AIDS is not God's judgment on anyone, according to Fr Vincent Travers of the Scarborough parish.

“AIDS is not God's will. God is not vindictive. God is compassionate,” he told those gathered for the 22 nd International AIDS Candlelight Memorial at the St Joseph RC Church on Saturday, May 14.

The event is held in over 93 countries and commemorates the lives lost to AIDS, demonstrates support for people living with HIV/AIDS, and mobilises community-based responses to the disease.

The Tobago AIDS Society organised the memorial, which had as its theme this year: Turning Remembrance into Action.

Delivering the main address, Fr Travers noted that persons with HIV/AIDS were among the least popular in society, and were perceived as a public health threat and to be avoided at all costs.

“Some people, who should know better, go further, and say that AIDS is a plague sent by God to punish drug addicts and sexually active people,” Fr Travers said.

But he stressed that AIDS was not a sin – it was a disease.

“AIDS calls for compassion not shame, for understanding not condemnation. It is important that we do not reject those who are known to have the virus, but care for them with dignity and respect. Final judgment is up to God,” Fr Travers said.

Describing AIDS as one of the most serious health problems that has ever faced the human race, he said despite the many efforts to educate people, there was widespread ignorance amongst those who were most at risk, especially the young and the restless.

Fr Travers added: “Parents, first, and then teachers are, I believe, the key players in the struggle against AIDS. All the support they need to help them protect their children and their students from this dreaded disease ought to be easily and readily made available to them.”

He said the message that needed to be communicated was that one of the greatest dangers came from people thinking they were not at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS.

He added that teenagers and young adults were known for their sense of immortality, for believing that they could take risks and get away with it, that HIV was something that happened to other people.

“They are wrong. Studies show that even the well informed about AIDS suffer from the syndrome that says, ‘It can't happen to me'. That is simply not true. That is bad thinking and it does not reflect reality,” Fr Travers concluded.

After the candles were lit, there was a minute of silence in memory of those who have died from HIV/AIDS.