BY CAROL BAASS SOWA
TODAY’S CATHOLIC
SAN ANTONIO • San Antonio’s ACTS HIV ministry is reaching for the stars this year on several fronts. This past spring, the branch of ACTS which ministers to those infected and affected by the HIV/AIDS virus, was able to extend its ministry to the Boston area — the first time one of its retreats has been held outside the Alamo City.
It had long been the ministry’s dream to expand to other cities and beyond Texas, strengthening spiritual lives and faith and bringing a sense of community to persons with HIV, who are often stigmatized by society, as well as to their families and friends. The need to expand was obvious, as past retreats in San Antonio have drawn participants from as far away as Florida, New Mexico and Louisiana.
Founded in San Antonio in 2000, the primary function of ACTS HIV is to provide retreats where participants can speak openly about the virus and its effects on their lives in the presence of others who can offer them compassion, empathy and understanding. The positive emotional and psychological benefits that result have been known to lead to health improvements, in addition to the tremendous spiritual benefits they provide to the retreatants.
Board member James Rodriguez, who has been involved with the ministry since 2001, was excited about the ministry’s recent expansion of its outreach this past spring to Andover, Mass., in the Boston area. “It went very well,” he reported. “There was a lot of enthusiasm.”
Rodriguez had attended a youth retreat in that area in 2006 and happened to invite some acquaintances there, who were coming to San Antonio for the ACTS Convention, to attend a Candlelight (a feature of all ACTS retreats). Two took him up on the offer and it spurred their interest in having ACTS HIV brought to Andover.
Thirty-one ACTS team members took part in the Massachusetts event, though only six retreatants attended. Rodriguez attributes this to the culture there.
“It’s much more difficult as far as secrecy,” he said, noting the group had never encountered problems recruiting retreatants in the Rio Grande Valley, Austin and San Antonio for their San Antonio retreats. The atmosphere in Boston, however, was decidedly different and they experienced difficulties with being allowed to put up posters or leave literature.
“We had a lot of doors slammed on us,” he said. “Agencies would not put our literature up and so it was really difficult.” He noted there was somewhat of a strong anti-Catholic sentiment in the area at present. (Apparently the effects of the clergy sex abuse scandal there are still creating repercussions for the church in general.)
Rodriguez could tell, however, that ACTS HIV ministry was clearly needed there. “Just the amount of agencies tells me the amount of people up there that are affected,” he said. He noted that Boston has a large Catholic population.
The San Antonians bringing the retreat to Andover were disheartened at first by the low turn-out for the retreat.
Then they realized how “God-sent” that was, since it allowed the team members to experience the retreat as retreatants. He added that it was worth all their efforts, as the enthusiasm of the six who did attend was overwhelming.
The retreatants were all persons involved with agencies working with those who are HIV-positive. “Now they’ll be able to tell people in the future about those retreats and make those connections,” Rodriguez said. “For an outsider,” he added, “it was so hard to put a foot in the door.”
A second retreat is scheduled for Andover this coming March, and hope is high that HIV ACTS will eventually be able to expand to other cities as well, the selection of places being based on their already having a regular ACTS community developed. There is especially a need for the HIV ACTS in larger cities, which have larger HIV-positive populations.
In addition to their regular ACTS retreats, the ministry in San Antonio provides various community activities for members, plus holding three or four one-day retreats during the year and recently adding a fall weekend retreat. (The next will be on Nov. 21.) Since many of those wishing to attend a retreat are strapped financially due to the cost of their medical treatments, scholarships are provided to those who need them.
Helping to finance this is HIV ACTS’ annual “ACTStravaganza” fundraiser held in October. This year’s event, with the theme of “Paris Under the Stars,” takes place Saturday, Oct. 4, at St. Luke’s parish hall, starting at 7 p.m. This event will feature live and silent auctions, door prizes, a sangria “taste-off,” Las Vegas-style casino night and buffet dinner.
Persons or businesses can support the fundraiser by sponsoring a “taste-off” table or purchasing sponsorships for the casino night activities. Angel Hernandez and Tiffany Bryson are heading this year’s “ACTStravaganza,” with Michael Quintanilla of the San Antonio Express-News serving as its honorary chair.