By Paula Day

Their anguish is real. In some cases their sense of alienation is overwhelming. Persons who are HIV positive, their families and loved ones could be called modern day lepers.

“I want to scream out in the middle of Mass and tell everyone that my life is falling apart because my husband has AIDS. But I keep quiet because I am afraid they will shun us.”

“The hardest thing for me is having to lie and tell everyone my daughter-in-law has cancer. If I told them she has AIDS, I could not bear the look on their faces.”

Jo Ann Zanone has heard these anguished words and witnessed the pain of their speakers. “AIDS is here,” the contact person for the AIDS ministry is St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Alpharetta said. “It is north of the river. It is in good Catholic homes.”

Mrs. Zanone is not a fear monger. Her intention and that of those in AIDS ministry at St. Thomas is to raise awareness because they believe the parish “is going to be needed as a family to support and comfort and not to judge.”

Neighboring St. Ann’s parish with its wide-ranging AIDS ministry has been an inspiration to Mrs. Zanone. The two parishes in the north metro area are adjacent and St. Thomas parishioners have taken part in St. Ann’s special Mass for those affected by AIDS.

To work toward its goal of being a parish family of support and comfort, St. Thomas’ ministry sponsored a parishwide forum called “The Body of Christ Has AIDS” on March 7. Future plans include presentation on four Sundays in the fall to educate adult parishioners about AIDS, the medial facts and the Christian response to those affected by the disease. Middle school and high school youth are in the process of viewing and discussing the film, “No Second Chance,” as part of their religious education curriculum. “Knowledge will help people get beyond the taboos,” Mrs. Zanone pointed out.

“It is important for people to understand how AIDS can be caught and how it can’t be caught,” commented Rosemary Nieve, a retired nurse who is co-leader of AIDS ministry at St. Thomas. One fear she has heard expressed, that AIDS can be caught by drinking from the Communion cup, is not supported by the facts, she said.

Education is also needed to correct misunderstandings about AIDS that create barriers within the community. For example, Mrs. Nieve has become aware of people who are afraid to ride in a vehicle in which persons with AIDS have ridden, although they would not be at risk.

Realizing their own need for education, members of St. Thomas’ AIDS ministry attended AIDS 101, a full day of training offered four to six times a year by AID Atlanta. To encourage parish involvement, Father Al Jowdy, the pastor, has focused on the ministry from the pulpit. Newcomers to the parish receive information about the ministry at a welcoming dinner, and persons who have been touched personally by the illness have told their stories at parish gatherings.

Mrs. Nieve is one who shares her story. She lost her eldest son Michael to AIDS in 1986. The 38-year-old was diagnosed in late May and died in early October. Daily Mass and Communion were her strength, Mrs. Nieve asserts. “Otherwise, I would have been off the wall.” After losing her husband to cancer within two years of Michael’s death, she asked, “Why am I left?”

An article in The Georgia Bulletin about the opening of Jerusalem House and a presentation by the archdiocesan Task Force on AIDS gave her the answer. She has since volunteered at Jerusalem House, home for persons with AIDS (PWAs), helping at one point with around-the-clock nursing care for a dying man. She gives practical support in cases assigned her by AID Atlanta. This support is varied, “anything that needs to be done, throwing clothes in the washer, vacuuming, grocery shopping.” On occasion she uses her nursing skills.

For parishioners in neighboring St. Ann’s it was “getting our feet wet” early on that spurred growth of the ministry. “We were not prepared,” recalls Sharon Collins, coordinator of AIDS ministry in the parish. “We were tossed into it and had to get our act together.”

Three members in a family of four in the parish had AIDS and they had no support system in the area. At the time the husband was still able to work but the wife was often too sick to care for the preschooler who also had AIDS.

It was shortly after Archbishop Eugene Marino issued his pastoral letter, “Called To Unconditional Love” in 1990, in which he asked parishes to designate an AIDS ministry coordinator. Father Gene Barrette, parochial vicar at St. Ann’s, explained the new ministry to parishioners at weekend Masses. A neighbor asked the husband in the family, who was at his wits’ end, if he could tell Father Barrette about their needs. At first the man was skeptical. For almost a year he had been desperately looking for help and at one time had called St. Ann’s parish office.

Ministry to the family involved baby-sitting, taking the wife to the doctor and sitting with her during the final weeks of her illness. Now her husband is on total disability and the child is school age. “The ministry is ongoing,” Mrs. Collins explained.

AIDS ministry at St. Ann’s has many facets. In addition to education, people are involved in “hands on” assistance such as housework, yardwork, providing meals, transportation, financial help, legal advice and sitting with those who wish to stay in their own homes.

A writers’ group prepares educational materials, packets for volunteers, bulletin announcements. Another group selects the theme and music for the AIDS Mass. To financially support its outreach, members have raised funds through the parish’s annual craft fair as well as a basketball clinic for youth with Georgia Tech’s basketball coach Bobby Cremins as instructor.

The ministry has sponsored various workshops. One trained those caring for the infirm, the chronically ill and people with potentially communicable diseases. Another dealt with death and dying. Programs for teens have emphasized the importance of chastity and decision based on values.

The ministry has begun two support groups. A weekly group is for persons who are HIV positive. A group for family members and friends meets every other week. The groups are facilitated by a counselor who has experienced the trauma of AIDS in her own family.

Every other month Father Barrette celebrates Mass and offers a prayer service for inner and physical healing. The priest also is available for counseling persons with AIDS and their families.

The parish held AIDS Awareness Days March 21 and 22 during which Father Barrette preached about the ministry at each of the Masses. The parish supports Common Ground, the outreach of the Atlanta Interfaith AIDS Network of which it is a member.

A former teacher, Father Barrette has known students who died of AIDS. He believes it is an area where much healing can be accomplished, noting that families have returned to active life in the Church after receiving compassionate ministry from the Church. He feels such compassion hasn't always been forthcoming. He has listened to the “tremendous pain” some have expressed because of this, so he welcomed Archbishop Marino’s mandate to respond with” unconditional love.”

The priest credits St. Ann’s parishioners with” taking the ball and running with it.” Lay leadership in the parish is apparent with members making their talents and skills freely available. To keep the ministry visible parishioners are reminded of those whom it touches through petitions during the prayers of the faithful at weekend liturgies.

For St. Thomas’ Jo Ann Zanone, AIDS ministry is integral to one’s Christian commitment. “What would Christ do?” She answers, “He would heal, touch, minister to, love, hug. We are the Body of Christ so we need to hug. Christ wouldn’t have cared about how lepers got leprosy. He wasn’t afraid to touch them. He didn’t judge them. I don’t think we can do any less.”