Shadow of fear

December 15, 2007

No one should ‘live in the shadow of fear,’ bishop tells inmates

Bishop Jaime Soto speaks to inmates at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville during an interfaith prayer service to mark World AIDS Day.Cathy Joyce/Herald photo

By Julie Sly
Herald editor

“May we never tire of doing the good work of healing, of helping and of bringing hope,” Bishop Jaime Soto told some 450 inmates at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville Nov. 30 who were gathered for a prayer service to mark World AIDS Day.

The new coadjutor bishop greeted inmates, corrections staff and medical personnel during a visit to the state’s main medical and psychiatric institution for convicted adult male felons.

Almost all of the inmates in CMF need some type of medical or psychiatric treatment, according to Mike Knowles, warden of CMF. The facility includes a general acute care hospital, outpatient clinics, treatment for inmates identified with HIV/AIDS and a hospice. At present there are about 3,100 inmates housed at CMF, although it was designed to hold approximately 2,300.

The two-hour interfaith service to remember those who have died of AIDS included inspirational testimonies by inmates urging their peers to help prevent spread of the disease among young people, African Americans and Latinos, who are being infected with HIV at alarming rates.

Native American inmates prayed in a traditional ritual in memory of AIDS victims. The poignant voices of the Allen Temple Baptist Choir from Oakland brought inmates to their feet, clapping their hands and shouting in appreciation. A jazz combo made up of CMF inmates performed, joined by one correctional officer who sang a moving solo with the words, “Imagine what tomorrow would bring if we all sung one song.”

The Rev. Keith Knauf, a Presbyterian minister and director of pastoral care services at CMF, said the hospice is “a place of healing, not of dying.”

Some 500 inmates placed at CMF over the years have died of AIDS, he added. “There have been numerous leaders through the years who have tried to stop the spread of AIDS. And those working the hardest have often been unseen and without recognition. This service is a way to educate, confront and encourage whose who live daily with the reality of AIDS.”

“Let’s unite our hearts and our voices in asking for God’s strength to see ourselves through this AIDS epidemic that continues to take the lives of men, women and children across the world,” Bishop Soto said in an invocation at the service.

No one should be far from God’s love or voice, or “live in the shadow of fear,” he said.

“Let our hearts be touched by God and let our hearts touch those who are ailing or sick, especially our brothers and sisters who are sick with AIDS.”

Bishop Soto said he was invited to visit to CMF by Father John Healy, coordinator of AIDS ministry in the diocese, who visits AIDS patients at the hospice regularly. The bishop added that he wants to begin visiting the many prisons located in the 20 counties of the Sacramento Diocese.

He felt “a certain amount of ambivalence,” from the visit, Bishop Soto said afterward.

“It gave me a sense of people whose lives are if not lost, are very broken, either by their own actions or as a consequence of what’s happened in their life,” he said. “At the same time I am always amazed at the endurance of the human spirit. The personal testimonies by inmates we heard during the course of the prayer service and the musical talent of many of the prisoners demonstrated this so clearly.

“In any case, it’s important they know the church is willing to walk with them — that we are in solidarity with people who are imprisoned and who are often rejected by a large part of society.”