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AIDS retreats offer strength for living

5/10/2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.

By Tricia Schug*

SEATTLE (UMNS) -- Terry Looney had every reason to turn his back on the United Methodist Church.

When his partner Gene was diagnosed with AIDS in 1989, they received a letter from their congregation telling them to stay away, that "their kind" was not wanted in church. God, it seems, had a different plan for Terry's spiritual life.

In 1991, he decided to give church another try. Terry and Gene found their way to a retreat, sponsored by the United Methodist Church's Pacific Northwest Annual (regional) Conference, for people living with AIDS. There, they found loving support and a pathway back to a local congregation.

Since that first Strength for the Journey retreat, United Methodists in the Pacific Northwest have sponsored two gatherings a year for nearly 500 people living with HIV and AIDS. The retreats offer an opportunity for many who have been ostracized by the church to find peace and spiritual healing by reconnecting with God and loving Christians.

The Rev. Kathlyn James founded the Strength for the Journey retreats in the Pacific Northwest, inspired by a similar model in the Los Angeles area. At the height of the AIDS crisis, James was pastor of a reconciling congregation in Seattle, and had experienced the impact of AIDS on her congregation and community. Though the denomination's Judicial Council has since forbidden such labels, the word "reconciling" referred to a church that welcomes the full participation of all people, regardless of sexual orientation.

"During a period of six months, I officiated at one funeral every two weeks," James says.

James and the other members of the Conference Task Force on AIDS knew they had to act. "We recognized that AIDS was also a spiritual crisis," she says. "And we could do something about that." They raised $10,000 and put their energy into creating an experience in which participants could find "peace and communion with God and others," she says.

Held in beautiful, natural settings, Strength for the Journey is designed to celebrate life and living. Activities range from hiking and group sports to crafting and learning opportunities. "We try to create a place where participants can almost forget they're sick," says the Rev. Joanne Brown, one of the retreat's two directors.

Much of the ministering occurs during the in-between-times, in quiet conversations and connections with volunteer clergy and lay people who staff the retreat.

"Many people with AIDS have lost all faith in God and in the basic humanity of mankind," Looney says. "In these retreats, participants experience the true God that shines through the staff members."

His partner, Gene, and the other participants in that first Strength retreat have since died, but Looney returns each year. In the process, he has become a minister himself. "I keep in contact with all participants after a retreat, as a way of informing that spiritual connection that many have never had," he says. "Because of the retreats, I have been privileged to see seven individuals come to know Christ as their Savior."

Looney has found a congregation, at Montesano (Wash.) United Methodist Church, where he feels loved and accepted so completely that he has become the lay member to annual conference, a member of the staff-parish relations team and a church school teacher.

"I have also started a prison ministry," he says, "and am able to interact with inmates sharing my witness of what God has done in my life."

Strength for the Journey retreats are funded by individuals and local congregations, and are given as gifts to participants. Two retreats each year cost $17,000, and funds are becoming increasingly difficult to get, Brown says. Typically, about 40 people attend each retreat.

"People have in their minds that the crisis is over, that AIDS is no longer an issue, but people still get the disease," she says. "Yes, people with AIDS are living longer, but the suffering and isolating effects of this disease are still very real. The church is still needed."

Looney knows firsthand how vital the church and the retreats are to healing.

"Through Strength for the Journey, participants who are dying from AIDS learn that they can live with AIDS," he says. "And in the midst of that living, they can experience a renewed relationship with a loving God."
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*Schug, founder of Fire Horse Writing & Design in Kent, Wash., is the former director of communications for the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference.

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