Catholic community marks 25 years of AIDs virus, ministry
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 24, 2006
Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Marygrove College student Leon Mack of Detroit examines a tapestry on the birth of the solar system. | Detroit — What would Jesus do if He encountered an incurable disease with such a stigma attached that no one wanted to be around the people who contracted it?
In Christ's time, this disease was leprosy. Now, however, the world is marking 25 years of what IHM Sr. Joan Mumaw has said is the current equivalent: AIDS.
 FYI
• The annual Archdiocese of Detroit AIDS memorial prayer service and candlelight vigil will be 4 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, 9844 Woodward Ave., Detroit.
• Several parishes in the
archdiocese are participating in a giving tree to help people whose lives have been touched by AIDS. To get involved or to learn more call Michael Harning, Archdiocese of Detroit health and life service coordinator, at (313) 237-5978. | "AIDS is the modern-day leprosy," says Sr. Mumaw, who lives in Monroe and works on the IHM AIDS committee, after years serving in African countries where the disease is most prevalent. "I think it's more important than perhaps some other areas (of ministry) for Catholics because there's a stigma associated with having HIV/AIDS."
Accordingly, she said, Christians are called to reach out to those who have AIDS just as Christ reached out to heal those with leprosy.
In the next couple of weeks, the IHMs, Marygrove College and the Archdiocese of Detroit are giving the local Catholic community ample chances to learn about the disease, learn something personal about its victims, and pray for the families that have been affected by AIDS.
Currently, an art display of tapestries made by women in South Africa whose lives have been affected by AIDS is in Marygrove
College's art gallery. The same display, called the "Kopanga Project" will be on display in the IHM Motherhouse in Monroe in December.
Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Rose DeSloover, dean of visual and performingarts at Marygrove College, lectures students about the Tapestries of Kopanang, which were made from women in South Africa whose lives had been affected by AIDS. | The exhibit – 30 hand-made tapestries themed around the universe, its creatures and life – was the result of a Catholic ministry. Sr. Sheila Flynn, a South African Dominican, was ministering to families affected by AIDS in Kopanang, South Africa. Upon teaching a group of women how to embroider in order to make money for their families, she found they were gifted at it.
Sr. Flynn designed the 30 tapestries, and had the women of Kopanang embroider them, expressing their personal elements through color and stitching.
Though the AIDS epidemic is most prevalent in Africa it also exists in the United States. According to the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency, more than one-half of one percent of Americans live with AIDS or HIV. That's about 1.77 million Americans.
Tapestry exhibit
The "Tapestries of Kopanang," an exhibit of tapestries made by women in Africa whose lives have been touched by AIDS, will be displayed…
• Nov. 20-Dec. 1 at the Marygrove College art gallery, 8425 W. McNichols Road in Detroit. A reception will take place 4:30-7 p.m. Dec. 1 in the gallery. Sr. Sheila Flynn, OP, founder of the project, will speak. A prayer service for World AIDS day will be 7 p.m. Dec. 1 in the Marygrove Chapel.
• Dec. 6-30 at the IHM Motherhouse, 610 W. Elm Ave., Monroe. Open 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. For group visits, call (734) 240-9700. | The Archdiocese of Detroit will hold its annual prayer vigil for AIDS victims and families at 4 p.m. on Dec. 3 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
In addition to the vigil, says Michael Harning, health and life services coordinator for the archdiocese, some local Catholic churches have shared a giving tree for those affected by AIDS.
"A number of parishes have decided to participate," Harning says. "People bring the gifts, those gifts are brought to a common distribution center, and the center provides services to a number of different organizations that address the needs of people who have AIDS."
Harning says AIDS ministry is difficult because of stigma attached to the disease, as well as common misconceptions about it. For example, some people still think AIDS is contracted solely through homosexual acts, and that it can be contracted just by being around people who have AIDS or its precursor, HIV.
The Archdiocese of Detroit's AIDS ministry is looking for volunteers as well as donors to its giving tree collection.
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