AIDS Ministry

St. Oliver Plunkett Catholic Church
3200 Brooks Drive
Snellville, GA 30078
Parish Office (770) 979-2500 or (866) 913-2512
Fax (770) 985-6590

The St Oliver’s AIDS Ministry has redirected itself to provide two essential functions. The first will be passive in nature in that it will function as a “safe haven” ministry providing compassionate comfort, information, and limited direct support to parishioners and others impacted by HIV/AIDS. This role is to provide short-term support and does not envision direct care team type activities. The second role will be an active involvement in parish/diocesan prayer, educational offerings and public awareness activities. These will be on an “as resources permit” basis as opposed to longer-term schedule or organizational commitments.

History:

The St. Oliver’s AIDS Ministry began in the fall of 2002 with an initial group of about 40 parishioners. There was great enthusiasm to form care teams (6-10 people on each team) to provide direct practical care to people living with or impacted with AIDS. The initial desires were to have educational programs, liturgical experiences, and fund raising/recruitment activities. While these were important, clearly the initial thrust was toward care-team activities.

The membership at the beginning was the largest the ministry ever experienced. The membership has slowly fallen since then with only about 10 active members currently. Almost all the members support the last existing care team. The ministry has experienced the death of four actual (one potential) care receivers and two which were suspended from further care by us. The current membership has noted that when the present care receiver no longer receives our assistance (he may move out of our area) that no one is anxious to take on another care receiver for a protracted length of time.

It became clear that some new direction was needed to retain current membership and to reflect the reality that the issue of AIDS remains with us. For that reason, there is still a value to an AIDS Ministry, albeit one with a revised mission. Over the past few years, we have seen increasing difficulty in amassing enough members and helpers to participate in previously committed to activities. Accordingly, several activities have been dropped to address that reality.

Basis of New Approach:

It is clear from our own membership that the presence of an AIDS Ministry here in the parish provided a place where one could share their grief and /or lack of understanding of the tragedy of AIDS that had been thrust into their family. In many cases, the effort to reach out for help to other groups resulted in less than compassionate understanding. From that grew the concept of a ministry that would have as its underpinning the concept of a “safe haven” where the hurt and grieving could come, without fear of judgmental reactions, and seek a helpful or, at least, a friendly ear.

Moreover, the concepts of helping with educational programs and encouraging prayer activities are still worthwhile actions but a small group cannot over-commit itself on an ongoing basis. Thus, the second element of the ministry would be to seek opportunities to pursue such activities when other circumstances permitted.

This “New Direction” was approved by the AIDS Ministry Board and the Pastor in early 2007.

The AIDS Ministry is currently governed by seven board members who work together as a team with our Pastor. Decisions and/or changes are voted on by the remaining members.

For further information about this compassionate ministry, please contact Bob Martin at 770-986-0111.

Meeting Schedule
Meetings are usually held every 2nd Saturday, at 9:00, however, anyone interested in attending meetings, please call Bob Martin (770-986-0111) or Ann Prosek (770-982-4642) to confirm date of next meeting.

On Saturday, January 13, 2007, the AIDS Ministry, along with family and friends, celebrated the life of Jim, a care receiver of the AIDS Ministry from the day it came into being four years ago. The celebration was at a Memorial Service here at St. Oliver’s.

The Mission of the AIDS Ministry is about reaching out, and giving of ourselves to help others in need. You may think that we only reach out to those living with HIV/AIDS, but our mission is to care for their family members as well.

As it happened, one of our teams, the TLC Team, was called to assist someone living with HIV/AIDS; eventually, his family member needed us even more. Over the past four years, Jim was assisted more than the family member with AIDS. When our team first met them, we treated them as our brothers and sisters in Christ, but it didn’t take long for them to become more like family. We spent many hours with Jim taking him to medical/dental appointments, grocery shopping, and doing other practical tasks to help him lead as normal a life as possible. No one ever left without getting a smiling “thank you” from Jim, even for the smallest tasks.

If you attend 9:30 Sunday Mass, you may have seen our friend. He was confined to a wheelchair because of a disease called multiple system atrophy (MSA or Shy-Drager Disease), an incurable, untreatable neurological disease. Jim returned to Mass when our team became involved in his life. He was at Mass nearly every Sunday. He sat in the second pew on the left hand side of the church with his friends. Jim was so happy to be able to participate in Mass once again because someone cared enough to transport him on Sundays. He made some friends at St. Oliver’s -- all who sat around him in the front pews knew him by name or just by his smiling face. He reached out his hands to guide others with special needs into the same pew with him. Jim felt renewed and welcomed by St. Oliver’s community and he really enjoyed fellowship after Mass. Boston Cream was his favorite donut. But more than the donut and coffee, it was the fellowship that meant the most to him. He said that it made him feel like a person again and that people really cared. Jim was a very easy person to like, a big man with an even bigger heart…and a smile that matched his heart. When he was in pain, he never complained. Sometimes, you could see that his face was drawn, but when asked, he would always say, “I’m fine.” The response we heard most often was, “it could be worse.” It was his kindness, humility and gratitude; his love for people and animals; and his unwavering positive attitude and enthusiasm that inspired each of us who helped care for him.

Sadly, we will not see him sitting in that place anymore. He will be missed by many people: his family members; those who sat with and around him every Sunday; and by those of our AIDS Ministry team. He touched the hearts of many others as well. We feel that we’ve lost not only a friend, but a brother.

The next time you come to 9:30 Mass and you don’t see Jim being wheeled to that second pew, say a prayer for him, and all those suffering from MSA, ALS, and other crippling and fatal disorders. Pray that a cure will be found for these debilitating diseases and pray for our ministry and those living with HIV/AIDS. And then consider calling one of the ministries here at St. Oliver’s and choose one that will give you the chance to celebrate a life while it is lived.

Prayer Journey
During Lent, the AIDS Ministry sponsored a special Stations of the Cross called "Prayer Journey" with the help of Deacon Bill. Although the Stations are written with AIDS survivors and their caretakers in mind, anyone living with a terminal illness and the caretakers of those, will find great comfort and peace in these special stations. These stations were extremely moving and many who attended asked that we do them again next year. Thanks to member, Pat Herman, for organizing this special and comforting event.

Jesus' hands reach out to embrace the crossbeam on which his limbs will be stretched when the journey climaxes at Calvary's hill. He has worked with wood for many years; he knows its various textures, grains and shapes. Now for the last time he takes wood into his artist's hands. Those strong and gentle hands which so often caressed, shaved and carved the wood into tools and furniture now make friends with this wood which will become the instrument of his own death. He hoists it to his bruised shoulders. He will carry this beam as he carried other lumber to the workshop. The household artifacts he fashioned from those pieces of wood served human needs and reflected the creativity and beauty of the artist's gift. Now he summons all his strength and energy and accepts the beam from the soldier.

I do not know how to accept this illness as you accepted and embraced your own cross. I do not want to be passive in the face of this disease. I want to have a sense of personal responsibility for my health. I harbor hope at times that things will change, that I will not really have to make the full journey. I still read eagerly about advances in treatment, new medicines and continuing research; I scan the papers hungrily every day for some encouraging news. And I still ask questions: "What did I do to deserve this?" "Aren't I too young to die?" Sometimes I ask, "What can I learn from this?" More often I am concerned with rejecting the possibility of death because I feel it is not my time. Yet I know that what I must embrace now is your will for me to continue moving ahead in my life. I know I am entering a new stage on my life journey. I know you are with me. I want to accept whatever will bring me to know and live in your love more and more.

Jesus, you once said that unless we are willing to pick up our cross and follow you, we are not worthy to be your disciples. You told us to be ready to leave everything--even our own ideas of how long our lives should be. I want to learn how to accept whatever this life brings me as long as it is mine to live. I want to help transform evil into good. Help me to live with this disease not as an instrument of death, but as a tool with which I can fashion a renewed life of prayer and a deepening of relationships. Teach me to embrace each person who comes into my life so that together we can heal and be healed. Your will is that we face sickness and death as part of our human predicament. A loving God does not shield us from the forces of nature, but makes available to us love, grace and strength. You also will that a new and more perfect kind of life shall finally triumph. Let me pray in your words and in your Spirit when you taught us as our followers to say in total trust, "Your will be done."

St. Oliver's Parish and our AIDS Ministry Has Lost a True Friend
In Memory of
Deborah Rose VanSluytman-Smith
March 6, 1962 - May 2nd, 2007

On May 6, 1962, God blessed the world with a baby girl named Deborah Rose VanSluytman. On May 2nd, 2007, God needed an angel and he whispered, “Peace be with you, Deborah," and called her home to him. Born in Georgetown, Guyana and reared by her parents, Rosaline and Eluid VanSluytman, and greatly influenced by her grandmother, Millicent, they immigrated to the U.S. in the early 70s. Deborah attended high school in Queens and graduated from Lincoln Univ. with a B.S. in mathematics. She taught high school prior to her lengthy career in insurance. Deborah leaves behind her husband, Gregory; daughter, Gabrielle Millicent; son, Cristian Jabari; her parents Rosaline and Eluid VanSluytman; brothers, Howard, Lawrence, and Gerard (excerpt from Memorial Service).