Thank you very much for visiting this important page. The purpose of this particular Orphans of AIDS page has a four-fold objective:

• To discuss according to Scripture what position the Christian Church should take in regard to the 15,000,000 ‘Orphans of AIDS’ living in the world today.
• To enlist the support of as many caring and concerned people who are interested in coming along side of our work to help these innocent children who are the unfortunate Orphans of AIDS.
• To promise to our sponsors that every project we support has been tested and approved, and that it upholds the highest degree of respect and accountability within the community it serves to provide food, clothing, clean drinking water, education, health care and love to as many of the 15 Million Orphans of AIDS as we possibly can.
• To let each supporter know that 100% of their designated support goes to the project they choose.

Why should the Church take care of the Orphans of AIDS?

According to Scripture the book of James teaches that pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress… James 1:27

Today over 15,000,000 innocent children, through no fault of their own, have unfortunately been orphaned by AIDS. The inconvenient reality of this is that these little children are all of God’s precious creation and desperately need our help.

AIDS is not going to go away any time soon. In fact, it took AIDS only 25 years to run its course and suddenly become the single greatest health and economic burden known to man of any totally preventable disease in recorded history. Today, over 40 million people have HIV/AIDS with 4 million new infections recorded each year and a staggering death toll to boot of nearly 30 million people.

Moreover, health experts fear that by 2010 AIDS cases may more than double from 40 million people to infect over 100 million people; and leave in its wake over 25 million orphans, thus becoming the greatest health and economic burden known to man of any totally preventable disease.

That means that within the next few years we could expect to see 10 million new orphan children whose parents have died because of AIDS. Child care facilities around the world already do not have enough resources right now to take care of the 15,000,000 orphans that fill child care institutions today, much less to begin to think about taking care of the 25,000,000 orphans that are coming by 2010. The institutions are already full.

Jesus did not commission the United Nations, the federal government, Bill and Melinda Gates or Warren Buffet to go into all the world. These people are all doing very good things and to them we say, ‘Thank you.’ But the mandate of Jesus Christ to be his hands and feet in this world and to take care of widows and orphans was specifically given to the Church.

Yet today most of the work of charity is not even being done by the Church at all, but by the secular and (NGO) non-governmental organizations. Even though Jesus did not prohibit others from helping it should be clear to all of us who follow Scripture that according to our mandate caring for God’s creation in this world is a Christian priority not an option.

Jesus told his disciples this parable. “One day the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' His servants answered Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly, I say to you, as much as you have done this to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.' "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?' "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Mat 25:25-40

It appears today that where taking care of the Orphan of AIDS is concerned we have neither ‘walked our talk’ nor have we ‘put our money where our mouths are.’ If we examine the budgets of our general church and conference apportionments, we will discover that providing for these innocent Orphans of AIDS is nearly non-existent and that we simply have not seen it as the priority that it is.

The sole purpose of The Orphans of AIDS foundation is to improve the quality of life for all children that have been orphaned. Moreover, to provide food, clothing, clean drinking water, education, health care and love to as many children as we possibly can. We believe that every child has a right to a life that is free from sexual exploitation, poverty and disease. We therefore help more than just those that are affected by HIV/AIDS, but seek God’s help to assist as many children as we can regardless of their circumstance.

We should never forget that the Christian Church brings to the table an altogether distinctive pallet of social abilities that neither governments nor business/NGO organizations will ever have. According to Dr. Rick Warren, “the Church has the largest distribution network; the biggest pool of volunteers -- representing 2.3 billion individuals; local credibility, the longest record of caring -- more than 2,000 years; moral authority to carry out its mission; and the power of God.”

Dr. Paul Caratti adds. “While a few local churches have done some pioneering work in the battle against HIV and AIDS to provide for orphans, their service has often been obscured by those voicing a twisted theology claiming that ‘AIDS is the punishment of God.’ This opinion has prompted many people in the church today to embrace a theology of condemnation rather than compassion; indifference rather than involvement; discrimination rather than liberation.”

The problem with AIDS is that we live in a world today where six people every minute die and 15,000 more become infected with the deadly HIV virus. Moreover, that a staggering 8,500 people die from HIV/AIDS each and every day. AIDS is a major health threat on every Continent of the globe that affects mainly the innocent, the orphans, widows and the weak. Thus, managing the pandemic causes of AIDS must become a collective global priority of society before we can begin to see the orphan rate decrease.

Dr. Paul J. Caratti serves as an ordained minister on two continents, Africa and the United States, and helps Christian groups to better understand what God’s role is for the Church regarding HIV/AIDS and orphans. His passion is to assist churches, pastors and congregations to help unify their actions against the growing HIV/AIDS crisis through comprehensive programs of awareness, education, care and support.

How You Can Help!

• · You can help by… Praying about supporting or joining one of our Orphan Buster Teams that we feature on this web site.
• · You can help by… Inviting Pastor Paul Caratti to come and share at your local church, office or home group.
• · You can help by… Becoming a regular monthly pledge partner.

For more information, please contact Dr. Paul J. Caratti at 916.508.2289 or email at paul@globalaidsday.org

Dr. Rev. Paul J. Caratti

The Orphans of AIDS, founder