Rev. Jape Heath

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  www.condomerie.com/news/nieuwsitem.php?id=31 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/24/2005    Last Visited: 6/13/2008  

  Japé Heath, a priest in the diocese of Johannesburg.At that meeting, dreams were dreamed of just having one retreat for priests and pastors across the African continent who were living with HIV.That simple dream has grown into so much more!Instead of having just one retreat a network of support was formed in November 2002 not only for Christians but for religious leaders of all faiths.
  
  How is it possible that we are speaking about religious leaders being HIV positive?I remember speaking to an Anglican in Durban at one stage where she was saying that in their parish they absolutely insisted on having an unmarried priest , why?, because they could not cope with the fact that the night before saying mass "Father" might have been lying in bed having sex with his wife!

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  hivaids.anglicancommunion.org/hiv/boksburg/enrolling/in - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 1/16/2008  

  Rev Japé Heath - participant

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  www.anglicancommunion.org/special/hivaids/interviews/en - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/27/2002    Last Visited: 5/31/2004  

  Rev Japé Heath - participant
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  Rev Japé Heath - Anglican priest and rector of Christ Church, Mayfair

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  13th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/26/2003    Last Visited: 6/28/2004  

  Rev Jape Heath, co-ordinator of the African Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, spoke of difficulties with the church hierarchy when he shared his HIV status.Eventually, he was ‘allowed' to share his status with others, but church structures were inadequate to deal with similar situations.He spoke of a fellow ordinand who literally ‘died of shame' once his family discovered his HIV-positive status.He said there were particular understandings of sin, and the notion that certain sins were acceptable.This was echoed later by Sheikh Al Haj Yussuf Murigi, vice-chair of the Kenya Muslim Supreme Council.

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  Aids war now enters Church - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/28/2004    Last Visited: 3/28/2004  

  Giving his experience to the audience under the title: Stigma-Powerful tool for growing HIV and AIDS- Fr. Jape Heath from Namibia and the ANERELA+ Coordinator said the network was there to continue breaking silence, demonstrate positive living and bring realization that the church has AIDS.
  
  Rev. Heath, an Anglican Priest since 1994 and who became a father in 1995 and tested HIV+ in 2000 discouraged religious leaders who still clung to the old myths in the churches that AIDS was God's punishment for sin.
  
  He denounced the notions that are used is some congregations that....It is not our problem,...we have nobody living with HIV in our congregation, and the like."With the current statistics what messages are you giving to keep them out?," he asked
  
  He stated: " In 10 years of ministry I have never found a person who has not sinned.All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God."
  
  A well determined Anglican Church leader, Rev. Heath further said, the vision of his organisation was an African Region where religious leaders living positively with and affected by HIV and AIDS are empowered to live openly as witnesses to hope and be forces for change in their congregations and communities.
  
  ANERELA supports all religious leaders living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS without judgement, Rev. Heath concluded.

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  CORE Initiative Press Release - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 6/29/2006    Last Visited: 12/22/2006  

  ANERELA Leaders, Canon Gideon Byamugisha and Reverend Japé Heath, visit the CORE Initiative
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  ANERELA Leaders, Canon Gideon Byamugisha and Reverend Japé Heath, visit the CORE Initiative
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  Canon Byamugisha, his wife Pamela, and Reverend Japé Heath
  
  Canon Byamugisha, Chairman of the African Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV and AIDS (ANERELA+), and ANERELA General Secretary, the Reverend Father Japé Heath, visited the CORE Initiative headquarters to discuss plans for expanding the work of ANERELA.The theme of the ANERELA presentation was "Positive Faith in Action Against AIDS-related Stigma and Discrimination".During the presentation, Canon Byamugisha, the first practicing, HIV-positive priest in Africa to publicly declare his HIV status, and Reverend Heath discussed their own personal experiences facing HIV-related stigma.Rev. Heath talked about how stigma is often greater in religious communities because of the perception that religious leaders should be bastions of religious living.He also spoke of his experience hearing Canon Byamugisha openly discuss his HIV status, and the positive impact this had on his own life.

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  CORE Initiative Stigma and Religion: An Inevitable... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/7/2003    Last Visited: 1/13/2004  

  Rev. Jape Heath, coordinator of the African Network of Religious Leaders Living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, spoke of difficulties with the church hierarchy when he shared his HIV status.Eventually he was "allowed" to share his status with others, but church structures were inadequate to deal with similar situations.He spoke of a fellow ordained who literally "died of shame" once his family discovered his HIV-positive status.He said there were particular understandings of sin, and the notion that certain sins were acceptable.This was echoed later by Shiekh Al Haj Yussuf, vice-chair of the Kenya Muslim Supreme Council.

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  HIV+ clergymen to join support group - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/20/2004    Last Visited: 11/10/2004  

  ANERELA+ co-ordinator Father Jape Heath said last week in Dar es Salaam that the 2005 retreat will recruit up to 40 church ministers who are living with HIV/Aids or those affected by the virus in Tanzania.The latter are people who have lost a close relative or member of the family through the disease or have infected relatives."Currently, we are working with the Christian Council of Tanzania to identify potential members before the 2005 retreat," said Father Heath, an Anglican minister who discovered his HIV status in 2000.The retreat is expected to be held in Dar es Salaam.He said stigma remains the biggest obstacle against the campaign to combat the spread of HIV/Aids in Africa.
  
  Father Heath was speaking after a two-day workshop on HIV/Aids organised by the Association of Journalists Against Aids in Tanzania and Churches United in the Struggle Against HIV and Aids in Southern and Eastern Africa (CUAHA).
  
  He said ANARELA+,s main objective is to rid the church of stigma, which is so rampant that some church ministers are currently debating whether presiding over funerals of people who die of Aids should be continued.Father Heath said ANARELA+ plans to extend its membership to 13 African countries from the current seven and increase membership to 300 clergymen, up from the current 70, over the next three years.
  
  Established in October 2003 during the 11th International Conference of People Living with HIV/Aids held in Kampala, ANARELA+ members are currently found in Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
  
  Father Heath said most church ministers consider people living with HIV/Aids as sex perverts who are being punished by God for their acts of adultery.

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  Health - AFP on Yahoo! News - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 8/17/2006  

  Reverend Jape Heath, Secretary General of the African Network of Religious Leaders living with or affected by HIV and AIDS, seen here in June 2005. Faith activists called on religious leaders to shun Biblical terms like "scourge" when discussing AIDS and to use places of worship to battle a disease that respects no creed.(AFP/File/Simon Maina)Call for new religious dimension in anti-AIDS fight Tue Aug 15, 1:07 PM ET

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  Irish Methodist World Development & Relief Committee -... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/10/2005    Last Visited: 5/29/2006  

  Rev Jape Heath
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  Jape Heath is a 40-year-old Anglican priest living in South Africa.He is the co-founder of Anerela+, the African network of religious leaders living with HIV/AIDS.
  
  Jape Heath was a minister to the parish of St Mary Belles in Johannesburg when he tested HIV-positive in 2000.His bishop was very sympathetic.He told Jape that he hoped they would have many more years of ministry together.But he also felt that it would be in Jape's best interests not to tell his parishioners for fear of losing their support.
  
  According to Jape, this meant that 'from the outset my bishop and I were both victims of the stigma that surrounds HIV/AIDS'.
  
  During the following year, Jape felt very lonely.He found himself withdrawing from his peers simply because of the burden of this secret that he couldn't share.
  
  A significant turning point came in August, 2001 when he heard Gideon Byanugisha speaking about his experience as a priest living with HIV.It was at that moment that Jape realised he wasn't alone.He approached Gideon at the end of his presentation.He told Jape about his dream of running retreat programmes for religious leaders in Africa who are living with, or are affected by HIV/AIDS.
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  Anerela+ is dealing with this, firstly by being more realistic about what they can achieve - and secondly by employing another member of staff to work alongside Jape.
  
  It is hoped that in the longer term, the organisation will be able not only to provide a support structure for religious leaders living with HIV, but also help them become agents of change in their communities and parishes - and hopefully throughout entire countries.
  
  These initiatives will in turn allow Anerela+ to achieve its principal aim of breaking the stigma, discrimination and culture of silence that surrounds HIV/AIDS.As Jape explains,

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