Description: To commemorate World AIDS Day (December 1), gather young adults for a social evening with a side of education and prayer. Learn how to be in solidarity with the more than 35 million men, women, and children facing HIV/AIDS worldwide.
Get Ready
- Prep Time: Begin preparing about a month in advance in order to have time to reserve a space, recruit volunteers, and publicize the event. Preparation time will require an hour or so to review the materials and 30 minutes before the event for setup.
- Volunteers Needed: You will need a few volunteers to help set up snacks and drinks, someone to read the opening prayer and lead the ice breaker, and people to help lead the closing prayer service.
- Supplies: Bring a copy of the ice breaker, opening prayer, and prayer service. You will want to bring enough copies of the closing prayer service for the participants. Prepare snacks and drinks if you are providing them, as well as plates and napkins.
- Reserve the Space: Reserve a room that will allow people to be seated for the presentation and still have some space to move around beyond the chairs for the ice breaker.
- Ideal Group Size: 20 to 75 people.
- Who is this for? Young adults, college students.
- When is a good time for this? A weekday evening.
- Publicize the Program:
- Use social media to publicize the event, as well as parish publications such as the bulletin.
- Many young adults are interested in social justice topics, so this event will cast a wide net. Include in the publications that all are welcome and make the event free, if possible.
Prayer for Program Planner: God, help guide my words and actions as I present the hard truth of the AIDS epidemic with compassion and solidarity. Amen.
Community Building: This event can be done easily as a “Solidarity Social” with a potluck or wine and cheese. We suggest providing some snacks and drinks at a minimum. It is best to keep the evening fairly light so that it is not too much information at one time.
Make It Happen
The program is designed as an evening social:
- Meet and greet time.
- Open with Catholic Relief Service’s Advent Prayer.
- Ice Breaker/Teaching Activity. (See Help section.) The activity uses questions posed to the group to give some stats and facts about HIV/AIDS in an unintimidating way.
- Group discussion/debrief of activity. (Suggested questions are included in Ice Breaker handout.)
- Prayer service. Choose one from two choices provided by Catholic Relief Services: a longer candlelight vigil or a shorter prayer service.
Ideas
- Find out if your diocese has an AIDS ministry or connect with your local Catholic Charities or Catholic Relief Services office. See if someone can explain to your group what is being done in your area for AIDS awareness and support. Perhaps they can help you plan an annual World AIDS Day Mass or another event to raise awareness within the wider parish community.
- Make “Solidarity Socials” a monthly or quarterly program with different hot topics around Catholic Social Teaching like immigration and the death penalty.
Help
- Advent prayer from Catholic Relief Services
- World AIDS Day Ice Breaker/Teaching Activity Handout (PDF)
- World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil Leader’s Guide
- Picture of Compassion: A CRS Prayer Service
- Find out more about the HIV/AIDS epidemic:
