Book Review: Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear
Hidden Mercy: AIDS, Catholics, and the Untold Stories of Compassion in the Face of Fear
Book Review
In this book, Michael O’Loughlin uses the stories of Catholic activists and caregivers to explore the AIDS crisis in the US in the 1980’s and 1990’s. O’Loughlin is a reporter and associate editor at the Jesuit magazine, America. He has also produced the 7-part podcast ‘Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church,’ where you can hear many of the people profiled in Hidden Mercy (as well as others) speak in their own words about AIDS then and now.
As O’Loughlin weaves together personal stories, and the history and politics of the AIDS crisis, we learn about the struggles, the organizing work, and the spiritual breakthroughs of nuns, priests, and lay activists (some of them PLWH and some of them not). We meet courageous women religious who learned how to do HIV ministry by diving headfirst into the gay male subculture. We meet a pastor who revived his dying parish by bringing together the neighbourhood’s aging ‘greys’ and its young, active ‘gays.’ But most of all we meet young gay men: coming out; finding community; mustering the courage to minister to their friends and their lovers. We listen in as these different players find their spiritual callings in the face of HIV.
In a way, the book offers us thoughtful hagiography: a real-life ‘lives of the saints’ that reflects all the grit, mess, and courage of PLWH and of those who worked with them and loved them.
Part of what makes Hidden Mercy so compelling – and tricky – is that O’Loughlin uses the book to explore his own thoughts and struggles; in his case, the struggle to be openly gay and a practicing Catholic. We see how he himself and his interview subjects have wrestled with stigma and prejudice; how winding paths have led to uneasy truces with a Church that can do so much good, but often does harm.
We gain inspiration, and understand our own struggles more clearly, with the help of what O’Loughlin has handed on. But there is in this book also a danger that one might valorize past heroes, even gain new insights, without supporting the people who struggle today: people who are living with HIV, or people who are facing other challenges, be they rooted stigma, prejudice, or unjust / unsustainable living.
For church leaders, truly honouring the gift of these stories will mean making space for PLWH in the councils of power (including the ‘synodal’ processes currently underway across Roman Catholicism). For all of us, it will mean heading deeper into relationships with PLWH and with other marginalized folks. Whether we do this by listening to podcasts, or by reading, or by asking questions and spending time together, the goal will be to understand each other better and to better connect.
Ultimately, honouring these stories will mean building real-life communities like the CAPS’ ‘Positive Faith’ community, where families, lovers, strangers, and friends can practice faith and face our crises together.