Concilium English
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2007 / 3
Editorial
Why publish an issue of Concilium on HIV / AIDS, when so much has already been written on the epidemic? In his Foreword Peter Piot has expressed the answer much more effectively than we could ever manage: because the Churches' efforts are needed in the struggle against AIDS. We have produced this issue because there has been so much misunderstanding (which includes theological misunderstanding) that has to be examined in the area under discussion; because Concilium has never devoted a single number to an explicit study of HIV/AIDS; and last but not least because Catholic theology and its environs feature so much important consideration of the subject that we feel must surely interest our readers.
Language is necessarily the medium proper to a journal. In this case, we have tried to be somewhat more experimental than in the past. We have also tried to find a theologically appropriate way of talking about an illness that is not easy to tackle in linguistic terms. We have tried to avoid stuffing as much information as possible into the least possible space. That is not our task and, if you want it, you can soon find it in other media. Instead we have tried not only to show the faces behind the figures and facts but to attempt the task proper to our calling: which is to do our best to provide analyses from a theological viewpoint and to develop proposals for theological practice in this respect. Since both editors offer their own contributions at the end of this issue, we shall confine ourselves here to thanking all those who have taken part in this experiment.
We are most grateful to Ignace Berten, Virgilio Elizondo, Mary Hunt, Harry McSorley, Eloi Messi Metogo and - especially - Marcella Althaus-Reid for help with the preparation of this issue. We wish to thank the directors of Concilium for their comments and assistance, the secretariat in Nijmegen, particularly Christine van Wijnbergen and Erik Borgman, the translators, and all those responsible at the various publishing houses concerned.
