SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (SF) - TUESDAY August 30, 1988 Edition: FINAL Section: NEWS Page: A6 Word Count: 674
Don Lattin, Chronicle Religion Writer

"We're demanding it (the AIDS test) because it wouldn't be fair to the community not to. It's an economic issue," said the Rev. Joseph Blaney, provincial of the Washington, D.C.-based Oblates of Mary Immaculate, explaining that the order cannot afford to take care of people with long, debilitating diseases.

. POLICIES VARY

Church policies on testing for the AIDS virus vary greatly among Catholic religious orders. They even differ among various U.S. provinces of the same religious order.

"It's a concern. We're studying the situation," said the Rev. Andrew Harris, the Oakland-based provincial superior of 60 Oblate priests in California, Oregon, Washington and Montana.

The Rev. Paul Belcher of Los Gatos, the provincial superior of 475 Jesuit priests in California and three other Western states, said the issue of AIDS testing was discussed at a meeting in San Diego last week of provincial superiors of Catholic orders.

"Some require it and some don't. We're looking at it carefully," said Belcher. "Our major reason for requiring the test would be people enter the order to do apostolic work, and there's a chance (if they test positive) they won't live to do that work."

Mandatory testing also is being considered at the San Francisco provincial headquarters of the Marists (Society of Mary) brothers and priests.

"Seminarians have always been required to be in good health to become a member of a religious congregation," said the Rev. Rene Iturbe, provincial superior of the Marists. "If someone had multiple sclerosis, we wouldn't take them into the order."

Neither San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn, who oversees policy at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, nor seminary president Rev. Gerald Coleman were available to comment yesterday on the AIDS testing policy there. Archdiocesan spokesman Norm Phillips said he did not know if the seminary had a policy.

. BISHOPS OPPPOSE TESTING

In separate prouncement on AIDS, however, both the California Catholic Conference and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops have opposed mandatory AIDS testing.

"Mandatory testing will drive many high-risk individuals underground. The percentage of uncertainty regarding present testing can inadvertently label 'innocent' people and thus cause undue harm," proclaimed the 21 Catholic bishops in California in joint statement last Janurary.

"To isolate persons with AIDS/ARC (AIDS related complex) or patients who test positive for HIV can amount to effectively ostracizing them as pariahs." In a December 1987 policy statement entitled "The Many Faces of AIDS," the administrative board of the U.S. Catholic Conference said, "We oppose the use of the HIV antibody test for strictly discriminatory purposes.

"We agree with many public health authorities who question the appropriateness and effectiveness of more sweeping proposals, such as widespread mandatory testing."'

Nevertheless, the leaders of some Roman Catholic religious orders, who operate more-or-less independently of local bishops, are requiring the tests.

"No, we cannot accept anyone who tests positive for the AIDS virus," said the Rev. Placid Barius, head of one Maine-based Franciscan order, which requires applicants to take the test. "It's a very difficult decision to make," he said. "I know that I could be hurting this man. He could have a very good vocation and many years of ministry, but who knows what will happen five to 10 years down the road? So I think it is important to do this for the life of the community."

William Glenn, a former Jesuit who now heads the board of directors of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, said testing by religious orders "makes our fight against this disease more difficult because it gives credibility to the idea that people with HIV are dispensable. It's an invitation to corporations and companies to start discriminating."

The head of a large Jesuit regional province, who asked that his name not be used, said the province's one AIDS case cost the order more than $100,000.

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