Dynamics between Catholicism and AIDS: reproduction, transformation and (in) formation

Authors

  • Fernando Seffner Campo Porto Alegre
  • Carlos Alberto Steil Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3395/reciis.v5i1.502

Keywords:

religion, health, AIDS, catholicism, franciscans

Abstract

This article presents some interpretations on the HIV/AIDS epidemic as a dynamics of meanings in the social field. It departs from the empirical observation of the social work for people who live with HIV/AIDS, developed at Fonte Colombo House by Franciscan friars and volunteers. From the daily life at Fonte Colombo House, it tries to understand how this pastoral and assistance practice affects the traditional conceptions of the catholic orthodoxy on sexuality and human reproduction. The reflection we make points to a local process that tends to redefine the doctrinal position of the Catholic Church as to the normatization of the sexual act as fundamentally an act of human reproduction. The ethnographic method adopted in the research highlights the specificity of a Catholic and Franciscan style in the greeting rituals, in the experiences and information that are socialized and the forms of confrontation that are used in relation to the common problem of the House users.

Author Biographies

Fernando Seffner, Campo Porto Alegre

Dr. do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da UFRGS, coordenador do Campo Porto
Alegre do Projeto Respostas Religiosas à epidemia de HIV/Aids no Brasil.

Carlos Alberto Steil, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS.

Professor do Departamento de Antropologia e do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia
Social da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS. Pesquisador do Núcleo de
Estudos da Religião da UFRGS.

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How to Cite

Seffner, F., & Steil, C. A. (2011). Dynamics between Catholicism and AIDS: reproduction, transformation and (in) formation. Revista Eletrônica De Comunicação, Informação & Inovação Em Saúde, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.3395/reciis.v5i1.502

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2011)

Section

Original articles

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