to remain within our communal consciousness and to be embraced with unconditional love." Joseph L. Bernardin, the Archbishop of Chicago, issued a 12-page policy paper in 1986 that outlined "sweeping pastoral initiatives" his archdiocese would be undertaking. In 1987, the bishops of California issued a document saying that just as Jesus loved and healed lepers, the blind, the lame, and others, so too should Catholics care for those with AIDS. The year before, they publicly denounced Proposition 64, a measure pushed by Lyndon H. LaRouche to forcibly quarantine those with AIDS, and encouraged Catholics to vote against it. Others With the spread of the disease to North America, the Church in the United States established the National Catholic AIDS Network to provide care to AIDS patients, their families and loved ones. The Network hosted conferences and served as a clearinghouse of information to Catholic AIDS ministries. The National Catholic Educational Association published materials beginning in 1988 for use in elementary, secondary, and college classes. Vatican AIDS Conferences 1989 conference In 1989, the Vatican held a conference on AIDS. The three day affair drew over 1,000 delegates, including church leaders and the world's top scientists and AIDS researchers, from 85 countries. It included Robert Gallo, the co-discoverer of HIV, Nobel Prize winners, theologians, hospital administrators, and psychologists. At the opening session of the conference, Cardinal John O'Connor urged the public to be treated with respect and not as public health hazards, as outcasts, or shunned and left to die. This included, he said, those in prison who were often put in solitary confinement until they died. O'Connor also reiterated his opposition to condoms as a method to prevent the transition of HIV. At the closing of the conference, John Paul II called for a global plan to combat AIDS and pledged the full support of the Catholic Church for those who were battling it. Doing so, he said, was fundamental to the mission of the Church. He said the church was called to both help prevent the spread of the disease and to care for those infected with it. He also deplored what he viewed as the destructive behaviors that spread the disease. 2000 conference The Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers held a two-day conference in 2000 that coincided with World AIDS Day. Dozens of AIDS experts attended. It had been thought that the conference may