Sunday, October 24, 2010

AIDS Mass a barometer of medical, societal changes

When the Episcopal Diocese of L.A. first offered the service in 1985, the names of many claimed by the disease were recited. Today the focus is less on grieving the dead and more on helping the living.

Canon Jack Plimpton, executive director of AIDS ministries for the diocese, said the yearly Masses were empowering for the gay community. "You may not be accepted by your fellow kind," he said, "but you know that you will be accepted by God."

More than anything, though, the church gave those touched by the disease an opportunity to mourn, said Canon Randolph Kimmler, who serves as an advisor in the diocese to those joining the clergy. A swath of gay men seemingly vanished, dying sometimes within weeks of the onset of symptoms. And families would often bar partners and gay friends from funerals, if they even had a service at all, in an effort to cloak the shame of having a relative die of what was known as a "gay disease," he said.

"A lot of churches wouldn't hold funerals for AIDS patients…. It was looked upon as something you deserve — it was a really weird time," Kimmler, 62, said. "Those of us who went and organized it felt courageous. We felt the church was courageous."

As the years passed, though, attendance at the service dwindled. One year, only three people came, and organizers questioned whether to continue the Mass. The scientific advances that meant AIDS was no longer a death sentence, as well better cultural understanding, were blessings, but also made things more challenging for those trying to raise AIDS awareness, the organizers said.
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