Kicking off AIDS Awareness Month a few weeks early, performers and churchgoers gathered at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine Monday evening for the 15th annual St. Nicholas celebration, presented by the international non-profit organization AIDS Action (AA).
The event symbolized St. John the Divine’s place in the AIDS awareness movement, as the cathedral has collected holiday gifts for people with AIDS since 1994. Rand Frew, an associate priest at the cathedral since the late 1980s who led the celebration, founded AA to compensate for closure of the Episcopalian church’s HIV/AIDS ministry.
“Everyone asks if this is a service, but really, it’s a sort of hybrid,” Frew said in reference to the format which incorporated both music and prayer.
The program featured an array of musical acts, ranging from Broadway tunes sung by vocalist Bryant Keller to piano and organ pieces played by the Director of Cathedral Music and organist Tim Brumfield. Also included was a performance by Lavender Light: Black and People of All Colors Lesbian and Gay Gospel Choir.
Coordinator Nick Dowan stressed that the central purpose was to help combat a recent decline in AIDS awareness. “I’ve lost many friends to AIDS,” he said.
Most years, AA holds the St. Nicholas celebration on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. This year, the association elected to stage the event in November due to preparations for the Cathedral’s re-dedication on Nov. 30. Portions of St. John the Divine have been closed since a fire in 2001.
The inspiration for the event came from a service that Frew once attended in Detroit. He was impressed by the collective spirit shown by congregants from diverse backgrounds and neighborhoods as they rallied for prevention and education.
Frew envisioned an organization that could host a similar event in New York City. Since its establishment in 1994, AA has extended its service to the patients in Florida and Nevada, and has gone international by beginning operations in the Philippines and Thailand.
The celebration comes amid alarming trends in AIDS prevention. According to a national study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new infections in 2006 were nearly 40 percent higher than estimated—over 56,000. Statistics also reveal discrepancies along racial lines, which could hold significant import for AA’s place in Harlem. Whereas from 2000 to 2004 the number of African Americans with AIDS exceeded 19,000, that figure remained below 12,000 for non-Hispanic whites.
At the end of the program, people brought forward their donations of gifts and left them in front of the altar to the tune of the Christmas hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
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