfield, UMNS<\/em>
\nBishop Albert Mutti and his wife, Etta Mae Mutti, observe a moment of silence during an AIDS Vigil held May 11 at the United Methodist 2016 General Conference in Portland, Ore. The Vigil was sponsored by the UMC Global AIDS Fund Committee.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kathy L. Gilbert May 11, 2016\u2502PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS) In a response of love and prayer, the 35 million people who have died of AIDS were remembered in a vigil outside the Oregon Convention Center as the 2016 General Conference meets to decide church law for the next four years. \u201cWe live in a world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":12564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[449,3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-conference","8":"category-umns"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/aids-vigil-gc-487x388.jpg?fit=487%2C388&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-3gD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12563"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12566,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563\/revisions\/12566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}