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PAGE 14 — The Georgia Bulletin, April 16, 1987 Death Of Priest-Psychiatrist From AIDS Revealed By Archbishop BY MARK ZIMMER- MANN AND JERRY FILTEAU WASHINGTON (NC) - In an unprecedented action. Archbishop James Hickey of Washington revealed April 11 that one of his priests had died of AIDS, acquired immune deficien cy syndrome. The priest, who died on April 9, was 44-year-old Father Michael Peterson, a psychiatrist noted for help ing priests and nuns with drug dependency and sex ual problems. It was the first case in the United States in which a priest's death from AIDS was revealed by his bishop. Father Peterson was founder and director of St. Luke’s Institute in Suitland, Md., a Washington suburb. The institute treats priests, brothers and nuns from across the country. Archdiocesan officials said Archbishop Hickey gave the cause of death in response to two media-in quiries April 10. He then called a press conference April 11 and told reporters that before dying Father Peterson authorized him to reveal the cause of death when asked A month before he died, with the archbishop's en couragement. Father Pe terson wrote to all the priests of the Washington Archdiocese and to bishops across the country who had sent priests to his institute, informing them confiden tially that he was dying of AIDS. He asked their prayers. In his letter to bishops. Father Peterson wrote, “I hope that in my own strug gle with this disease, in finally acknowledging that I have this lethal syndrome, there might come some measure of compassion, understanding and healing for me and for others with it —• especially those who face this disease alone and in fear. " Archbishop Hickey told reporters he did not know how Father Peterson con tracted AIDS and had not tried to find out. He said when the priest told him the nature of his illness at the end of February, his sole concern was to “reach out” with "support, prayers and assistance, as his bishop, as his friend and his brother in the Lord.” AIDS is contracted through an exchange of bodily fluids with a carrier of the disease. Because the most common forms of transmission are homosex ual relations and sharing of needles for intravenous drug use, deaths of priests from AIDS have usually been shrouded in secrecy. Recent research by Na tional Catholic News Ser vice indicated that nation wide at least 20 Catholic priests and brothers have died of AIDS, although the names have become public in only a handful of cases. Father Peterson “feared his illness might be used in a sensational way to under mine his work or to attack the church that he served,” Archbishop Hickey said. “What is most impor tant,” he added, “is not how he died, but how he served” the hundreds of al coholic. chemical-depen dent or sexually disturbed priests, brothers and nuns who found help at St. Luke's Institute. The archbishop said he encouraged the dying priest to let brother priests and bishops know because “the worst part of it (dying of AIDS) is the isolation" “I shared with him my conviction that the truth about his illness would bring forth support and compassion, not judgment and rejection.” the arch bishop said. Archbishop Hickey reportedly visited Father Peterson almost every day in his final month of life. imm Alleluia! Is Not Here For He Is Risen... He Is Risen Indeed! ington ^jcmoridparl^ This year, make Arlington's Easter Sunrise Service part of your family tradition! ^ ' ' ' - ...• •% - "< C; Gome join in the Sunrise Service . .. „ tV on Easter Sunday at 6:30a.m. 201 Mt Vernon Road in Sandy Springs " . 255-0750 In his March 9 letter tell ing the priests of the Washington Archdiocese that he had AIDS. Father Peterson wrote, “For 11 months I have struggled, with the help of the Eucharist and my own ever deepening faith and knowledge, that at my death I will meet him (God) in the love that he has pro mised through the life, death and resurrection of his son. Jesus Christ.” The response from bishops and priests to Father Peterson's letters was an “immediate and overwhelming outpouring of support,” Archbishop Hickey said. Father Peterson, a native of Seattle, was a convert to Catholicism at age 19. A professional psychiatrist before he was ordained, he received his medical degree from the University of California medical school in San Francisco and worked as a researcher at the Food and Drug Ad ministration in Washington and at the National In stitutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. In 1975 he decided to study for the priesthood, and in 1978 he was ordained. A short time later he established St. Luke’s In stitute. which quickly gain ed a national reputation in church circles for effective treatment of priests and nuns facing chemical ad diction or sexual problems. It grew to a staff of 60, treating 32 inpatients at a time and many more on an outpatient basis. Archbishop Hickey said he hoped Father Peterson’s decision to reveal that he had AIDS would help others with the disease become more open about it. “Everyone has a right to privacy,” he said, but “I believe that when someone is ill, it’s far better to speak up about it.” Dublin Archbishop Dies DUBLIN, Ireland (NC) — Dublin Archbishop Kevin McNamara, a noted ecu menist. died April 8. He was 60. He had been suffering from a form of Hodgkin’s disease, first diagnosed about 10 years ago. The archbishop’s body lay in state at St. Mary's Procathedral, Dublin. April 10-12. Following a requiem Mass April 13, he was buried in the procathedral's crypt. Archbishop McNamara, former bishop of Kerry, Ireland, was installed as archbishop of Dublin in January 1985. Cardinal Thomas O'Fia- ich. head of the Irish bish ops’ conference, said that as a member of the confer ence, “Archbishop McNa mara's contributions were marked by an originality of thought, an incisiveness in debate, and above all a deep pastoral awareness. He will be greatly missed by his fellow bishops.” The cardinal described him as “a very spiritual man. a man of prayer and self-denial with a strong personal devotion to our Blessed Lady.” “The archbishop's door was always open to his priests, especially those in difficulty,” Cardinal O’Fia- ich said When then-Bishop McNa mara was named archbish op of Dublin, he was criti cized as a conservative roadblock to Irish unity. More than 60 percent of Dublin’s Catholic clergy op posed his appointment, and opponents said Pope John BUCKHEAD WRIGHT’S FLORIST Distinctive 'Style & Service'Since1949 2393 Peachtree Rd. 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