Special Episcopal Mass Celebrated for AIDS Victims

The public’s fear of AIDS has created no less than a crisis that threatens to sweep through communities with an “appalling” lack of humanitarian concern towards AIDS victims, the Rev. John M. Krumm said Sunday.

Speaking at Orange County’s first Episcopal Mass for victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Krumm spoke of a controversial challenge facing the church to about 175 parishioners who attended the service at St. Paul’s Church in Tustin.

“This is not just another crisis in public health,” Krumm warned. “The problem is also one of an appalling lack of ordinary humanitarian concern where a despised and feared and hated minority tends to be at risk.”

In an unusually candid sermon, Krumm took exception with religious leaders from the South’s Bible Belt who have spoken out against homosexuals and providing medical help to AIDS victims.

He also urged listeners to accept homosexuals, quoting a church psychotherapist who recently challenged church leaders by asking, “Is it not time for a smug heterosexual majority to give up its self-image of monochromatic normality, and acknowledge God’s right to a pluralistic creation?”

The sermon’s tone was defended by the Rt. Rev. Oliver Garver, suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, a diocese that stretches from Santa Barbara to San Clemente.

“If we seem to be a bit controversial I think it’s OK,” Garver said after the Mass. “Sometimes we have to get the public’s eye and attention. Our main concern is to reach out to people to become involved with religious concern towards the AIDS victim.”

Devron Huber, who has AIDS, was one of four persons in Orange County recognized Sunday for their “major contributions” to help the community live with AIDS.

Huber, 34, on the county’s AIDS Services Foundation in Costa Mesa, said the disease was diagnosed in him 56 weeks ago.

Pointing to the award, Huber said he accepted it with mixed emotions.

“There are other people who have done so much and lost so much more than me. But I’m flattered and honored,” he said.

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

AIDS, which is transmitted by body fluids, affects the immune system, making it unable to resist disease. These diseases kill the patient, not the virus itself. The groups highest at risk for AIDS are male homosexuals and intravenous drug users.

Other Orange County residents recognized for their works with AIDS were Robert F. Gentry, a Laguna Beach council member and UC Irvine assistant dean of students; Pearl Jemison-Smith, UC Irvine Medical Center epidemiologist, and Dr. Charles Robison, for outstanding service in the medical field.

The Mass was the third in a series that began in Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Krumm said the special service may raise a new concern among middle-class Americans like those living in the Orange County area.

“Many of these victims are being evicted from their apartments, fired from their jobs, and refused service in restaurants,” Krumm said.

When they do seek treatment at hospitals, it often causes more problems, he said.

“There, they watch their food being left outside the door, even when they cannot walk. Intravenous medication goes unmonitored. Calls to nurses unanswered; these victims often end up dying alone.”