Good Story to Share - Fr. Ed Phillips' HIV/AIDS Mission in Kenya

The following essay was originally contributed by parishioner Hubie Lem to the alumni news group of Regis High School, a Jesuit high school for young men in New York City.   Photo credit:  Chinahands, blog of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in China

True Story

In this day when so much news we hear about the Catholic Church and the US Government is negative, we all can get pretty cynical and depressed.  But the last couple of days, I learned of a true story that gives me so much renewed faith and hope, that I thought you would like to hear about it too. Especially since the good news ties together a Regis alumnus, a Maryknoll priest, a Jesuit college, the United States Government, and saving AIDS sufferers in Nairobi Kenya, where Regis has a relationship with St Aloysius.

The story starts with my parish of St Anne's Church in Stanley, on Hong Kong Island’s south side. We are very fortunate to have as our pastor Father Ed Phillips.  He's not a Jesuit, but graduated from Boston College (1968) so I guess that makes him okay.  Father Ed is a Maryknoll priest who spent 30 years in Africa before moving to Hong Kong in 2011.

Maryknoll in Asia

For those of you who have not heard of Maryknoll, it is The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America. Maryknoll priests could be seen as representatives of the American Catholic Church in the world.  Founded in 1911 (around the same time the idea of Regis was hatched in Father Hearn's imagination), Maryknoll is the embodiment of the idea that the American Catholic Church has a special grace to share with the world.

Here in Asia, Maryknoll priests and brothers have been a significant presence and have even included several Regians. For example, the late Father Edward Malone (Regis  '43) came out to Hong Kong in 1972 and helped to found the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences, which continues to be a vital part of Asian Church structure.  Father Bob Astorino (Regis '61) founded the Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN), an Asiawide, Church news agency in 1979. When I met Father Astorino recently, he first greeted me in Cantonese (assuming I was a local Hong Konger), but then when he found out I was from New York, he reverted to the tongue of his native land, Da Bronx.

Father Ed's HIV/AIDS Mission in Africa

Father Ed, my parish priest, despite 30 years in Africa, has not lost his deep Boston accent. Over dinner with Father Ed last weekend, and knowing that he had spent time in Nairobi, Kenya, I mentioned that my alma mater Regis has a relationship with St. Aloysius, and whether he's heard of it.

He informed me that St Al's is located in Kibera, in the western part of Nairobi. Father Ed was based in east Nairobi, where he founded an organization to treat HIV/AIDS patients, the Eastern Deanery AIDS Relief Program. I asked him if he had heard of Regis alumnus Anthony Fauci. He replied, "Of course! But I'm not at that level. He's a real doctor."

Intrigued by his response, I went home and googled Father Ed and his HIV/AIDS work.  It seems Father Ed was being modest about his accomplishments. He founded the Church's HIV/AIDS ministry in Kenya in the early 1993 when he and other priests realized there was a pandemic going on, which because of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, went unrecognized and untreated. His work involved reaching out to HIV/AIDS sufferers in the slums of Nairobi, and being the face of Christ to them.  HIV/AIDS sufferers were the lepers of the community, and priests like him who did work with HIV/AIDS sufferers were shunned as "angels of death". But over time, his work began to bear fruit, and to show that the loving care of dedicated workers can bring hope where there was despair. Eventually, the Catholic Church work with HIV/AIDS sufferers transformed the frightening pandemic crisis into a manageable health care problem. His work resulted in tens of thousands of lives and families saved in Kenya.

PEPFAR, The President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief

But much of his accomplishments would not have been possible if not for us, the American taxpayer.  Because it turns out that President George W Bush in 2003 launched the PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief) and funded it with $15 billion. PEPFAR actually benefited the poorest of the poor in Africa, and these moneys reached into these communities through the work of people like Father Ed.

What does all this have to do with Regis? Well, take a look at the Youtube video below.  It turns out our very own Anthony Fauci ’58 was instrumental in developing PEPFAR with the committed support of President GW Bush.

Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), talks about the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and his involvement in this project. He also compares PEPFAR to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

President Bush announced PEPFAR on January 31, 2003, with a speech in Washington DC and Anthony Fauci and Fr. Ed Phillips were both present in the room. President Bush publicly acknowledged Dr. Fauci’s presence, and about Father Ed, President Bush said this:

A fellow named Father Edward Phillips is here. Where are you, Father?  Right there, yes.  I thought you were Father Edward Phillips for a minute. (Laughter.)  He is in Kenya, works in Kenya.  He's obviously followed his faith.  He leads an organization that provides testing and treatment in Nairobi.  He's helped thousands of people every year.  He ought to be giving this speech, not me, because he knows what it must feel like to play a significant role in saving lives.  And that's what we're here to talk about today, how best to save lives.

Here is the complete video of the President's speech announcing PEPFAR.  Watch in full, or skip ahead to 12:11, at which point he describes the program's grass-roots focus, communicates the importance of faith-based organizations, and recognizes Fr. Ed for his work in Africa:

Fr. Ed Briefs the U.S. House of Representatives

In 2006, Father Ed gave a statement at a hearing of the House of Representatives committee on his work in Kenya. The hearing brought up numerous interesting insights on the challenging work of faith-based organizations in real world settings and is a good reality check for what happens on the ground. But it is also a beautiful document to read and consider the strengths of our democratic system.  It seems like so much is broken with it these days, it's heartening to hear about something that actually worked in the way it was meant to.  

The full Congressional hearing transcript is here:  The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in United States Programming in Africa

See Fr. Ed's testimony beginning on page 27 (PDF page 31).

More Information and Links about Fr. Ed and his HIV/AIDS Mission in Kenya

In 2006, Boston College awarded Father Ed with its Alumni Award of Excellence in Health.  See the Boston College Website for more information and links to a number of his works.

His insightful and sensitive essay, Stigmatization and the Silence of the Church, is a call for us to look at the forgotten and to raise up those in our communities who are shunned, despised, or feared. Fr. Ed showed how to do this with AIDS sufferers in Kenya and represent the face of Christ to them.

A 2006 NPR story also highlighted the work of Fr. Ed as head of the Eastern Deanery AIDS Relief Program:  Kenyan AIDS Fight Relies Heavily on Catholic Help

A Voice of America article published in 2007, American Priest Brings AIDS Relief to Kenyan Slum, also detailed some of his work:

He [Father Ed Phillips] says things changed for his program in 2003, with President Bush's $15 billion Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.  Criticized by some for its focus on faith-based organizations, the program has been a boon for Phillips, The Eastern Deanery's budget is now just less than $2 million, almost all of it from PEPFAR. Father Phillips' program has a staff of 140 and is a leading provider of anti-retroviral drugs in Kenya. It has shown that nurses, not physicians, can be responsible for administering the drugs, an idea that is just starting to take hold in the West. Phillips has also built the program to be run entirely by Kenyans.

For more information about the program today, visit the website of the Eastern Deanery Aids Relief Program.

For more information about Maryknoll in Africa, visit the website of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Africa.  Here you can also find more information about Fr. Ed's HIV/AIDS mission.

A Story Worth Telling

The story of Father Ed Phillips, Anthony Fauci, the US Government and American taxpayer role in launching and supporting PEPFAR, and the thousands of lives saved in places like Kenya, deserves to be told and retold.

It’s a good story and I think expresses the very best of what it means to be Catholic and American.  It gives me special pride that a Regis alumnus was involved, as well as my own parish priest. I hope you are inspired as much as I was.

I close with a quote from Father Ed.

AIDS ministry invites us to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and try to love as Jesus did.    –  Father Ed Phillips