THE EPISCOPAL NEW YORKER

 

From the Beginning: AIDS Ministry in the Diocese

By Mary Beth Diss

AIDS entered the national consciousness in the early 1980s, at a time when incurable disease was considered a thing of the past. The unknown killer struck young and old alike in quick fashion. The causes and means of transmission were a mystery, fostering fear of the disease and its victims. Hospitals, government agencies and others wanted nothing to do with AIDS patients, since it was believed that they could possibly infect others through incidental contact.

Even as doctors and scientists identified the disease as caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and gained knowledge about AIDS, most people were still slow to increase their understanding. AIDS patients continued to be ostracized, ignored or vilified.

In response to the lack of support for people living with HIV/AIDS, several organizations and religious groups came forward to fill the void, with the Episcopal Church acting as a forerunner. Intent on caring for those in need, individuals, churches and religious groups looked past the paranoia and provided services desperately needed by those infected with the virus.

Since New York City had and still has among the largest populations of HIV/AIDS patients, the Episcopal Diocese of New York has been a leader in the world in providing AIDS-related services.

Twenty years and thousands of lives later, HIV/AIDS still plagues populations in the United States and worldwide. As drugs have been introduced that effectively limit the fatality of the disease, deaths from AIDS have decreased dramatically, and increased public awareness has lowered infection rates. Recently, however, people have become complacent about possible infection, believing the disease to be no longer threatening, a trend that has caused the number of infections to increase in 2002.

At the same time, AIDS continues to spread rapidly worldwide, especially in Africa, where the numbers have reached epidemic proportions. Because the drug treatment is so expensive, most AIDS patients outside of the U.S. cannot afford it, so in many places, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, death rates from this disease are staggering.

To meet the challenges of the ever-changing face of the AIDS pandemic, Diocesan churches and organizations have creatively and passionately used their time and resources to best care for those with HIV/AIDS. With most patients in the U.S. not dying of the disease, other needs such as counseling and job placement are more pressing.

As the Rev. Deacon Susan Bonsteel of St. John’s, Kingston, said, “It started out with most people not able to work.” Bonsteel serves as secretary of the Board of Directors for Angel Food East, Inc., an organization that provides home delivery of hot meals to HIV/AIDS patients. Since the introduction of the new drugs, however, patients are active and involved. “Now it is part of our ministry to help the clients get back on their feet,” she said. This includes helping them out by providing this food. Other churches and organizations that provide food to patients include Grace Church, Middletown and All Saints’, Staten Island.

The Rev. G. Anthony Hoeltzel, executive director of The Sharing Community in Yonkers, has also seen the needs of HIV/AIDS patients change over the years. “The types of support groups have changed,” Hoeltzel said. “They focus on learning how to live, to stay sober and now to return to the workplace. There is a lot less of a need for bereavement groups.”

As well, several organizations including the Diocesan Episcopal AIDS Committee have been collecting money to pay for AIDS drug treatment in countries such as South Africa.
The following are just a few examples within the Episcopal Diocese of New York of the work being done to help those infected with HIV/AIDS.

Angel Food East
St. John’s, Kingston, works with Angel Food East, Inc. to deliver free hot meals to people with HIV/AIDS in Ulster County. The organization celebrated its 10th anniversary in December, and a concert held at St. John’s on December 1, World AIDS Day, raised $5,000 for the delivery program. Angel Food East serves approximately 50 people Monday through Friday. The Rev. Deacon Susan Bonsteel of St. John’s is secretary of the organization’s Board of Directors. Bonsteel explained that this all-volunteer service is financially supported by the National Church, the Diocese, businesses, local organizations and individuals. With funding from the United Thank Offering and Episcopal Charities, the kitchen at St. John’s was renovated, allowing more meals to be prepared.

Episcopal Charities
Episcopal Charities funds a number of HIV/AIDS services in the Diocese, as well as many programs that serve HIV/AIDS patients as part of a broader ministry serving many people. These programs supported by Episcopal Charities include the Pathways Program at All Angels’, Manhattan; the Hogar de los Arcoiris Family Resource Center at St. John’s Getty Square, Yonkers; and the HIV Outreach Program at Grace Church, Middletown, among many others.

St. Luke in the Fields
From the beginning in the 1980s, St. Luke in the Fields, Manhattan, has been deeply affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and deeply involved in ministering to those touched by the disease. Since its founding in 1987, the AIDS Project of St. Luke’s has served Saturday dinner and weekend teas to over 35,000 persons with AIDS. Volunteers cook, set up, serve and enjoy dinner with the guests every Saturday. On Sunday, parishioners and others visit and serve tea to patients with HIV/AIDS and their families and friends at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village and at Rivington House on the Lower East Side.

The Sharing Community
Also begun in the dawning of the AIDS epidemic, The Sharing Community is an organization that serves HIV/AIDS patients with over 21 different programs. Started 20 years ago by St. John’s, Getty Square, Yonkers, and St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, also in Yonkers, The Sharing Community provides housing as well as a number of support group programs that counsel and teach clients how to live well as an HIV-infected adult. The organization also provides a number of AIDS prevention programs.

How to help
HIV/AIDS ministry is a service needed in all geographic areas, not just urban centers. And often, the AIDS patients most in need of services are those living outside of large cities, where many of the programs are concentrated. At the 72nd General Convention in 1997, the Standing Committee on HIV/AIDS made a report to the Episcopal Church outlining several recommendations for churches:

  • Stress the Gospel call to heal as a way around the barriers of stigma and politics
  • Confront the discomfort of talking about sex, sin and drug abuse
  • Provide leadership for support groups for families, individuals, for grandmothers raising grandchildren and taking care of dying daughters and sons
  • Reach out, open up, run some risks
  • Leave dogma at home and just be compassionate
  • If clergy don’t support programs, find active lay people
  • Stop avoiding the subject
  • Become more informed and educated
  • Be more inclusive in providing pastoral care
  • Show compassion, show love.

CONTINUE

BACK

 

At the end of the St. Nicholas Celebration held in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, people came forward to offer holiday gifts for people of all ages living with HIV/AIDS.

Photo by MARY BETH DISS

Remembering Those with HIV/AIDS

By Mary Beth Diss

St. Nicholas is remembered, in addition to his leaving gold in stockings by the fire, for having served the poor, needy and suffering. Therefore, it is fitting that AIDS Action International plans an annual St. Nicholas Celebration for this saint’s feast day in December.

This year’s celebration, held at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, was the ninth and was led by the Rev. Rand Frew, founder and executive officer of AIDS Action International. The program was free and open to the public, and everyone was asked to bring unwrapped holiday gifts for children and adults living with HIV/AIDS.

Performing at the celebration were Tim Brumfield, Cathedral organist; Lavender Light: Black and People of All Colors Lesbian and Gay Gospel Choir; Sandra Goodman, contralto; Andrew Gibbons, pianist; and Dante, a contemporary band.

After the music, those in attendance brought their holiday gifts to the altar. Police officers from the 10th Precinct in New York City and Frew delivered the gifts to AIDS service organizations in the city: Bailey House, St. Mary’s Episcopal Center and A Better Place, in Manhattan; Albert Einstein Family Immunological Center in the Bronx; and St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital in Bayside, Queens.

 

DEAC: Fighting AIDS by Reaching Out
By Jill S. Davis

The Diocesan Episcopal AIDS Committee (DEAC) is a volunteer group within the Episcopal Diocese that reaches out to people living with AIDS and parishes that need assistance with AIDS ministry. Education is DEAC’s primary means of helping others, particularly young people.

The volunteer committee members visit various parishes in the diocese and educate through presentations and discussions. They talk about medical attention, human rights, homophobia, race and any other issue that may touch the lives of people living with AIDS. Being open and frank about the issues surrounding AIDS is very important because volunteers know that the more information they provide, the more effective they will be. Additionally, they have developed informational literature in both English and Spanish to help churches inform parishioners about AIDS.

DEAC was started in 1982, a time when AIDS began taking lives in noticeable numbers. AIDS victims were not only battling the disease itself but also prejudice caused by limited information about AIDS and its causes. Back then, health care workers were not even willing to treat AIDS patients. DEAC provided a way for the Episcopal Diocese to address AIDS and its many effects on the parishes and the community.

Because DEAC members are ahead of many AIDS organizations in the amount of information they provide, they have been asked to share their knowledge and literature with parishes outside of New York City. Judith Mason, DEAC’s current chairperson and a pastoral counselor for Housing Works, Inc., said, “The need for information outside of New York City appears to be almost as great as it is here, especially in more depressed cities like Newburgh. There is less available information, and fewer services like AIDS treatment centers, so the Church plays a bigger role in assisting AIDS victims and their families.”

DEAC also touches the community in other ways. The committee participates in the St. Nicholas Day outreach program by delivering gifts to AIDS patients in hospitals and to AIDS service organizations. The members are working to increase Diocesan presence in the annual AIDS Walk, encouraging parishes to participate in the event as a group.

Most illegal residents are afraid to seek assistance and medical attention because they don’t want to be deported. To address this issue, DEAC has initiated a buddy system within parishes whereby people in need are paired with members of their church. These “buddies” offer to go to doctor’s appointments, advocate for them and connect them with other members of the community who can help.

DEAC is not only fighting AIDS here at home, but has also launched a campaign to fight AIDS in South Africa. An estimated 4.2 million people in South Africa are infected with HIV, and the country has the highest per-capita incidence of AIDS in the world. At issue was the provision of anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) to HIV positive women who are about to give birth. ARV can cut HIV mother-to-fetus transmission by up to 50% and only costs about $10 for the shot. Because president Thabo Mbeki and the South African Government had been unwilling to have the government pay for the drug, DEAC launched the Mothers Day Appeal, a mail campaign with the theme: “This Mothers Day, Give the Gift of Life.” Parishes across the Diocese were invited to suggest ways of raising funds for the medication. Members of St. Bartholomew’s in Manhattan created a Mother’s Day card, which they sold in the church’s gift shop for $10. Altogether, an unbelievable $27,000 was raised since the beginning of the campaign last May.

“There was such a compassionate outpouring from the Diocese,” said Archdeacon Michael Kendall. “We are committed to AIDS work in the Diocese of Matlosane, and are exploring ways to continue our support.”

To find out more about DEAC or to invite them to speak to your congregation, contact Judith Mason at 212-722-2227 or jawmason@aol.com.