YESTERDAY WAS WORLD AIDS DAY. BELOW ARE SOME IMPORTANT STATISTICS.
FROM NHS
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that damages the cells in your immune system and weakens your ability to fight everyday infections and disease.
AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is the name used to describe a number of potentially life-threatening infections and illnesses that happen when your immune system has been severely damaged by the HIV virus.
While AIDS cannot be transmitted from 1 person to another, the HIV virus can.
There’s currently no cure for HIV, but there are very effective drug treatments that enable most people with the virus to live a long and healthy life.
With an early diagnosis and effective treatments, most people with HIV will not develop any AIDS-related illnesses and will live a near-normal lifespan.
PAT
Many people, even some doctors and other medical professionals are ignorant and uneducated when it comes to HIV and AIDS
As said above HIV is a virus that weakens the immune system.
AIDS is the name used to describe potentially life threatening infections in an immune system weakened by HIV.
ANTIRETROVIRALS are the wonder drugs that have been invented and perfected over the years that strengthen the immune system of a person with HIV and prevents them getting AIDS.
When you are diagnosed with HIV and start taking he ANTIRETROVIRALS the amount of HIV decreases in you body and gets to the point where it can be designated as UNDETECTABLE.
If you are UNDETECTABLE you cannot pass on HIV to another person.
HIV is no longer a death sentence and has not been for years.
HIV is now a treatable and manageable health condition.
A particular priest I know has both HIV and diabetes.
Diabetes is a much greater threat to his health and life than his HIV.
WARNING
Everybody out there who has sex with more than one person in a committed relationship should have regular sexual health checks.
There are quite a number of very unpleasant infections that sexually active people can get.
Today, let us mourn the 40.1 million of our brothers and sisters who have perished since the start of the HIV / AIDS pandemic.
Let us pray for all those affected by HIV / AIDS especially in poorer countries where sexual health services are poor and antiretrovirals unavailable.
Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in our own communities who are sexually active that they will look after their health and protect themselves and others.
AND LET EACH OF US – MEN AND WOMEN – LOOK AFTER OURSELVES AND OTHERS.
PLACES TO SEEK HELP.
HIV confidential helpline
Positive Life supports and promotes positive living for people with, and affected by, HIV.
It runs a free phone helpline providing information, advice, and support to people living with, and affected by, HIV.
The helpline operates Monday to Friday 9.00 am to 5.00 pm.
- Confidential helpline: telephone 0800 137 437
- AND
Home
HSE STI services in Ireland
Using condoms every time you have sex will reduce your risk of contracting an STI.
Carlow
STI Clinic, Carlow District Hospital, Athy Road. Tel: 051 842 646: CLOSED
Clare
STI Clinic, Ennis General Hospital, HSE Ennis OPD, Westpoint Business Park, Kilrush Road, Ennis V95 D9KW, Co. Clare. Tel: 061 482 382. Email: theclinic@hse.ie
Cork
STI Clinic, South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital, Old Blackrock Road. Tel: 021 496 6844
STI Clinic, Youth Health Service, Penrose House, Penrose Quay, Cork City. Tel: 021-4937250
Donegal
GUM/ STI Clinic, Letterkenny General Hospital, Letterkenny. Tel: 074 912 3715
Dublin
GUIDE Clinic, St. James’s Hospital, James’s Street, Dublin 8. Tel: 01 416 2315/6. Booking available at http://www.guideclinic.ie
STI Clinic, Mater Hospital, Eccles Street, Dublin 7. Tel: 01 803 2063. Booking information available at https://www.mater.ie/patients/sti/
Gay Men’s Health Service, Meath Primary Care Centre, Heytesbury Street, Dublin 8. Tel: 01 921 2730. Booking information is available at https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/5/sexhealth/gmhs/clinics
Galway
STI Clinic, Portiuncula Hospital, Ballinasloe. Tel: 090 964 8372 (ext 676)
University Hospital Galway, Newcastle Road. Tel: 091 525 200
Kerry
STI Clinic, University Hospital Kerry, Tralee. Tel: 021 496 6844
Laois
STI Clinic, Out patients Dept., Midland Regional Hospital, Block Rd., Portlaoise. Tel: 086 859 1273
Limerick
STI Clinic, University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle. Tel: 061 482 382. Email: theclinic@hse.ie
Louth
GUM Clinic, Louth County Hospital, Dublin Road, Dundalk. Tel: 086 824 1847
STI Clinic, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda. Tel: 086 824 1847
Mayo
STI Clinic, Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar. Tel: 094 902 1733 (ext 3501)
Sligo
GUM Clinic, Sligo General Hospital, The Mall. Tel: 071 917 0473
Tipperary
STI Clinic, South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel. Tel: 051 842 646.: CLOSED
STI Clinic, University Hospital Nenagh. Tel: 061 482 382: Email: theclinic@hse.ie
Waterford
STI Clinic, University Hospital Waterford Dunmore Road. Tel: 051 842 646
Westmeath
STI Clinic, Midland Regional Hospital, Longford Road, Mullingar. Tel: 087 710 4152
PRIVATE CLINICS *******
THERE ARE ALSO PRIVATE CLINICS ABD DOCTORS, NORTH AND SOUTH.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 
67 replies on “YESTERDAY WAS WORLD AIDS DAY.”
Pat, I do not wish to distract people from this article, nor do I mean to pester you because I’ve brought this up before, but I was wondering if you would be willing to blog about Father Paul Farrer and Father Damian Cassidy? They emotionally and psychologically abused seminarians in the Royal English College in Valladolid. An Irish seminarian filed a complaint and the complaint was upheld.
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/orthodox-seminarians-need-not-apply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22bXC1P_xEI
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3am that’s what they do. It’s far from unusual. Herd mentality – the church attracts these types in clerical and lay roles across the board worldwide.
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3.00
Anyone using the source employed by you won’t be surprised by the position you take up. Have you nothing better to do?
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@ 9:18
Touchy touchy touchy! Are you a semenary lecturer or former lecturer ?
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9:18 3am isn’t getting “paid to feather own nest” like you are. Priests with teaching qualifications should be redeployed to classrooms in the current crisis.
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9:18 any particular reason why it bothers you?
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11:39 cracked record you are.
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Did it ever occur to you to simply learn to mind your own business.
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I was wondering how your were going to blame us Catholics for this one? You got a priest in I suppose!
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Easy. You discourage people from using condoms.
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9:41 The Catholics want their own policies to be dominant, want to run things, be a charity, etc, but the results of these things are always someone else’s fault.
Cf them ranting on here that the state should have stopped them murdering children in homes.
Informed conscience, my arse.
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The Rainbow Project in Belfast & Derry-Londonderry offers free, rapid HIV and other testing, as well as a wide range of help and support.
https://www.rainbow-project.org/sexual-health/
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7:51 Thank you for this information.
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I wonder how many Roman Catholic priests have contracted HIV/AIDS globally? And contracted it post ordination through unprotected gay sex?
What happens in cases like this? Is there a concerted cover up – one suspects there must be given their propensity for cover up.
Clearly everyone is entitled to privacy and confidentiality but wouldn’t openness and transparency be important to help remove the stigma.
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Openness and transparency are not included in Institutional Church lexicon.
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Parish pump politics can be a lucrative undertaking for some.
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12.45 Undertaking itself can be more lucrative for others.
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9:38 Perish the idea.
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12:45. Money mad they are. Addicted. The root of all evil.
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8:05 they do not do openness or transparency – it appears to be against the rules of the Roman Catholic religion. Their daily modus operandi is exactly the opposite.
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Clerics primarily use the private health system.
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I remember a priest in the USA who died of HIV / Aids back in the mid-80s. It was only a few years previously that they were still calling the virus HTLV, so very early in the day. I think all those around and close to him knew he was ill for quite a while, and eventually he became iller and iller. Remember, in those days there was still a great deal of anxiety about modes of transmission and HIV people found themselves often shunned. However, in this case, I was encouraged at how the community around him looked after him, kept him amongst them, and never did I hear or see any negative or disparaging behaviour towards him. At his funeral it was acknowledged that he had died from Aids, but there was compassion, and there was no judgmental or moralistic commentary, just an atmosphere of love, compassion and sadness at the loss of a talented life. If only it could always have been like that.
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The Roman Catholic propensity for cover up, financial settlements with seminarians and bribery of potential whistleblowers via promotion & ordination “favours” etc., is responsible for ongoing reinfection.
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Praying for all those affected by AIDS.
Wondering how your sister’s treatment is going Bishop Pat.
https://gcn.ie/bernard-lynch-archive-national-library-ireland/?fbclid=IwAR1-ym-sY-gYcs-tjYkVaB44gjwwLDM3BthV0ChJgCaC9jY7hfeDP1iH790
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Many predictable comments yesterday from the West Briton and lapsed Catholic who used to comment here pseudonymously. And some comments from one who up to very recently used to post under his own name.
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9:15 There is no place for racism or discrimination of any kind in our society.
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It must be a terrible disease altogether to be a lapsed catlick, incurable apparently.
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9:28 speaking from personal experience, the cure is definitely worse than the disease.
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There will be no hard border on the island of Ireland
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Someone in a bad mood – didn’t pull in the boiler room…..
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Is second nature to these cover up merchants, kiddy fiddlers & their pals – the addicts they prey on are not going to insist they wear a condom. Money speaks.
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The Bishops plant abusive priests in new locations worldwide despite international condemnation from the international community on this practice – a proportion of these clerics will pose a health risk to others. There appears to be zero accountability by these overprivileged networks.
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The founder of the charity Sistah Space has described her treatment by former lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth II and Godmother of Prince William, Lady Susan Hussey as a “form of abuse” after Ms Fulani was repeatedly asked “what country do you “really” come from”. Lady Hussey resigned with immediate effect amidst a public statement from her godson Prince William confirming “there is no place for racism in our society”.
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The Spanish version of Gaynooth.
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(Also Deirdre 3.00) (Ignore 9.18) Hetero the identical permutation. For over 55 years.
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10:15 Si Valladgaylid
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Do seminarians have mandatory HIV testing?
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10:16 Formators should provide families of seminarians with a medical certificate confirming that their kids won’t catch anything off them if they join up.
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The purpose of moral axioms (e.g degrees of situational chastity) is definitely not to support a shaming power craze, because the actual Kingdom of God means exchanging spiritual gifts to strengthen others’ integrity, behind the back of any city state and their extraterritorials.
Codependency being lustful possession, Roman moralising doesn’t give us the courage of heart we need, and neither does frank Roman laxity.
Using private details – pulling strings – twisting arms – tying hands – getting under feet – salami slicing of mischief making – the contemporary charism of diplomacy – turning sacraments into a designer fix-all – boasting exotic training credentials: these betray total unbelief in providence and supplication.
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What was the outcome of the Garda investigation in the diocese of Waterford and Lismore on the stolen 70K ? Did the Irish Charities Regulator investigate?
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11:06 Ask Bishop Phonsie Cullinan, he can always be relied on to have plenty to say for himself in the media when it suits.
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7:27 Ara not at all…sur he’s off media radar following this blog highlighting
Dom Dicks boiler house adventures…and Fr. Richards shown the door…he must have been advised to keep stumm. How many Mass baskets does it take to collect 70 grand i wonder….
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9:45 It takes some shearing expert to fleece that amount of cash from the sheep allright.
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9:45 has Bishop Phonsie not taken up Vlogging, it’s all the rage in some quarters.
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A suggestion to BP: research and blog on Trócaire and their Board Member the Bishop of Killaloe who apparently is turning a blind eye to flagrant breaches of Trocaire’s Charity status.
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11:28 Ah, Jaysus, don’t tell us they robbing the little starving black babies now? Is no one safe at all, at all?? 😒
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A lovely Advent Calendar from Maynooth, which Pat and his readers might enjoy.
https://app.cloudpano.com/tours/Sw_VcP402
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11.28: What are the blatant breaches of TROCAIRE? Substantiate your claims with facts and evidence.
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1:15 The facts have been sent to BP. Trócaire needs to decide whether it is a charity or a political lobby group. Another breach has taken place. I’m sure you’ll read about it soon enough in the MSM *hint hint*. Time for Bishop of Killaloe to resign from the Board?
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2.00pm: Why don’t you give the facts? Why get Pat to do your (dirty) work? Have you something to hide or are you the proverbial laptop coward?
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6:51 the surf is good these days, maybe head away and cool down for yourself.
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6.51 Today’s subject is AIDS. It is entirely up to BP whether or not he wants to blog about Trocaire. I regularly send BP info on all topics related to the RCC. It’s his call as to what to publish. In regards to Trocaire, all you have to do is go on their website and if you are diligent enough, you might find the subject matter in question which is being dealt with through the appropriate channels.
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1:15 This ain’t no Kangaroo Court, Fr Sherlock! Some don’t do cheap!
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2.26 Spot on. Fr Sherlock might also be interested in knowing that one person in Killaloe has gotten themselves a brilliant solicitor…prepare yourselves Padres.
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Pat at 17.34 only 37 comments. What a pity that most commenters made no reference to Works Aids Day but chose instead to repeat their daily diet of caca re: clerics. It shows that these trolls, vicious and pernicious, are moral cowards and haven’t an ounce of empathy for all who have died frim AIDS…they are only happy in tearing clerics apart into pieces. Their hatred is blatant. God bless all who are seriously ill in any way from whatever the diagnosis. I had two friends who died years ago from AIDS and their families still grieve. That many today, as so frequently, never stay on the issue is indicative of their impoverishment of thought. Pat, you should be stricter about allowing the same peoole express their repeat caca.
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5:45 Translation = Roman Catholic Church speak to attempt to discredit the truth about the proven crime, corruption and criminality that is endemic in the worldwide RCC. If you don’t want to read about it, why bother with this blog that clearly does what it says on the tin.
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5:45 You are making assumptions without all the facts. I posted about clerics today AND I made a comment earlier on with a link and said that I am praying for all those affected by AIDS.
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5:45
Clerics create their own caca in more ways than one. Where’s the empathy for victim/survivors of clerical abuse? Some victims are
prematurely dead as a direct consequence of their abuse trauma.
Meanwhile coverup of clerical abuse continues, survivors are
gaslighted and people like you try to deflect from clerical criminality.
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9:25 Exactly, well said.
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Very good post today Pat, amazing how few comments, there are so far, I wonder why? Many are struck dumb, or their computers,/smart phones broken, they know it all, or don’t want to be reminded of the risk they take.
A word of encouragement to all those in Roman Catholic Irish clergy, who have been tarred by the one brush from a grateful woman in Meath.
(I assume her children were never sexually abused by Irish Catholic clerics, or, it might be a far different story.)
Letters to the Irish Independent 02 December 2022
IRELAND
It’s right to acknowledge how Roman Catholic church was a force for good
Despite the awful sexual abuse that took place within its walls, the Roman Catholic Church should also be acknowledged for the good work it has done.
December 02 2022 02:30 AM
John Daly’s article (‘Vatican Pimpernel reminds us that not all Roman Catholic priests are bad’, Irish Independent, November 28) was a long-overdue acknowledgment of the good work that has been done by the Roman Catholic Church in making Ireland what it is today – a modern and prosperous country.
(I am not at all sure I could agree with that sentiment of Ms. Davey.)
This has been achieved in no small measure by Roman Catholic religious orders who founded our first hospitals and schools free of charge when the struggling state had no money to do so.
(She does not mention the stigma associated with former poor law infirmaries, NOR, finance raised through the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstakes lottery.)
Blatantly ignoring the contribution of these selfless men and women is a gross and unfair distortion of our history.
Unfortunately, as in our wider society, horrendous sex abuse was perpetrated by a minority of very sick and cruel people.
(It seems Ms.Davey can’t bring herself to state Roman Catholic sexual abuser’s clerics.)
(Roman Catholic clergy, she makes no mention of the Roman Catholic clergy sexual abuse’s cover ups by Roman Catholic Irish Bishops/Cardinals)
Painting all our Roman Catholic religious orders with the same sex abuse brush is a horrible injustice to our fellow Irish citizens.
The vast majority of Roman Catholic religious are being wrongly accused in the public mind of hideous crimes, and it appears as if their life’s work has been rubbished. It is past time when their contribution to Irish society is openly acknowledged in a fair and compassionate way.
(No doubt the Roman Catholic religious orders help , I am not too sure if it was in a kind and compassionate way, in fact very often it was quite the contrary.)
Eileen Davey, Laytown, Co Meath
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https://www.brusselstimes.com/329881/more-people-distancing-themselves-from-catholic-church-in-belgium
MORE PEOPLE DISTANCING THEMSELVES FROM CATHOLIC CHURCH IN BELGIUM
Brussels Times [Brussels, Belgium]
Wednesday, 30 November 2022.
” In 2021, four times as many people had themselves deregistered from the baptismal register than in 2020, largely linked to the Catholic Church’s statement on same-sex marriages and continued reports of sexual abuse.
A total of 5,237 baptised people asked to be removed from the register, more than four times as many as in 2020, when 1,261 people had themselves deregistered, the annual report of the Catholic Church in Belgium showed. The Vatican’s statement in March that homosexuality remains a “sin” (in response to whether it would bless same-sex unions) is said to have played a role in this.”
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9:10 if the Vatican says it’s a “sin” – why don’t they remove the offenders. The current situation is toxic. Hypocrites.
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The current situation is toxic on multiple levels.
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Hope they shut the door on the way out.
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10:25 kick it hard shut after them. They’ve overstayed their alien status.
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Our families are not up for grabs.
Clerics & Co – take note…… 21222
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I would like to comment on your statement that diabetes is more of a threat than HIV. I am not a medic, but have lived with diabetes for 30 years now. I don’t feel it as a threat to my life, the treatments are improving all the time with quicker and faster insulin, better monitoring. I use the Dexcom G6 and it is a game changer. I don’t feel threatened but grateful for Banting & Best discovery of insulin many years ago. I am delighted with the new technologies and developments in the treatment of the disease. Hopefully soon there will be a cure.
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