A recent study conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown reported on the diverging viewpoints between young people and educators on the issue of HIV/AIDS education within the Catholic Church.
“We’re talking about a unique generation that has come of age in a time of AIDS, so they think about things differently than adults,” Bryan Froehle (SFS ’86) said. Froehle and Cristina Aquino (COL ’97) were the two principal authors of the study.
“Something that we found many young people said was `don’t take for granted that we know everything there is to know about this disease.'”
CARA is a nonprofit, national organization affiliated with Georgetown, which conducts research studies in the social sciences on issues concerning the Catholic Church.
The study investigated information on the nature of existing HIV/AIDS education within the Church and what can be done to increase awareness and improve education on the topic.
“The idea was to understand how people see the challenges of AIDS education, particularly for people who have grown up in the time of AIDS, and to bring to the attention of Church leadership what the Church is doing and what it can do better to educate young people living in a time of AIDS,” Froehle said.
The study, which Froehle said was conducted over a 1.5-year time span, derived its information from 21 focus groups in different regions around the country.
Participants in the study included middle and high school students, as well as a variety of Catholic educators including catechists, religious educators, youth ministers, priests, teachers and parents.
The study, which was sponsored by the National Catholic AIDS Network, an organization aimed at assisting leaders within the Catholic Church in ministering to those affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, found that young people and their parents were most often primarily interested in learning about preventing the transmission of HIV/AIDS.
“The concern that students and parents had was much more practical – how can we avoid getting the disease,” Froehle said.
In contrast, the study showed that educators felt that, as well as causes and prevention, HIV/AIDS education should focus on issues of sexuality, values and gaining a perspective of the global effects of the disease.
“The educator’s concern was to think a little more broadly about the social level of things; what it means to be living in a world affected by AIDS,” Froehle said.
According to Froehle, many of the contrasts in perspective between the two age groups are related to the fact that the younger generation has grown up in a society with the existence of HIV/AIDS.
The study also focuses on the specific value of a religious, Catholic approach to HIV/AIDS awareness.
“There is something special the Church can provide: A nuanced and complex value context that involves the basic respect for human dignity and reflects on the deeper aspects of sexuality involved,” Froehle said.
“Those who work with HIV-positive people know that there’s not only a disease to be dealt with but stories to be told – this is education that goes far deeper that that there’s a disease to be avoided and how it is contracted – it comes down to human dignity and some of the most profound values that people have as Catholics,” he said.
The study addresses the particular challenges reported by HIV/AIDS educators within the Church, including insufficient resources and training, lack of support for HIV/AIDS educational programs and conflicts between the subject matter and Church teachings on sexuality.
The study also said personal interaction with HIV-positive individuals had a great impact in promoting an understanding of the disease and the issues surrounding it among on young people.
“All have found that when young people are involved in community service involving AIDS, it becomes much more real,” Froehle said.
Interaction can be on the basis of volunteer programs, or in listening to a speaker.
“When you are involved in a classroom discussion – to be able to have someone who is HIV-positive there and to get to the people side of things, beyond labels, is very important,” Froehle said.
The Office of Volunteer and Public Service at the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service provides information to students on 19 different Washington, D.C.-based, AIDS-related volunteer initiatives.
Georgetown University’s chapter of the service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega coordinates a program in which a group of students visit Pediatric Care, a center for children and teens of families affected by HIV or AIDS that provides after-school care and counseling. Volunteers play with the children or assist them with their homework.
“It makes things more real – you see [HIV/AIDS] from the personal, individual perspective,” Charles Harris (COL ’05) said. Harris helps to coordinate the group visits.
“The kids there seem just like any other normal kids who are fun to hang out with.”
