Forshaw joined celebrity B.C. artist Tiko Kerr in pleading with Health Canada to release two new drugs under a program that is supposed to provide access on a "compassionate" basis to desperate, dying Canadians who are seeking drugs unavailable in Canada.

Health Canada, despite the objections of Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, has refused to make the program available because the drugs are deemed too experimental and, taken together, might pose a health risk to the dying men.

The irony of being denied the drugs due to excessive risk is not lost on Forshaw, who still conducts mass at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Vancouver's West End despite a severely weakened immune system and a recent heart attack.

"I'm not afraid to die. I mean, my faith keeps me going in that,' he told The Vancouver Sun Friday. "But if my death is the result of some bureaucratic blunder, I'll certainly be p-o'd."

He laughed, then mused about being angry from his grave: "I don't know how you do that but. . . ."

Forshaw, who is officially considered by the diocese to be "retired in good standing," went public after watching in frustration the media coverage over the past week of Health Canada's refusal to provide the drugs to Dr. Julio Montaner, one of Canada's top HIV/AIDS researchers.

"I think people have to know this disease crosses into all walks of life. You know, your dentist may have it. The baker, the butcher, your priest, your bank manager, your radio announcer, your doctor.

"And I just felt, I was just moved. I guess it was the Holy Spirit moving me to say, 'Lookit, if I can do anything to further this cause along, to get these meds for us five, and for future generations, by all means.'"

Ingham declined to be interviewed Friday, but confirmed through a spokesman he has given Forshaw his full support.

Neale Adams, spokesman for the Diocese of New Westminster, said Ingham has also said he will write Dosanjh on behalf of Forshaw to help support his request for the new treatment.

Forshaw and Kerr are two of five patients seeking approval under the Special Access Program (SAP), but Health Canada says SAP wasn't designed for drugs at such a relatively early stage of development.

The department said Friday it is prepared to expedite approval of a special trial for the five men with both drugs, and the drug's manufacturer confirmed Friday it would cooperate.

Tibotec's Canadian spokeswoman, Alexandra Gillespie, said the company wants to help the five men and will "assist to the extent allowed by Health Canada."

But Montaner said Friday he believes the bureaucrats have put up a smokescreen to justify their refusal to open up SAP despite the objections of Dosanjh and Liberal MP Hedy Fry, a physician and Kerr's MP.

He said all five of his patients are desperately ill and don't have the time to deal with the red tape involved in a clinical trial.

The bureaucrats "are trying to pass the buck back to us," said Montaner, clinical director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

HIV attacks the body's CD-4 cells, which in turn reduces the immune system's ability to fight off invading bacteria that cause cancer, pneumonia, and other viral infections.

A healthy person has CD-4 counts well in excess of 400, Montaner said, while AIDS victims are considered in serious jeopardy if their counts are below 200.

Forshaw says his current count is 90, and Montaner said it has been lower.

Forshaw, a former Roman Catholic priest, says he was celibate all through seminary training and during most of his career as a Catholic priest.

But he decided to leave the church in 1991, saying good-bye at a final mass to parishioners at Burnaby's Our Lady of Mercy church. It was same year he was diagnosed with HIV. He said he only engaged in protected sex with men prior to the diagnosis.

In personal crisis over his sexuality in an unaccepting religion, Forshaw said, he was advised by a counsellor that his relationship with the Roman Catholic church under Pope John Paul II was like a "bad marriage" that was sapping his spirit.

"When things started to break down, I didn't have any support, or anything. You'd get silly answers: 'Well, you need to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament.' Well, that's not an answer. I'm afraid I'm not into that kind of piety," he said.

"It was a real rough time, and you know when you have rough times you sometimes revert to your addictions. And one of my addictions was sex."

He became an Anglican and in 1999 became a priest with the blessing of Ingham.

"I was quite honest with Bishop Michael. I told him I was gay and I was HIV positive and he said there's no problem."

Forshaw said his faith makes him unafraid to die a premature death. But he feels it would be an unnecessary waste.

"I still have a lot to offer with my priesthood, I believe. I visit the sick and do a lot of stuff. . . . I have people who come to me for spiritual direction. In other words, I'm their soulmates."

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