Ep. 5 | Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church

Episode 5: A Catholic Sister learns to serve people with AIDS

In the fifth episode of "Plague," Mike visits the small Midwestern city of Belleville, Illinois, where a Catholic Sister broke ground in the 1980s by opening an organization to provide services for people living with HIV and AIDS. Though she was a trained ICU and ER nurse, Sister Carol Baltosiewich had much to learn about the disease before she could help treat it. So she journeyed to New York City with another sister to volunteer at Catholic hospitals on the front lines of the AIDS crisis.

That experience dramatically changed Sister Carol's perspective. She witnessed firsthand the suffering people with AIDS experienced, along with their partners and family members. But it was the deep love present amidst the suffering that truly changed her. She would come to realize that ministering to people with HIV and AIDS first required a sincere self-examination. As she put it, "You can't even deal with AIDS until you first face your own prejudices and biases."

Sister Carol returned to Belleville and got to work. She set up a helpline to answer questions about HIV and AIDS, which turned into a highly respected AIDS service organization known as "Bethany Place".

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In “Plague,” journalist Michael O'Loughlin investigates the untold stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church.

Mike is America Media’s national correspondent and he’s covered Catholicism for more than a decade. Mike is also gay and Catholic—and he’s curious how others manage this sometimes complex identity.

Through dozens of interviews and archival research, he’s found that no time in modern history was more volatile for gay Catholics than the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Mike met with people who were right there, in the middle of the early days of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the United States. People who fought, worked and grieved their ways through this trying time.

Listen to the first episode of "Plague" here

#PlaguePodcast

PLAGUE: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church” is made possible by the generosity of Mark A. McDermott and Yuval David, whose gift honors and supports all LGBTQ+ persons and allies past and present.

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America Media is the leading provider of editorial content for thinking Catholics and those who want to know what Catholics are thinking.

Parts of Plague: Untold Stories of AIDS and the Catholic Church were produced in the William J. Loschert Studio at America Media in New York City.

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