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June 2000
NEAC Honors Five with Awards
At the Forward in Faith Conference, NEAC Past President Jesse Milan, Jr., who now heads the National Prevention Information Network for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented three traditional and two special awards on behalf of NEAC. These are his words:
Today, we’re going to celebrate some people and some ministries. These are people that we call our elders. And today at this family reunion we’re going to lift them up. Not all of them represent all that we do, but they’re special because they’re doing something.
Pamela Chinnis, president of the House of Deputies, and NEAC co-chair the Rev. C. William Frampton III present the NEAC award to Mary Alice Burse.
Pamela Chinnis
One of those persons that we’re going to honor is an elder of the Church, Pamela Chinnis, the president of the House of Deputies. Pam is without a doubt the highest-ranking lay person in our church. As president of the House of Deputies she leads the 900-member legislative body that convenes once every three years to oversee legislation for our church, including its budget, and she also serves under the presiding bishop as vice president of executive council. This woman models ministry. She has been and still is everything from rector’s warden to president of the house of deputies. She’s a past president of Episcopal Church Women and she has served on commissions nationally and internationally concerned with a variety of faith-related issues and on these she has often been the first or only woman of any color.
Four years ago, one of the most beautiful snapshots from that family reunion was the snapshot of Pam Chinnis and Presiding Bishop Browning walking through the AIDS quilt on the Mall in Washington, DC, between NEAC volunteers. She has modeled the collaborative ministry between the clergy and the lay, and we have been deeply honored by her presence through this entire conference.
From Dr. Chinnis’s response: This is a complete surprise, and I can’t tell you how deeply touched I am.
A number of years ago when I was senior warden of my parish in Washington, a young man in the congregation came to me and he said, “Why isn’t the Episcopal Church doing anything about AIDS?” and he had AIDS. And I thought, well, why aren’t we? Since that time it seems to me that the Episcopal Church really did get the message, and I’ve been very, very proud of what the Episcopal Church has done since then.
Jesse Milan, Jr., NEAC past president, addresses the Awards Luncheon.
I’m on the way out, you know… . and I want you to know that I am not sorry for anything I have said or done-even though there’s a journalist from your former diocese, Jesse, who has made the suggestion that I not be permitted to preside over any legislation in Denver having to do with sexuality issues because I’m too biased. I suppose if I had cancer he would suggest that I not be permitted to preside over any issues having to do with health, but I do not intend to recuse myself and I want to assure you that until I go out of office, and even long after, I will be an ardent supporter of the AIDS ministry, of people who are homosexual, because I believe that’s what God wants us all to do.
From the Rev. C. William Frampton’s response: Dr. Pamela Chinnis, on behalf of the NEAC Board and membership at large, we want to express to you our most grateful thanks for your ongoing interest and support. You have taken the opportunity on numerous occasions to express your particular interest and concerns for those persons whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. Your continued efforts to help enable NEAC to keep the distinctive aspects of justice that relate to this complex and very difficult issue have not gone unnoticed… . You have served with distinction in a wide variety of ministries. May you be fulfilled in whatever path you choose to take next.
We have made a contribution to the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief in honor of your personal support, deep interest, and concern in the ministry carried out by NEAC.
Sandra Thurman
Jesse Milan: There’s one other elder that the NEAC Board has chosen to honor this year and she cannot be with us. That is Sandra Thurman, Director of the White House Office on National AIDS Policy. Sandy was appointed to this position in 1997. But I want you to know something special about Sandy. When President Clinton appointed Sandy to that position, she was told by the powers that be to resign from anything and everything that even smelled like a conflict of interest. She told the powers that be that she would not resign from the NEAC board because that was her ministry, and there is no conflict of interest with ministry.
She has carried out her role as a minister in the HIV pandemic at all levels. She oversees the White House efforts to coordinate policy, legislative, and programming issues across all federal government agencies, including HRSA, the CDC, SMSA, and even the Department of Labor. They may not always answer, but they do respond to her.
Most importantly, she spearheaded the White House initiative on re-funding the Care Act, and this last year Sandy succeeded where no one else had succeeded before. She brokered $100 million in federal funds in support for HIV/AIDS work in Africa. This is our largest commitment ever. We quite literally have no one else to thank but Sandy.
We have a special art piece that the co-chair of the board will be presenting to Sandy in her office in Washington, hopefully within the next couple of weeks.
Conference-goers walk the maze at Grace Cathedral.
The NEAC Awards
And now for the NEAC Awards. This is a tradition that goes back to the first conference. I want to tell you a little bit about the award itself. Notice that it is a quilted panel in the Mariner’s Star pattern-a reminder, Richard Younge tells us, to keep pointing in the direction in which we ought to be going.
We know the importance of the quilt to the HIV community. And the panel is a rainbow, representing the full humanity of our family. And it’s a star. We’re reminded of what Bishop Swing said: We are stars.
These three are stars that we wish to honor this year as representative of all the ministries of the NEAC network.
Sue Kuebler
In the Diocese of Erie, Sue ministers to those in the larger Erie community infected and affected by HIV and AIDS and promotes education to both the religious and secular communities. Her ministry is based at the Cathedral of St. Paul but the setting of the ministry is the wider Erie community and northwest Pennsylvania. The purpose of her ministry is to provide a Christian response to the pandemic and to encourage and raise up others to the ministry of HIV and AIDS. Sue’s ministry to those infected and affected began in 1989. Since that time she’s been known to do education in a variety of places, making 25 presentations a year. She was very instrumental in seeing that the Cathedral was the first cathedral to sponsor the Names Project Quilt in conjunction with a display of quilt panels. The cathedral over the years has been involved, and she’s involved her bishop and others, in ecumenical activities including dinners and healing services. In the Diocese of Erie, the leadership is by Sue and Sue is a leader. Sue, the NEAC Award.
From her response: I warn the new stars among us that this stuff gets into your blood, under your skin. There’s no way of shaking it.
There are some empty spaces in this room today, and I guess I’ll keep working because of that. Thank you, thank you. I consider all of you family, too.
Mary Alice Burse
Jesse Milan: Mary Alice Burse has worked as an outreach advocate for HIV and AIDS for over six years in the low-income community of Humboldt Park outside Chicago. She is a leader in holistic wellness, providing her AIDS clients with drug-addiction intervention access both to AA and to NA meetings, and creating Mothers Too Soon and Teens for a Better Future. These are programs for youth that focus on education and intervention.
Harriet Langfeldt, NEAC co-chair, was chairman of the Forward in Faith Conference.
Mary Alice describes her AIDS ministry as “simply to inspire survival by providing spiritual insight that gives my clients hope to live another day.” This vision is carried out by securing housing, providing supplemental food and clothing, fostering relationships and family gatherings, and by sending clients notes with spiritual insights of encouragement. A leader in the Diocese of Chicago, and a leader for all of us. Mary Alice Burse.
From her response: First I want to give my thanks to God for coming here and Cricket, someone I’ve dealt with for the past three or four weeks. I’m calling her every day asking about different things, trying to get to the Coalition. I’m a little nervous.
I want to thank Reverend Stan Sloan who presented my name to get the award. Also Reverend Frampton here has been pretty supportive to me also. I think I’m a little choked up. Usually I’m a talker. But I’ve been filled with some beautiful stories, and met some wonderful people. I hope that I’ll be able to see you all once again.
The HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry of St. George’s in Brooklyn
Jesse Milan: Just three years ago a group of parishioners became aware that there was in fact an HIV/AIDS crisis right there in Brooklyn. That’s church people becoming aware. That was the impetus for the HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry, which is a committee of women who have worked together since that time to bring awareness to their church family through educational efforts in their parish. The educational efforts have included networking with public agencies, observance of AIDS Awareness Sunday, display of the NAMES Project Quilt, and attendance at numerous conferences, seminars, and offerings that relate to the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS.
They have used their church newsletter to help put out information as well as public forums in November, 1998, when they hosted a two-day prayer and encouragement conference for those living with HIV/AIDS and their caretakers. The theme of the conference was Hope for Today. In addition to educational offerings the event included worship and praise, preaching, testimony of song, personal testimony, and a prayer call. Signers for the deaf participated. Of particular note was the workshop that dealt with the particular medical conditions which are so prevalent among African-Americans in the community, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, kidney disease, and depression. The HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry is now currently focusing on prevention and treatment in those disease areas as well.
We have been told that in Brooklyn this parish ministry is a light. Today we are honored to provide the HIV/AIDS Awareness Ministry of St. George’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn with the NEAC Award. Accepting are Mavis Thompson Blaise and Cynthia Wilson.
From the response of Mavis Blaise: I don’t even know how to describe how wonderful it is to be here today and to thank the members of NEAC and everyone who even thought of us for this award. It’s a big struggle, and we’re still quite young. We’re toddlers in this game. We feel that this award is a big incentive for us to remember the long journey that we do have to take and continue our commitment to carry on until this is under control.
Jesse Milan: Sandy Thurman refers to the HIV/AIDS pandemic as the plague of our time. But God has seen us through many plagues. He’s seen us through pestilence, he’s seen us through fire, he’s seen us through flood. And God will see us through this, too. But he cannot do it without us. And we cannot do it without God.
Home. Home is where the heart is. And our home is in the heart of God. Now let’s go home with those in our hearts we have met here and whom we have learned about. They carry with them what we carry: God is with them, whoever, whatever, and wherever they are. Let us honor them with our service and we can embrace them wherever they are, as members of our family in our prayer. God bless you all.
