John, a cradle Catholic who grew up in a very spiritual and religious home in the Franciscan tradition, had fallen away from the faith during his 20s and 30s. One day nearly 40 years ago, John found his way into the Xavier church while trying to escape a rain storm, which led him to spiritually "escape the rain" and find shelter within and amongst the community through the storms the AIDS crisis, and other crises of faith related to being a Catholic gay man of faith. Caitlin talks with John about journeying through the trauma of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and how Xavier played a role in ministering to those on the margins then and now.

To access a transcript of this episode, or to learn more about the Church of St. Francis Xavier visit:

https://sfxavier.org/from-age-to-age-an-oral-history-podcast/episode-7-john-caitlin/

This episode was recorded and edited by Cynthia Bastidas of Semillita Productions. Photography by Donald Kennedy of Donald Kennedy Photography. Podcast introduction song is “Here I Am, Lord (I Come To Do Your Will),” music composed by Michael Ward and performed by the Music Ministry of the Church of St. Francis Xavier. All copyrighted music reproduced with permission of OneLicense copyright A-700530, rights reserved; music reprint license number 944. A special thanks to the staff of St. Francis Xavier and Father Ken Boller, SJ.