ARHIVELE OLTENIEI - Universitatea din Craiova

262Rodica Ţuguiare mortals”. Also, there was the idea that the priest doesn`t necessarily need to know more aboutAIDS in order to „preach about morality”, to awaken the feeling of compassion for the suffering inthe soul of each man from the community „shepherded” by them. Also they need to encouragetolerance between people because by excluding the sick people the problem won`t be solved. Thisis a part of the priest’s calling. The authority which he enjoys permits him to contribute to raisingthe awareness of the population about the danger of spreading the virus and the „need” to acceptthe sick. They shouldn`t be treated as those suffering of leprosy.The points of view which were often debated related to a personal experience concerningthe sero-positives; the requirements of the community in relation to them; the institutional level ofinvolvement; and the subtle presence of some „Romanian” mentalities about vulnerable categories.Additionally, their social integration and the „theologic filter” about a life perspective which is agood „testimony” on how the HIV problem is seen in our communities. If international preventionmodels put together individual liberties and precautionary policies that construct new practices andforms of social control, then our lack of information, intolerance, fear, weak institutionalresponsibility, continous financial crisis, and a mentality to socially exclude any disabled person,etc, makes us far away from this model. With all the therapeutic progress and the medicinalsensitivity created about the sickness, the situation of the epidemic is cause for concern. Itsspreading is uncontrollable. To this we add the difficulty to mobilize locally. But the implicationsof AIDS are many and they seem to influence the local community. The status of the infected thruhomosexuality, drug abuse and adultery have not changed in Romania. They are considered guilty.The impact is over the entire society as people discover the danger of the sickness.