A ‘Life-Giving’ Mass to Remember Latino AIDS Victims

Father Jaime Soto said he was “sweating bullets” the first time he talked to Latino parishioners about AIDS in the 1980s.

“But a woman came up to me afterward,” he said, “and told me, ‘Father, thank you for showing me how to talk about sex to my children.’ ”

Now Soto, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, has become a key liaison between AIDS prevention advocates and Latinos, who make up an ever greater percentage of new AIDS cases.

Tonight, Soto will preside for a second year over a Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe to remember Latinos who have died from complications of AIDS and to support those living with the disease. A few hundred people are expected to attend the 7 p.m. ceremony at St. Anne Church in Santa Ana.

“Celebrating this Mass helps us to draw strength from our own cultural values,” Soto said. “It gives a response that’s rooted in the church’s long-standing traditions of caring, hospitality and attention to the weakest among us.”

Latinos made up 44% of new AIDS cases in Orange County last year, nearly double the 1995 figure of 24%.

Reasons for the alarming infection rate in the Latino community are many. Sex education isn’t a common topic among many Latinos. Immigrants often carry with them more myths than facts about AIDS. Medical attention often comes late, meaning many can be infected before they even know they have the disease. And homosexuality is kept largely in the closet in the machismo culture.

“It became clear that we needed to cultivate a relationship with the Catholic Church,” said Dan Gleason, executive director of the AIDS Services Foundation Orange County. “The church is one of the best ways to distribute information in the Latino community.”

Although the church cannot climb aboard the safe-sex bandwagon, since it violates Catholic teaching, it is in a unique position to break down cultural barriers that prevent a better understanding of the disease.

The Catholic Church in Southern California serves as a primary liaison between secular institutions and the Latino community, relaying information on such things as immigration policy and even discounts offered by Southern California Edison during the recent energy crisis.

Soto has lent his name and face to an AIDS public-awareness campaign, which includes Spanish-language billboards throughout Orange County that promote understanding about the disease.

“Bishop Soto is so instrumental in bringing the message to that community,” said Alejandro Bulnez, medical health counselor for the AIDS Services Foundation. “Everyone who hears him speak [on AIDS] is really touched.”

Nationwide, AIDS has hit minorities hard. People of color make up 52% of AIDS cases among men, 78% of AIDS cases among women and 82% among children who have the disease since the epidemic emerged in the United States 20 years ago, according to figures from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Orange County mirrors the national trend that shows growing numbers of Latinos are infected with the disease. Although Latinos represent 30% of Orange County’s population, they make up 44% of its new AIDS cases. Last year, 143 new AIDS cases involved Latinos.

In Los Angeles County, the percentage of Latinos in the population, 45%, closely matches the percentage of Latinos who have AIDS, said Lee Klosinski, director of education for the AIDS Project Los Angeles.

He said a more acculturated Latino community and aggressive educational outreach efforts in Los Angeles over the last 20 years are among the factors contributing to the statistical difference between Latinos in Los Angeles and those in Orange County and other parts of the country.

At St. Anne, the service also will honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, a vision of the Virgin Mary that Catholics believe appeared to a peasant in the 16th century near what’s now Mexico City. Her annual feast day, a popular Latino holiday that has the feel of Christmas and Fourth of July celebrations rolled into one, is Wednesday.

Soto said he chose the Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe to underscore the compassion needed when dealing with people affected by AIDS.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is such a symbol of maternal care and concern, and she excludes no one,” he said. “Of course the mother of God cares about those who are suffering with AIDS. Nobody would say this wasn’t true.”

Marta Rosales attended the first AIDS Mass last year and cried as the bishop read the names of the 119 Latinos who have died of AIDS complications in the county. This evening, he’ll read 23 names of Latinos who have died this year.

“When you have AIDS, you feel close to death,” she said.

Rosales, 46, was found to have HIV during a routine pregnancy checkup in 1997. Her son, now 3, is HIV-negative.

The Santa Ana resident, who said her boyfriend abandoned her when he found out she was pregnant, lives with her secret. Her family and nearly all her friends don’t know she’s been infected.

“I thought everyone would be able to see it on my face,” said Rosales, who has taken AIDS classes to correct her misconceptions. She also attends a weekly support group for Latinas with HIV. “I became isolated and didn’t want people to see me. I thought I would die right away.”

Rosales hasn’t told most of those closest to her, she said, because they’ll worry too much, especially since they don’t know much about the disease. But she said she was willing to go public with the information.

In his message to parishioners tonight, Soto plans to encourage people to avoid self-destructive behavior and to accept those who have the disease.

“In the Latino community, there still is regrettably a certain stigma attached to AIDS,” Soto said. “Also a certain amount of fear for those who are living with AIDS, and a great deal of ambivalence for the families about what to do.”

When a Catholic bishop speaks openly about the disease from the pulpit, conversations usually result--even among parishioners unaware that AIDS would be the homily topic.

After last year’s Mass, Soto said a congregant pulled him aside and said, “I always go to this Mass and I was surprised when you talked about all this. Somebody in my family died of AIDS, and I never told anybody.”

“For her, it was great consolation,” Soto said. “The memory of that person was honored. It was life-giving.”