First Orange County Mass Set for AIDS Victims

At a special service today at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tustin, a reader at the lectern will open the Bible to the Epistle of James and ask, “Is any sick among you?”

For those attending the first Orange County mass for victims suffering from the fatal disease AIDS, the words to be read by the Rev. Nancy Radclyffe of the AIDS Response Program of Orange County may offer solace.

“And the prayer of the faith shall save the sick,” the chapter says, “and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.”

The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles County has sponsored three similar AIDS masses, attracting 700 to 1,200 people. This is the first such mass for AIDS victims in Orange County.

‘Need for Understanding’

“The need for understanding and compassion exists in Orange County,” said Ed Garren, administrator of the AIDS Response Program and a longtime Episcopal lay activist. “The community is coming to the realization that AIDS is a fact of life in Orange County. There’s no reason for people here to be afraid of this disease or of people who have it.”

According to the Orange County Health Department, 299 cases of AIDS had been reported as of May 30; 93 of those victims are still alive.

Several members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church expressed fear of contracting the deadly virus by drinking out of a communal cup, said Herman Brown, a church vestryman who helped plan the service.

But the Rev. John Krumm, interim rector at St. Paul’s, called the fears unwarranted. “Medical evidence,” Krumm said, “indicates there’s very little risk here, if any.”

Fewer than two dozen people in the 400-member congregation have voiced fear about the service, and no one has threatened to leave the church over the issue, Brown said.

Retired Navy Chaplain

Much of the impetus for today’s service came from the Rev. John R. Edwards Jr., associate rector of the Tustin congregation. Edwards, a retired Navy chaplain who once served on the staff of the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, now serves on the Episcopal Church’s diocesan task force on AIDS.

Edwards, 57, said he “took the hint” for the mass from a conservative congregation member who suggested that “it was time we made a statement about this dread disease in Orange County.” The congregation already has held forums on the disease and hosted talks by county health officers and the stepfather of an AIDS victim.

“We are a politically conservative community,” Edwards said, “but we are also a concerned, giving community,” one that has been “affected by this 20th-Century leprosy.”

Edwards said that members of his congregation are highly educated, but added, “where the unknown is involved, there is no guarantee that rationality will hold sway.” Nonetheless, he said, “we need to express the loving, caring concern of Christians for our brother.”

At the service, communion will be offered from a common cup and no extraordinary measures will be taken, Edwards said.