Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle (SF) - MONDAY, July 31, 1995 Edition: FINAL Section: News Page: A14 Word Count: 542
Suzanne Espinosa Solis, Chronicle Staff Writer
At the time, Kristine Silva was the community affairs chairwoman of the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women.
"I didn't know anything about AIDS except what was in the news," she said.
Over the next few years, she led the effort to spread the word among Catholic women's organizations throughout the nation that AIDS is a social issue that Catholics should open their hearts to.
In 1987, the couple made a major donation that helped put the Peter Claver Community for AIDS patients on the map. Peter Claver is a 32-bed facility in San Francisco that provides care and services for otherwise homeless AIDS patients.
"We could not have opened the Peter Claver Community without them," says Bob Nelson, a spokesman for Catholic Charities of the San Francisco Archdiocese.
Kristine Silva spent much of her time in the early days educating herself about AIDS. She volunteered her time at one of the first housing complexes for AIDS patients, and she spoke to organized groups of Catholics.
"I went on the speaking circuit," Silva said. "I didn't talk about medical issues because I didn't know anything about that. I didn't talk about morality. I spoke about compassion. I told people that AIDS was a terrible disease and that we had to reach out to hurting families." The second time Jim and Kristine Silva really paid attention to AIDS was on Jan. 2, 1990, when their eldest son, Derek, told them that he tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"Now, you can ask me anything," Silva said.
Derek Silva died in September.
In honor of the volunteer work that Kristine and Jim Silva have done, the city together with Catholic Charities will name a residential program after Derek.
A private ceremony for the renaming is scheduled for Friday at the Derek Silva Community on Market Street, a 64-bed facility formerly run by the Shanti Project.
"She went to Catholic women's organizations and she heightened AIDS awareness, and she heightened the importance of being proactive in the epidemic and providing services to people with HIV," Nelson said. "She did all that before she found out her son had HIV. That's incredible."
A year after Kristine Silva learned of her son's virus, she traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a Catholic world conference where she presented a resolution -- which was adopted -- to make AIDS one of the key issues that must be addressed by the church worldwide.
She does not like to take credit for her work.
"I did it at the instigation of the archbishop," she says.
She says she is concerned that people do not realize how involved her church has been in the AIDS epidemic.
"A lot of people seem to think the Catholic Church is not sympathetic. But we've been there from the start," Kristine says. "Not so much in the fight against AIDS, but in caring for those people who need care."
CAPTION: PHOTO Kristine and Jim Silva do community work against AIDS through the San Francisco archdiocese/DEANNE FITZMAURICE/THE CHRONICLE
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