Maryknoll missioners are among the caregivers and
educators in the worldwide battle against AIDS

I'm upset. At the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, I heard a presentation entitled "The Church: Help or Hindrance in the War Against AIDS?" The speaker concluded the latter because of the Catholic Church's opposition to condom use. His attitude was reflected by too many others among the 12,500 participants.

As a priest working with people infected with HIV, I was angry that any health professional would let the Church's stance on condoms overshadow the tremendous work both in caregiving and AIDS prevention by thousands of church people around the world.

The naysayers at the conference must have missed Maryknoll Father Edward Phillips' moving presentation. Phillips vividly described the Church's support of children who are primary caregivers to parents dying of AIDS in Kenya. "The Church is reaching out to those infected and affected by HIV," said the 53-year-old missioner from Boston. "We are called to love them unconditionally and to be Christ in their midst."

Phillips is one of nearly three dozen Maryknollers around the world reaching out to those with AIDS. Together with the Maryknoll AIDS Task Force, they form a small but formidable corps armed with an indomitable spirit and a faith that can, if not destroy the virus, at least render it less frightening to those infected.

Their task is to accompany people who suffer from a disease whose name they dare not speak because of the social stigma it carries. In the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, where HIV prevalence is as high as 50 percent, AIDS is referred to as "the sickness of these days." Health care promoters speak of people abandoned by relatives for reasons "best known to them." And in Taiwan, people don't talk about AIDS, says Sister Andrée Normandin. "They run from the very word."

They flee and hide because they're frightened. The afflicted are fearful of discrimination by people who are fearful of contagion. The missioners' role is to alleviate these fears by reaching out to those who are HIV-positive and educating those who are not. They are called to be healers and teachers.

Responding to the call in Tanzania is Maryknoll Associate Father Richard Bauer, director of the Dar es Salaam Archdiocese AIDS ministry. "The Catholic Church has been in the forefront of AIDS education and certainly of treatment and care of the people infected (with HIV)," says Bauer, from the Diocese of Salt Lake City. "I think we're making a difference."

Elsewhere in Tanzania, Sisters Mary Reese, Rosemarie Milazzo and Veronica Schweyen train health-care workers, teach AIDS prevention, and walk with patients from the time of diagnosis to the moment of death. "During these last eight years in AIDS work, we have accompanied about 500 people in their struggles," says Schweyen. "I know that God continues to guide us and that we somehow give hope when a person has lost hope."

Schweyen, attesting to St. Paul's claim that helping others is mutually beneficial (Acts 20:35), says she receives as much as she gives. Volunteers-many of whom are themselves HIV-positive-are a constant source of strength and inspiration. One woman, Emarysiana Kitwala, is especially dear to Schweyen. "One day I was called to the home of a man covered with sores, and there I met Emarysiana washing the man's open wounds. Not even his immediate family members would help him. I have seen Emarysiana give of herself for six years, and she never counts the cost to herself. She's a woman who truly gives me and others courage."

Those who are HIV-positive are also vital to AIDS education. "We do behavior change programs," says Milazzo. "The best teachers are the patients themselves who are willing to tell their stories, especially to young people, to help others avoid getting the disease."

It is faith in Jesus and not just humanitarian concern that motivates most parish volunteers and health care promoters, says Brother John Mullen, a registered nurse who, for the past 10 years, has ministered to the sick in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa. "They are members of small Christian communities. The care and concern of our volunteers is an important Christian witness that helps ease the pain of despair afflicting many people with AIDS."

In Bangkok, Christian witness means sharing a hot bowl of rice and providing a bed with clean sheets at an AIDS shelter called Welcome House. "All of the residents have been rejected by their families and fired from their jobs, and now are in failing health," says house director Father Daniel Boyd. "At home they had to use separate eating utensils and could not share from the common pot. But here they share meals with staff, guests and whoever else happens to be about. In that common table fellowship, rice-the bread of Asia- is shared in a way that echoes a eucharistic celebration."

Just as it is heartwarming to share food with a person living with AIDS, it is heartbreaking knowing that the same person will die a horrible death for lack of lifesaving drugs and treatment. Less than 10 percent of people suffering from HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy, the cocktail that has been very successful in the States in treating the disease. "My mind and heart have been touched and stretched in ways I never dreamed possible when I came to Guatemala 37 years ago," says Sister Jane Buellesbach, a physician who, with Sisters Marlene Condon and Dee Smith, attends to the needs of hundreds of Guatemalans with HIV. "I came to heal the sick, but with AIDS, physical healing is impossible. I die a little with each one who goes."

Aside from accompanying people infected with this deadly virus, Maryknollers involved in AIDS work have something else in common: all feel honored. "When I'm bathing a sick person, it's just like being at the altar," says Father James Noonan, who, with Sister Juana Encalacla, serves Cambodia's HIV population. "It's a privilege to care for this person as you would the body of Christ."

Boyd says he's discovering new dimensions of priesthood and a deeper understanding of Jesus' mission. "Working with people with AIDS has given me a whole new understanding of Christ's prayer in John's Gospel 'that they may all be one.'

And on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, Condon and Smith "thank God each day for the opportunity to share life with HIV-positive people. What keeps us going is trying to prevent the disease, accompany those who have it and live the Gospel as best we can."

I wish those critics of the Church at the AIDS convention could spend time with Maryknollers involved in AIDS ministry. Maybe they too would feel honored to be one with them in the struggle.

Learn more about Africa Maryknollers mentioned above:

    Bauer    Mullen    Phillips

Find out more about Maryknoll's AIDS ministries in Africa

Maryknollers in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania