Prayer also became a foundation for Most Holy Redeemer's ministry to those with HIV/AIDS, Father said. "What do we do when we don't know what to do? We pray."
One of the first tasks that brought peace to the parish was the creation of a list of the sick so that they could be named in the Prayers of the Faithful. In 1987, the parish also drafted a scroll with the names of the dead, both from AIDS and of other causes, as a symbol of remembrance and as a tool for the faithful to use in their prayers.
Devotion to the Eucharist was also revived at Most Holy Redeemer as a response to the AIDS crisis. During a liturgy meeting, Fr. McGuire recalled, a parishioner asked where a parish tradition of 40 hours of exposition and worship of the Blessed Sacrament had originated and why it had stopped. Father replied that while the devotion had faded in the parish over time, he thought it had started when a plague hit San Francisco.
"Well, we've got a plague going on, why don't we do the 40 Hours?" the parishioner responded.
The exposition, which was joined by local religious sisters and Archbishop Quinn, made a deep impact on the parish, Fr. McGuire recounted. "The 40 Hours became a kind of turning point," he said. The devotion and exposition "became a way the community responded, both in prayer and in service to a great need."
The exposition made a difference to individuals as well. "I remember one man came who had been a brother at one time in his life, and he had left the Church," Father started. "When the bar closed he just happened to walk in while in passing, and the Blessed Sacrament was exposed."
"He felt great calm and came back the next day," his former pastor said. "It became a time for him to return to the Church. Sometime later, he himself was diagnosed with AIDS, but he was able to die reconciled and at peace."
"Eventually parishioners wanted to respond in a more direct way, and they created the AIDS support group in 1985," Fr. McGuire said, bringing together people of all walks of life within the parish.
The members would go out together to visit AIDS patients, deliver meals, help with errands and offer emotional and spiritual support. For many facing HIV/AIDS, "it became a real resource for them."
The AIDS Support Group at Most Holy Redeemer still exists today, said Pete Toms, the program coordinator.
"It's an important parish outreach to the community," he told CNA, with volunteers from the parish as well as from the neighborhood at large helping to provide home assistance, care and other kinds of support to those with HIV/AIDS. "For many, I think, the time has come in their life to do something for others."
Some of the support group's beneficiaries come through local programs, including those operated by Catholic Charities, Toms said.
Simmons explained that Catholic Charities offers a variety of financial and counseling programs for those with HIV/AIDS, but a major concern is housing.
"San Francisco's one of the most expensive places to live in the world," he noted. For many living with HIV/AIDS, finding affordable housing – much less paying for expensive treatments and doctors' appointments – is a daunting task. "It's important that they have housing and services for that reason."
The main goal, he continued, is to make sure that those that have HIV/AIDS have access to medical care. Because the city was one of the first to face a large outbreak, "we have a very, very good system of care in San Francisco for people with HIV and AIDS."
When patients lacking access to housing and medical care come to Catholic Charities, Simmons said, the aim is for those patients not only to find but continue to receive the treatment they need. "Our first goal when someone comes to us is to link them with care. The second priority is to give them stable housing."
The number of lives saved by these care and housing programs is unknown, particularly the lives of women and children with HIV/AIDS, who at the time were often overlooked in care programs.
"Catholic Charities and the Archdiocese of San Francisco have been very involved since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic to serve people," he said. Today, the organization serves "more than a thousand people every month."
"There are many Catholic communities in many cities across the states that have responded in kind. We just happened to be here at the beginning of the epidemic and have been here since."
Adelaide Mena was the DC Correspondent for Catholic News Agency until 2017 and is a 2012 graduate of Princeton University.