Bishop Beckwith

The Rt. Rev. Mark Beckwith, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, visited St. Andrew and Holy Communion on Sunday, a service that marked World AIDS Day by calling for continued support for the nearly 34 million people living with HIV around the world.

The Episcopal Church is encouraging renewed education and advocacy efforts to bring an end to the global pandemic. During his sermon to parishioners in South Orange, the Bishop recalled the fear and confusion – and avoidance of those with the AIDS when the virus was first diagnosed 30 years ago.

Few New Jersey voters went to the polls Tuesday, and I imagine that fewer still hold out any hope that the new state Senate or Assembly will make a material difference in their lives.

In fact, the New Jerseyans who have the most at stake did not vote at all, and their interests were lost in the typical pre-election din. Our state’s poor children, a special-interest group that gets larger every day, could find their fortunes changed considerably by the 120 members of the incoming Legislature, but we have to help.

Bishop Beckwith gives his reflections at the end of a gathering of Anglicans in South Africa in October 2011. Convened by the Chicago Consultation and the Ujamaa Centre of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the purpose of the gathering was to strengthen mission and advocacy connections among Anglicans who are interested in the theology of human sexuality and justice. (Video by Rebecca Wilson.)