1,720,969 research outputs found
An investigation of Christians' attitudes on the practice of virginity testing as a means of preventing HIV infection with specific reference to Methodists members in Pietermaritzburg and Howick Circuit.
Full text linkMasters of Theology.The HIV and AIDS pandemic remains a challenge given that there is no cure, despite claims by some practitioners that a cure exists. In the absence of a cure, prevention methods are critical to reducing rates of infection such as the use of condoms. For many, these prevention methods have failed and there are calls for cultural interventions including Virginity Testing (VT). The fact that only girls are tested and not boys indicates a gender issue, although the researcher is writing from a pastoral perspective of the practice.
In Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, some Zulus have revived the culture of virginity testing for girls. As a Zulu woman who has lived in Pietermaritzburg for eight years, the researcher has witnessed these events recurring every year in Zululand. The researcherhas alsoobserved that the Church has been rather silent about this prevention method – unlike the use of condoms, where the voiceof the Church has been clear. Since this study focuses on The Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA), Wesley’s theories of social ethics are used and integrated from a pastoral care perspective.
This study examines the stance of Christians on the cultural ritual of VT which is currently regarded as an HIV infection prevention method. The focus is on members of the Methodist Church residing withinthePietermaritzburg and Howick Circuits, respectively. The central focus of this research project is concentrated on investigating the attitudes of members of the Pietermaritzburg and Howick circuit regarding the practice of VT as a means of preventing HIV infection. The thesis gives the socio-cultural and historical background of VT among the Zulus with regard to its history and purpose. It also provides an analysis of the attitudes of church members towards the practice of VT. There is a need for all Methodists to familiarize themselves with the teaching of their church on this issue in order for them to respond critically to the challenge to participate in VT practices, or to give guidance on how to go about this.
Hence, this dissertation places emphasise on pastoral guidance relating to the the practice of VT. The practice is a sexually related issue and sexuality is not often discussed in the church, This paper also calls for the Theology of sexuality
Pastoral ministry to single women in the Church of Christ in Nigeria, Gigiring Regional Church Council, Jos, Nigeria.
Full text linkThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2014.Beginning with the assumption that the church is a liberative space where everyone, single women in particular, can experience wholeness, this thesis investigates the extent to which the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) executes pastoral ministry to single women. The hypothesis of the study is that the concept of women in the COCIN, the COCIN’s pastoral training and its inability to appropriate the shepherding and facilitatory model of Jesus, have not enabled an effective pastoral ministry to single women. This thesis therefore proceeds to assess the COCIN’s theology of marriage and singleness, the role of women in the COCIN, marriage and family life in Jos today, the theological education and pastors’ training of the church and the execution of pastoral ministry to single women. This is to ascertain how these have impacted on the way the COCIN offers pastoral care to single women.
This work is a combination of insights from social analyses, feminist cultural hermeneutics and feminist pastoral care and communal contextual pastoral care frameworks. While establishing that culture has had a strong influence on the pastoral ministry practice of the COCIN, methods were identified from the ideas generated by participants as well as relevant literature on the subject, that could be used for the execution of pastoral ministry to single women in the COCIN Regional Church Council, Gigiring, Jos.
The data for the study was collected using in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and participant observation. Participants were categorised into church leaders, clergy, seminary lecturers, magistrates, adult children from divorced marriages and single,never married women and men and divorced women. The findings of the study indicate that with respect to ministry to single women, pastoral ministry in the COCIN has not been liberative, empowering and transformative. Most of the participants indicate that the lack of an effective pastoral ministry to single women is a result of inadequate preparation for dealing with gender complexities in the pastoral training of the church. Although the study has significant implications for the overall pastoral ministry of the church,the findings of this study highlight the necessity of a gender-inclusive pastoral ministry in the COCIN for single women and for the entire church. The study underscores the need for the COCIN to utilise the communal care practice characteristic of African culture for effective pastoral ministry to the different categories of people, particularly the single,never married and divorced women in its congregations
Catholics, condoms and controversies in the context of South African AIDS epidemic (1984-2005)
No full textUnsung KwaZulu-Natal heroes and heroines in South Africa: Catholic AIDS care activities during the 1990s
No full textThe story of the Catholic response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa comprises of much more than the
condom controversy, the pastoral letters, the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC)
AIDS Office and the huge sums of money that funded numerous projects that were with that response
during the 2000s. The AIDS context in South Africa was quite different during the 1990s, especially in
the KwaZulu-Natal province which was clearly in the lead regarding infections and fatalities throughout
the period. The volatile political context leading to the 1994 first democratic elections in the country
had a devastating civil war effect on the province, dubbed “the township revolts”, which left 20 000
persons dead and many more internally displaced. Racial AIDS stigma, accompanied by widely
popularised myths, made care attempts in the region a deadly affair. Financial donors were hard to
come by. Yet, certain ordinary Catholic men and women braved the odds by moving into the margins of
the society to provide care to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Their heroic deeds, adventures
and narratives shed more light onto an otherwise overlooked period in the history of the AIDS epidemic
in South Africa. This article is based on an oral history study that consisted of some 22 in-depth
interviews with clerics, AIDS care workers and project leaders in KwaZulu-Natal. An archival study on
various Catholic archives, such as the SACBC Archives in Khanya House, Pretoria, the Archdiocese of
Durban Archives, as well as the St. Joseph’s Theological Institute Archives in Pietermaritzburg was also
conducted. This article is an attempt to use marginalised Catholic voices in the seven KwaZulu-Natal
dioceses to analyse and re-tell the story of Catholic AIDS care in South Africa during the 1990s.Publisher's versio
The history of AIDS in South Africa : a Natal ecumenical experience in 1987-1990.
Full text linkThesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.The interface between apartheid and Aids in the unique South African context between 1987 and 1990 is particularly striking. Natal was such a volatile ground, one rocked by political violence and threatened by a world epidemic. A literary study of the four years' Natal Witness Aids articles and an oral witness by four clergy living in Natal at the times reveal an intriguing debate and deeds by the people in Natal. The difficulty in ascertaining the actual spread of the disease in South Africa was imperative in the search for a reliable information system. Neither the random testing prior to 1987 nor the secret testing between 1987 and 1989 produced reliable Aids statistics. The launching of surveillance testing in 1990 not only amounted to a reliable information system but also revealed staggering statistics reports. Not only was the infection doubling every six months, but it was becoming predominantly heterosexual and exacerbated in the black race. A close study of the Natal Witness articles reveals that the Natal Aids debate could be chronologically divided into four characteristic periods. The 1987 debate was an international debate because the focus was on what was happening in North America and in Europe. The 1988 debate was an African debate because the focus on Aids for the first time placed the African continent on spotlight indicating signs of its future lead in infection and mortality. The 1989 debate was a South African debate because the articles featured miner's plague and the gay plague and their possible negative influence on the economy. The 1990 debate zoomed into the Natal province as it revealed attitudes, myths, and controversies that underpinned the Aids disease. The Natal Witness reports are both contrasted and complemented by the reflections of four Christian ministers who served in Natal at the time. The clergy used particular philosophical frameworks to reconstruct their experiences. According to Sol Jacobs, a 'black consciousness' Methodist priest, the churches did not engage in prevention because of their racial divisions. Vic Bredencamp witnessed a judgemental church, one that could not deal with the Aids disease because of its punitive theology. Ronald Nicolson, an Anglican priest, only witnessed an ignorant church, one that could not become involved in Aids prevention because of its paralysis ignorance. Lastly, Paul Decock, a Catholic priest, witnessed an active church, one that was actively involved in Aids activism as early as 1987. The ministers differed immensely on how the church responded to the Aids disease as well as in the reasons for that particular response. Both the articles and the interviews were found to be misleading in several instances. Through editing and selection, the articles left out important details and articles. The interviewees could barely establish a chronology in their memory of events. With the help of internal and external evidence however, both the interviews and the articles complement each other in establishing the Aids experiences of the Christians in Natal
Unsung Kwazulu-Natal heroes and heroines in South Africa: Catholic AIDS care activities during the 1990s
Full text linkThe story of the Catholic response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa comprises of much more than the condom controversy, the pastoral letters, the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) AIDS Office and the huge sums of money that funded numerous projects that were with that response during the 2000s. The AIDS context in South Africa was quite different during the 1990s, especially in the KwaZulu-Natal province which was clearly in the lead regarding infections and fatalities throughout the period. The volatile political context leading to the 1994 first democratic elections in the country had a devastating civil war effect on the province, dubbed “the township revolts”, which left 20 000 persons dead and many more internally displaced. Racial AIDS stigma, accompanied by widely popularised myths, made care attempts in the region a deadly affair. Financial donors were hard to come by. Yet, certain ordinary Catholic men and women braved the odds by moving into the margins of the society to provide care to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Their heroic deeds, adventures and narratives shed more light onto an otherwise overlooked period in the history of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. This article is based on an oral history study that consisted of some 22 in-depth interviews with clerics, AIDS care workers and project leaders in KwaZulu-Natal. An archival study on various Catholic archives, such as the SACBC Archives in Khanya House, Pretoria, the Archdiocese of Durban Archives, as well as the St. Joseph’s Theological Institute Archives in Pietermaritzburg was also conducted. This article is an attempt to use marginalised Catholic voices in the seven KwaZulu-Natal dioceses to analyse and re-tell the story of Catholic AIDS care in South Africa during the 1990s. 
The story of Florence Irene Deed (1868-1958)
No full text[Florence Irene Deed was a pioneering missionary nurse and educator who served in Kenya’s Coast Province for over thirty years with the Church Missionary Society. Arriving in 1894, she co-founded the Kaloleni CMS Mission Station and made significant contributions to education, healthcare, and church development among the Giriama people. She was fluent in the Rabai dialect and deeply involved in community life. Her legacy includes advancing women’s empowerment and promoting a contextual expression of Christian mission.
The Church and the 1929 Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) contestation in Kenya, with special reference to the Scottish Presbyterian Church and the Kikuyu community
Full text linkPeer reviewedInitiation rites are the lifeblood of most African communities. In East Africa, these rites
are part of traditional beliefs and customs, and may include physical mutilation,. In
Kenya, particularly, the initiation rite was seen as a graduation ceremony and a means of
enculturation, giving a sense of identity. The arrival of European missionaries in the
early 20th century set the stage for contestation between Christianity, as understood by
the European missionaries, and the African leaders over the rite of initiation. Female
genital mutilation was at the core of this contestation. Missionaries perceived the practice
as not only brutal and oppressive but also medically and hygienically undesirable. They
considered it foreign to both their culture and to Christianity. It was barbaric and
primitive, by their standards. They felt it was deserving of church discipline. In 1929,
this rite was vigorously attacked by a number of influential European agencies,
missionaries, pro-African bodies and government educational and medical authorities.
An injunction was put out by the missionary churches preventing circumcised girls and
their parents from attending church and school. The African leaders and cultural systems
hit back strongly, especially against the church. In 1930, a strong challenge against the
missionary position was launched by the Kikuyu Central Association (KCA) in Nyeri.
The result was the opening of independent schools and churches. These independent
churches tolerated FGM and many other African cultural practices. Whereas the African
Independent Churches (AICs) demanded religious freedom from what they perceived as
cultural imperialism, however, they in turn denied freedom to children and women who
had for years been suppressed by patriarchal ideals.
This article outlines the 1929 contestation in Kenya with regard to female genital
mutilation, with special reference to the Scottish Presbyterian Church and the Kikuyu
community. It endeavours to demonstrate that the point at issue between the Missionary
Church and the African Independent Churches was religious freedom in the form of a
customary rite. The article uses written sources to reconstruct the history of the 1929
FGM contestation in Kenya and attempts to assess its implications for the church and
society in general. It argues that in this contestation, FGM was used only to score
political and religious points and was not addressed per se.Research Institute for Theology and Religio
The Catholic response to HIV and AIDS in South Africa with a special reference to KwaZulu-Natal (1984-2005) : a historical-critical perspective.
Full text linkThesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.The present study is a critical history of the Catholic Church‟s response to HIV and Aids in South Africa, with a special emphasis on KwaZulu-Natal. It attempts to document and reflect on what the church said and did in responding to HIV and Aids between 1984 and 2005. It relies upon both oral and literary sources which were collected between 2006 and 2009. These comprise of oral testimonies of Catholic clerics, lay leaders, and administrators as well as archival sources in the form of correspondence letters, plenary session minutes, magazine articles, and project reports.
The study establishes that between 1984 and 1990 the Catholic Church saw Aids as a disease far removed from its sphere yet deserving certain visionary measures. To a larger extent, Aids was ignored. A moral perspective on the Aids disease prevailed throughout the period. However, isolated visionary leaders conducted awareness workshops. Between 1991 and 1999, however, Aids was seen as immediate, a problem closely related to the mission of the Catholic Church. Here Aids was confronted. The predominant theological response was „missiological,‟ expressed through the new pastoral plan, Community Serving Humanity. As a result, the main Aids related activity by the church was the care of PLWHA. Through home-based care and institutionalised care, Catholic local initiatives in responding to the disease mushroomed in the country with the Archdiocese of Durban taking a leading role.
Between 2000 and 2005 Aids was seen as imminent in the church, a concept popularised as the „Church has Aids‟. As a result, the period witnessed a concerted effort by the Catholic Church to integrate Aids response into its mainstream activities. In this period, Aids was seen as a human rights issue. Consequently, the Catholic Church endeavoured to address rights to treatment, Aids related stigma, family violence and gender imbalances. „Responsibility in a Time of Aids‟ became a predominant theological concept. The Catholic Church became a pacesetter in care and treatment after securing oversees funding. However, prevention became the church‟s Achilles heel following an
unrelenting condom controversy. The availability of large amounts of money and many financial donors led to the NGO-isation of the Catholic Church‟s Aids projects with regard to their identity, activities, and organization. By and large, HIV and Aids had a large impact on the Catholic Church at all levels, both theologically and organizationally.
Therefore, the study argues that for the Catholic Church responding to the Aids epidemic was a complex organizational dilemma. On the one hand, the church‟s teachings compelled it to care for the sick with a compassionate love and uphold a naturalist ethical position on sexuality. On the other hand, the Aids disease was associated with what was perceived to be sinful behaviours such as prostitution, homosexuality and heterosexual acts outside marriage. The infected, therefore, were not only „sick‟ but „sinners‟ at the same time. Moreover, the means of HIV prevention advocated by the government and the better part of the society, the use of condoms, was in sharp contrast with the church‟s official teachings. The hierarchy set itself to defend the teachings while majority of the lay leaders and the medical practitioners called for its revision. Generally speaking, the Catholic Church‟s response to the HIV and Aids epidemic in South Africa was entangled by organizational controversies. In spite of warnings by visionary leaders such as Father Ted Rogers and the exemplary leadership of Archbishop Denis Hurley during the mid 1980s, the Catholic organizational focus on HIV and Aids was delayed until 1990. A concern to respond to HIV and Aids in the church increased considerably in the 1990s as attention shifted from the cry for freedom and democracy to the escalating Aids crisis. However, it was during the 2000s that conditions favoured the much needed integrated Aids response. The Aids crisis had become too obvious to ignore given the acute mortality rate.
In conclusion the Catholic Church‟s response to HIV and Aids came relatively early with creative and visionary ideas but it was hindered by organizational and theological barriers. The Catholic Church‟s official HIV prevention policy was contradictory and ambiguous. The Catholic Church innovatively used two models, institutionalised care and home-based care, in the treatment and care of PLWHA and Aids orphans, home based care and Aids hospices. The Catholic Church demonstrated an outstanding ability to raise and disburse large amounts of funds, successfully channelling these to service delivery in its response to HIV and Aids. The Catholic Church Aids projects became NGO-ised following the influx of large foreign funds in the years of the 2000s
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