LOS ANGELES : Archbishop Roger Mahony says he will ask Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa of Calcutta to consider opening a hospice for dying AIDS victims in the largest archdiocese in the country.
‘The proposed facility would be the third in the country administered by the Catholic Church. A hospice run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity opened last month in New York’s Greenwich Village and a similar facility is due to open in San Francisco’s Castro District in September.
‘Only New York and San Francisco have more AIDS victims than Los Angeles.
“I am making contact with Mother Teresa of Calcutta to invite her sisters or brothers to staff the hospice for us.”
Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work with the destitute and the dying in India.
The parish encompasses a large area of Los Angeles.
Mahony said the Catholic Church would do everything it could to minister gays, particularly those with AIDS, although it does not approve of homosexual acts
He also announced he would establish a network of priests and other church resources to fill “the need for special pastoral outreach to our hay Catholic community.”
‘The collection during Sunday’s service was donated to the AIDS Project Los Angeles. AIDS strikes the body’s ability to fight disease by crippling the immune system. There is no known cure for the fatal disease.
Gay Catholics who attended the session said they were glad to hear the archbishop of the nation’s largest archdiocese urge a special ministry for gays.
“I think it’s a great step forward,” said one man, who asked that his name not be used. “It’s time the church realized that gays are real people. We need the church just like anyone.”
Article extracted from this publication >> February 7, 1986
