Roman Catholic Church priests have acknowledged that they find themselves in dilemma when it comes to deciding whether or not to approve marriages involving couples determined to have been infected with HIV/AIDS.They expressed their views following a question raised by Fr Peter Mzirai from the Diocese of Same in Kilimanjaro Region, who sought clarification as to what the priests ought to do under such a situation.
In response Fr John Chacha, who had previously made his presentation, at St Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT), said the existing canons recognized the church as the only custodian of public morals, including matrimonial matters.
However, he said, the Church, as an institution, had to take such a responsibility cautiously, considering that the HIV/AIDS infection rate was still alarmingly high, particularly among the young , with women and girls being more vulnerable.
After a heated discussion, Fr Jones Mlewa from the Diocese of Singida said that the most appropriate remedial measure was to counsel the couples into giving up their marriage plan.
In his opinion, allowing the couples to marry would defeat completely “the aforesaid sacred purpose of marriage,” a remark to which 11 other participants nodded approvingly.
Wrapping up the discussion which reigned at the week-long special course organized by the University's Human Rights Centre, Fr Chacha, himself a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, advised the clergymen to use commonsense and wisdom in deciding what to do.
He said, however, that the canons of the Church were silent on the matter.
The course participants were drawn from the dioceses of Geita, Musoma, Tabora, Same, Songea, Mbinga, Nyombe, Dodoma and Kigoma.
In his closing remarks, the SAUT Vice Chancellor (Administration and Finance), Fr Herman Kachema, said the priests were the 'salt’ of the earth and as such they were duty bound to preach the gospel and human rights issues simultaneously.
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