We are very pleased to announce the release of the important collection of essays on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Calling for Justice throughout the World: Catholic Women Theologians on the HIV/AIDS Pandemic, edited by Mary Jo Iozzio, Mary M. Doyle Roche, and Elsie M. Miranda. As serious as this worldwide issue, it has been a real pleasure working with Professor Iozzio and the rest on this project. Some of you may have seen a taste of this volume at the Society of Christian Ethics meeting in Chicago last month and we now make it available to you.
We got some great endorsements for this volume, too!
"Did you know that the percentage of girls and women living with HIV and AIDS has risen to just below 50 per cent today and that in sub-Saharan Africa 75 per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds living with HIV and AIDS are female. While women are surpassing the infection rates of men, they are also less able than men to get adequate information, care and treatment. In short, in a world of gender inequity, HIV opts for women. In response to this tragic reality, Mary Jo Iozzio has prophetically gathered 25 women theologians from 15 countries to tell us what we must do now as we see the Female Face of HIV/AIDS. A compelling and illuminating collection. Brava!"
James F. Keenan, S.J.
Founders Professor in Theology
Boston College, Chestnut Hill
"This extraordinary and unique book for the first time brings together twenty-five Catholic women theologians from around the globe to address the social justice issues of the prevention of and care for victims of HIV/AIDS. The essays report on the situation throughout the world with a special focus on the poor and women and challenge the church, governments, and voluntary organizations to do more."
Charles E. Curran
Elizabeth Scurlock University Professor of Human Values
Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
Please enjoy Professor Iozzio's thoughts on this volume as part of our ongoing Author's Circle series:
Calling for Justice throughout the World has been two full years in the making. The collection was inspired by my interest in updating the work of Catholic Ethicists on HIV/AIDS Prevention, edited by James F. Keenan, SJ (Continuum, 2002) and the opportunity to collaborate with Catholic women theologians that resulted from the first conference of Catholic Theological Ethicists in the World Church, meeting in Padua, Italy (2006). This companion collection is the result of that collaboration.
Each of the authors draws from her own experience in working with and reflecting on the experience of those who are infected with and affected by the pandemic. Here you will read about the challenges of reconciling vulnerability with empowerment from contexts that include what works and what hinders progress in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Oceania. Further, from the voices of women, new insights and creative responses will be helpful for those involved with prevention efforts and the care of the more than 33-36 million people living with HIV or with AIDS today.
From email invitations to more than 50 women scholars I happily received 24 essays. During the course of the two years of writing and editing, a wonderful relationship and new friendships were developed among the authors. We have seen each other through happy and sad times –defending dissertations, finding new work, celebrating successes as well as grave illnesses and deaths. With each of these events, our community grew stronger through the bonds of prayer.
This work has been a singular joy. My co-editors and I remain deeply grateful to each of the contributors to the collection. And we are hopeful that this contribution to raising awareness of the ongoing crisis that surrounds the HIV/AIDS pandemic will motivate churches, and national and international efforts to relieve the human toll that comes with complacence and a failure to attend to the concrete needs of our sisters and brothers, ourselves and our families, in the world –solidarity and our faith demands more.
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