St Francis de Sales, Patron Saint of the Deaf.

St Francis de Sales

The feast of St Francis de Sales is celebrated on 24 January. He was an outstanding bishop, theologian, a Doctor of the Church, that is, someone recognised as having brought us to a deeper understanding of the teaching that Christ gave to St Peter and the Apostles to be passed on to each generation. This great saint is a patron saint of journalists and writers - and of the Deaf and hearing impaired. Below is something I posted originally on 24 January 2009 and again four years later. This time I've added [some comments].

I originally posted the following on 24 January 2009.

Today is the feast of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop and Doctor of the Church, patron of journalists and of the Deaf. So he is my patron on both counts, since I edit Misyon [phased out in 2018] and have been working with the Deaf on a part-time basis since 1992 and frequently celebrate Mass in Sign Language. Above all, he was a man who lived the fulness of the priesthood as a bishop faithfully. Maybe he would be a blogger if he were around today. [My Sign Language was never fluent.]

The following information, which I found here, is from the National Catholic Office for the Deaf, located in Washington, DC.

St Francis De Sales: Patron of the Deaf and Hearing-impaired

In 1605, an indigent young man named Martin, a deaf-mute from birth, came almost daily to a house in Roche, France, where Bishop de Sales was staying, to ask for alms. He was a strong young man fit for all kinds of work, and the Bishop's housekeeper often allowed him to help her in payment for the Bishop's generosity. One day a servant introduced Martin to the Bishop.

As a result of his handicap, Martin, who was about 25 years old, had never received any kind of education -- or instruction in the Catholic faith. (It was presumed by all of the educated people of that age, the 17th century, that a deaf-mute was a mentally handicapped person and that trying to educate or trying to communicate religious truths to such a person would be a waste of time.)

At the time of their meeting, St Francis de Sales was visibly disturbed and touched with pity for the unfortunate Martin. St Francis realized that the poor man would remain forever ignorant of God and the rich mysteries of the Faith and that his lack of instruction would forever keep him from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.

After considering young Martin's deprived condition for a time, St Francis determined that he would undertake the instruction of the young man.

By using signs that he formed with his hands and fingers, St Francis personally began to teach Martin about the Catholic Faith. Martin, as was soon clear, was highly intelligent and a very good pupil. After a period of time, through his gentle patience and persistence and with the signs and gestures he had invented for the purpose, St Francis succeeded in instructing Martin about God and His love for all men. All went so well that eventually Martin was able to receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time in 1606. Two years later, Martin was confirmed.

St Francis eventually hired Martin as his gardener and brought him along with him when he returned to his episcopal household in Annecy, France.

Martin's devotion to the Bishop of Geneva was second only to his devotion to God. Martin prayed fervently, examining his conscience every evening before retiring, regularly confessed his sins to the Bishop, and assisted devoutly at the Bishop's Mass whenever he could.

Sixteen years later, no one would be more affected by the death of St Francis de Sales than his faithful servant Martin, who would visit his master's last resting place almost every day until the day he himself died.

The above account uses a term that is not used anymore: 'deaf-mute'. As a literal matter of fact, people who are deaf aren't mute, since they have voices and many can learn to speak.

Neither is the word 'handicap' used much now but rather 'disability'. I don't like the term 'differently-abled'. It cannot hide the reality that a person who is deaf or blind, for example, does have a disability that creates difficulties for that person in some situations. Deaf people prefer the word 'Deaf', with a capital 'D' to describe themselves as a group. Being profoundly deaf from birth is different from becoming hearing-impaired from old age, for example. [I now fit into that category and use hearing aids, as do many of my companions here where I now live in Ireland.]

Those of us who can see and hear tend to think that blindness is a greater disability than deafness. But deafness, whether from birth or coming with old age, is a disability that isolates in a way that blindness doesn't. Most deaf people here in the Philippines don't share a language even with their own family. And the only 'native signers' I know here are the hearing children of deaf parents.

St Francis saw how isolated Martin was and broke through that isolation.

+++

I added this on 24 January 2013. Here is the only deaf-blind priest, Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR, speaking to seminarians and priests.

Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR CBE

You can read Father Cyril's extraordinary story here. He was born profoundly deaf and began to go blind when he was already a priest due to Usher syndrome.

The needs of those who are profoundly deaf are widely recognised now in many countries. Here in Ireland, for example, Irish Sign Language became an official language of the State in 2017. However, I think that the Catholic Church needs to respond much more to the needs of the profoundly deaf as did St Francis de Sales to Martin.

Part of a Tutorial on Celebrating Mass in American Sign Language. 

(Archdiocese of Washington)

Pope Francis meets with persons who are deaf and persons who are blind

On Saturday 29 March Pope Francis had a special audience with persons who are deaf and with persons who are blind. Some at the audience were both deaf and blind, including Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR, the only deaf and blind priest in the world, a South African born of Jewish parents.

Here is the text of the News.va report, with my emphasis added.

Vatican City, 29 March 2014 (VIS) – “Witnesses to the Gospel for a culture of encounter” is the theme of the Day of Sharing organised by the Apostolic Movement of the Blind, with the participation of the Gualandi Mission for the Deaf (the Little Mission for the Deaf), as well as the Italian Union of the Blind and Partially-Sighted. These organisations were received in audience this morning by Pope Francis, who commented on the theme of the Day.

“The first thing I observe is that this expression ends with the word 'encounter', but first this presupposes another encounter, the one with Christ. Indeed, to be witnesses of the Gospel, it is necessary to have encountered Him, Jesus. … Like the Samaritan woman. … A witness to the Gospel is someone who has encountered Jesus Christ, who knows him, or rather, who feels known by him: recognised, respected, loved, forgiven, and this encounter … fills him with a new joy, a new meaning for life. And this shines through, is communicated, is transmitted to others”.

“I have mentioned the Samaritan woman because she offers a clear example of the type of person Jesus liked to meet, to make them his witnesses: marginalised, excluded, disdained people. The Samaritan woman was this type, inasmuch as she was a woman, and a Samaritan – the Samaritans were despised by the Jews. But let us think also of the many that Jesus wished to encounter, especially people affected by illness and disability, to cure them and to restore their full dignity to them. It is very important that precisely these people become witnesses to a new attitude, that we can call a culture of encounter. A typical example is the man blind from birth … marginalised in the name of a false idea that he had received a divine punishment. Jesus radically refuses this way of thinking – truly blasphemous! - and performs an act of God, giving him the gift of sight. But the important thing is that this man, as soon as this happens to him, becomes a witness to Jesus and His work, that is the work of God, of life, love and mercy. While the Pharisees, from their safe distance, judges both him and Jesus as 'sinners'; the cured blind man, with disarming simplicity, defends Jesus and in the at the end professes his faith in Him, and also shares his fate: Jesus is excluded, and he is excluded too. But in reality the man enters into a new community, based on faith in Jesus and on brotherly love”.

“Here we have the two opposing cultures. The culture of encounter and the culture of exclusion, of prejudice. The sick or disabled person, precisely because of his or her frailty and limits, may become a witness to this encounter: the encounter with Jesus, that opens us to life and faith, and to the encounter with others, with the community. Indeed, only those who recognise their own fragility and their own limits can build bonds of fraternity and unity, in the Church and in society”, concluded the Holy Father.

Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR

When I was young the term 'deaf and dumb' was widely used. 'Deaf-mute' is a term still used by some, including this Vatican report which referred to the 'Little Mission for the Deaf Mute'. Indeed, that is the historical name of this congregation whose ministry is exclusively with the Deaf. But the words 'dumb' and mute' come from a misconception of hearing people that those who are deaf are not able to speak. Profoundly deaf people have the capability of speech but very often that is never brought to life because they cannot hear. But youngsters who are profoundly deaf can be taught how to speak.

The word 'dumb' has come to mean 'stupid' because profoundly deaf people were often seen to be such because they shared no common language even with their own family. Deafness isolates, much more so than any other physical disability.

Some persons without any severe disabilities speak of others as being 'differently-abled'. I've never liked that term because it's not true. Deaf people and blind people have the same wide range of abilities as everyone else. Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles and Andrea Bocelli are three singers who come to mind who have the disability of blindness. but that hasn't prevented them from having successful careers in music. 

Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

Helen Keller, precisely because she was deaf and blind, had an enormous influence on others once she discovered her gifts through the patience of Anne Sullivan, her tutor.

Beethoven 

Portrait by Josef Karl Stieler [Wikipedia]

And Beethoven had become totally deaf by the time he composed his revolutionary Ninth Symphony, the first symphony ever to include singers, with Schiller's Ode to Joy in the last movement. But he didn't hear that music with his ears, only with his mind and memory. Beethoven wasn't 'differently-abled'. He was a musical genius who acquired the disability of deafness as he grew older. This began when he was about 30. For the last ten of his 57 years he was almost totally deaf but continued to compose.

When I was a young priest I studied for a degree in musical education and spent some months as a practice-teacher in two public schools in New York State. The students I had in First Year High School were almost impossible to keep in check. But when I was able to get across to them, despite the noise level, that Beethoven had no hearing when he wrote The Ninth they quietened down and listened, quite awe-struck, to the music. The concluding words of Pope Francis, in a sense, had come true in that instance: Indeed, only those who recognise their own fragility and their own limits can build bonds of fraternity and unity, [in the Church] and in society.

There were no flashmobs in Beethoven's day but I'm sure he wouldn't be unhappy with the Ode to Joy section of his 'Ninth' being played in a public square in Catalonia, Spain, bringing joy to young and old, his music, written nearly 200 years ago when he was already deaf, bringing musicians, singers and listeners out of themselves as it did those noisy 14-year-olds I was trying to teach 42 years ago.

St Francis de Sales, Patron of the Deaf; Father Cyril Axelrod CSsR, a deaf-blind priest

St Francis de Sales

I originally posted the following on 24 January 2009.

Today is the feast of St Francis de Sales (1567-1622), Bishop and Doctor of the Church, patron of journalists and of the Deaf. So he is my patron on both counts, since I edit Misyon and have been working with the Deaf on a part-time basis since 1992 and frequently celebrate Mass in Sign Language. Above all, he was a man who lived the fulness of the priesthood as a bishop faithfully. Maybe he would be a blogger if he were around today.

The following information, which I found here, is from the National Catholic Office for the Deaf, located in Washington, DC.

St Francis De Sales: Patron of the Deaf and Hearing-impaired

In 1605, an indigent young man named Martin, a deaf-mute from birth, came almost daily to a house in Roche, France, where Bishop de Sales was staying, to ask for alms. He was a strong young man fit for all kinds of work, and the Bishop's housekeeper often allowed him to help her in payment for the Bishop's generosity. One day a servant introduced Martin to the Bishop.

As a result of his handicap, Martin, who was about 25 years old, had never received any kind of education -- or instruction in the Catholic faith. (It was presumed by all of the educated people of that age, the 17th century, that a deaf-mute was a mentally handicapped person and that trying to educate or trying to communicate religios truths to such a person would be a waste of time.)

At the time of their meeting, St Francis de Sales was visibly disturbed and touched with pity for the unfortunate Martin. St Francis realized that the poor man would remain forever ignorant of God and the rich mysteries of the Faith and that his lack of instruction would forever keep him from receiving the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.

After considering young Martin's deprived condition for a time, St. Francis determined that he would undertake the instruction of the young man.

By using signs that he formed with his hands and fingers, St Francis personally began to teach Martin about the Catholic Faith. Martin, as was soon clear, was highly intelligent and a very good pupil. After a period of time, through his gentle patience and persistence and with the signs and gestures he had invented for the purpose, St Francis succeeded in instructing Martin about God and His love for all men. All went so well that eventually Martin was able to receive the Holy Eucharist for the first time in 1606. Two years later, Martin was confirmed.

St Francis eventually hired Martin as his gardener and brought him along with him when he returned to his episcopal household in Annecy, France.

Martin's devotion to the Bishop of Geneva was second only to his devotion to God. Martin prayed fervently, examining his conscience every evening before retiring, regularly confessed his sins to the Bishop, and assisted devoutly at the Bishop's Mass whenever he could.

Sixteen years later, no one would be more affected by the death of St Francis de Sales than his faithful servant Martin, who would visit his master's last resting place almost every day until the day he himself died.

The above account uses a term that is not used anymore: 'deaf-mute'. As a literal matter of fact, people who are deaf aren't mute, since they have voices and many can learn to speak.

The word 'handicap' too isn't used much now but rather 'disability'. I don't like the term 'differently-abled'. It cannot hide the reality that a person who is deaf or blind, for example, does have a disability. Deaf people prefer the word 'Deaf', with a capital 'D' to describe themselves as a group. Being profoundly deaf from birth is different from becoming hearing-impaired from old age, for example.

Those of us who can see and hear tend to think that blindness is a greater disability than deafness. But deafness, whether from birth or coming with old age, is a disability that isolates in a way that blindness doesn't. Most deaf people here in the Philippines don't share a language even with their own family. And the only 'native signers' I know here are the hearing children of deaf parents.

St Francis saw how isolated Martin was and broke through that isolation.

+++

I am adding this on 24 January 2013. Here is the only deaf-blind priest, Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR, speaking to seminarians and priests.

Fr Cyril Axelrod CSsR

I have posted about Father Cyril before: 'Don't shout; I am Deaf'. Father Cyril is on Facebook.

Fr Cyril celebrating Mass.

Fr Cyril in Malta, April 2011.

Fr Cyril in Malta, April 2011.

'He even makes the deaf hear.' Sunday Reflections, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B

The Lord's Prayer in Filipino Sign Language

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings(Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa) 

Gospel Mark 7:31-37 (Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition)

Then Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."

Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic church in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya.

Profound deafness is the most isolating of all physical disabilities. A child born deaf cannot learn the language of his parents unless they and he study Sign Language. In my involvement with the Deaf in the Philippines since 1991 the only 'native signers' I have met are the hearing children of deaf parents. The same would apply to deaf children of deaf parents.

In today's gospel Jesus brings  the deaf man from his isolation into full participation in the community. We find Jesus doing the same in other miracle stories, eg, the woman with the bleeding for twelve years, the lepers he healed. these too were excluded from society by ritual laws of purification. Even today we isolate patients with certain contagious diseases to protect them and others.

I often celebrate Mass in Sign Language, though my knowledge of it is limited. And, like speaking languages, there are many sign languages. What I use is basically a mixture of Signed English and American Sign Language. On some occasions after such a Mass hearing people have told me how moved they were. But I've also heard of people complaining that the priest's Sign Language or that of an interpreter were 'distracting'. And I've known of the practice of having an interpreter at certain Masses being dropped because of such complaints.

We seldom reflect on the fact that all of us use a form of sign language with the gestures we make, the way we call people with our hands, gestures of friendship and gestures that insult. A form of sign language is used in stock exchanges throughout the world. And in every sport the referee or umpire has a set of signs that both players and spectators understand. Each sign has a very specific meaning.

Many of us tend to see Deaf people as in need of 'help'. (Those who are profoundly deaf describe themselves as a group as 'The Deaf', with an upper-case 'D'. They don't use the term 'hard of hearing', which more accurately describes the many whose hearing deteriorates as they grow older.)

The Deaf need to be enabled to play their full part in the community, including that of the Church. It is a fact that here in the Philippines fundamentalist groups make a very specific target of young deaf people. They are an easy target as the Catholic Church to a large degree ignores them, though not wilfully.

And a signing person can sometimes help a hearing person to listen more profoundly to what he himself is saying, as this story shows. Dr Frank Brennan is a palliative physician in Sydney, Australia. On 25 September 2006 he was interviewed on national radio by Norman Swan. The programme was repeated on 17 February 2007. [You will find a link to the podcast there.] Here Dr Brennan tells the moving story of how he spoke to the family of a dying man who had a daughter who was profoundly deaf and who was married to a deaf man. Their hearing daughter interpreted Dr Brennan's words for them - and he found himself listening to what he was saying in a way he had never done before. I have highlighted some parts.

Norman Swan: And of course what you learn I assume is the value and you spoke about it in the last story, language and communication, and there's a paradox in this next story which in fact you've called Silence.

Frank Brennan: Yes.

For years the hostilities had continued. Sometimes there were small successes. Hope rose and fell with his energy. Once he yearned for victory or at least a negotiated truce. Repeatedly now they sat and told him the news. It worsened by the week. They spoke of perseverance, he dreamt of peace.

He was due to have chemotherapy the next day. He had been deteriorating gradually but was, over the last days, much worse. He was weaker, eating less, sleeping more. It was time to discuss the future. When I arrived at his room I was pleased to see his wife, her presence would make communication easier - we could all talk through things together.

I began by saying that, as they could both see he was becoming too weak to continue with the chemotherapy. I said that I thought that his time was coming, that death was approaching. Sometime over the next week or two he would begin to sleep longer until eventually he would go into a deep sleep. I said that from now on, the most important things were to keep him comfortable and for him to share his time with his family. He looked up at me with large blue eyes.

His wife stood at the end of the bed rubbing his feet through the bedclothes. She lifted her hands and opened them, palms facing down the bed toward his face. Expansive hands, open hands. She said, "We've had a great life together you and I. My darling we have".

I was moved by her expressive hands and her phrasing "My darling, we have". He said, "Well if that's it, that's it. Everyone has to go through it I suppose and now" he said, looking up toward her "it's my time". She walked around the bed and lightly placed her left hand on his cheek.

I talked a little more, answered their questions and left the room. A few minutes later she walked out and said, "He wants you to say all that you've just said to the rest of the family. Could you wait here awhile?" I agreed. Shortly I was called back, the family had gathered. The patient and his wife had a daughter who was deaf. She had married a deaf man. They had three daughters who had normal hearing, one held a baby. A cousin had just arrived from New Zealand - we all entered the room.

I walked over to where I had stood earlier that hour. One of his granddaughters Anne, stood opposite me. Her parents stood diametrically across from her at the foot of the bed. As I began to speak I realised that their position was not accidental - Anne stood there to face her parents and sign my words.

I repeated what I told the patient and his wife. I said that I thought he would not suffer any more than he had and that we would do our very best to ensure his comfort. I said that more than any medication we could give, the most important thing now was love - reflecting on their time together as a family and their love for him as a man. That this was a precious time, however long, and it would be best spent preparing.

As I spoke, something unexpected happened. Deliberately I'd slowed the delivery of my speech so that Anne could comfortably sign. With the slowing the individual words abruptly came into focus. These were words I say each day, the slowing revealed their depth. They were no longer grouped or bunched together rushing past phrases too delicate or sensitive. They were now words in isolation, stark for all to hear and see. Somehow the unison of my speech and the signing seemed to allow me to speak the same words at a pace and a depth that began to resonate like stones dropped in a well.

I was reminded of the deep significance of those words, the words and our roles as health professionals, words such as death and dying, hope and reflection, love and dignity. I had begun by speaking to this family in the territory of facts, now I was in a different territory altogether. A patient recently said to me, "Never underestimate the power of your concern". That concern may manifest in all possible ways. There is a season for silence and a season for language and at its pinnacle all manner and form of concern is indivisible.

I noticed the effect on Anne, committed to signing, she was doing three things simultaneously. She was hearing my words, fateful, sad and reflective, she was signing the words to her parents knowing what those words meant to them and she was looking into their eyes all without preparation. I looked up to watch the long arc of her hands, the sweep of her fingers, the crisp slide of one cupped palm on another. I looked beyond her hands to her face, her cheeks were wet, she signed, she cried, her hands and her tears in unison.

The rhythm and grace of her hands signed the words, shaped the words and became the words until eventually my voice, her signing, and their faces had become one. As a doctor I may have spoken with more eloquence but never with more resonance.

I stopped speaking. I looked back into the eyes of the patient. "Go on doctor" he seemed to say, "you're doing alright". I started again, not daring to look up. I could not face the fluency of her hands and the sight of her face. It seemed almost too intimate to witness. I stepped away and stood in a corner of the room. Each member of the family took turns to come up to him. They leant over to look directly into his eyes. Each spoke quietly, some in a whisper, one to gently tease him, and others in low tones of fondness. And each kissed him, some on his forehead and some to his lips. It was a ceremony of immeasurable grace.

As unobtrusively as I could I began to leave the room. The deaf mute man, Anne's father, now carrying the baby turned from the huddle surrounding his father-in-law. He stepped toward me, reached out and shook my hand. He mouthed the words "thank you". I wept, I wept for the singular beauty of what I had seen that afternoon, for the courage Anne had shown, I wept for their love, I wept for all the patients, on all the days and for the sadness of leaving. And finally for this small act of decency that a grieving man would interrupt such an intimate moment with his family to turn and thank me. I rarely weep. Long ago I abandoned the question of whether it is professionally appropriate or otherwise. Now, I do not worry either way.

We are humans working in the most human of enterprises. Our tears whether they are shared often, rarely, or never are part of us as much as our skills, our knowledge, and our presence. Anne's father looked at my tears, reached over and rubbed my elbow. He made a sound like the cooing of a dove. At that moment in this room the sound was more eloquent than a dozen speeches. Without a single word he had uttered the striking last line of a poem.

The baby, mirroring his action reached out. I lifted the baby into my arms, I thought of a colleague who described seeing an elderly terminally ill woman in an obstetrics and gynaecology ward. The patient had heard the sound from beyond her curtain of a galloping patter. She was told it was the sound of a foetal heartbeat magnified. She looked up and said, as one life is coming into the world, one is going out. I did not want to leave. On a late afternoon in May, this room had become the world. The baby reached back to Anne's father. I gently handed him over, walked out and quietly closed the door behind me.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

One of the first prayers that we learned as children was the Hail Mary, where we ask our Blessed Mother to pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Here is the prayer signed by three young deaf persons in Mexico.

After posting Sunday Reflections I came across this video of two toddlers, both adopted, signing. The boy on the left is deaf while the other is a little hard of hearing. After six months they have learned American Sign Language naturally as their first language.

'Ephphata! The Deaf Person, Herald and Witness of the Proclamation of the Gospel'

'Until they pointed it out to me, I didn’t even notice that Christ is speaking in sign language from the cross, saying “I love you.”' (Cardinal Seán's Blog).

Marge Tucker, a member of the Catholic Deaf community in Boston, presenting Cardinal O'Malley with the crucifix pictured at the top

I have been involved to a limited degree in working with the Deaf since 1992, after the death of Columban Father Joseph Coyle - we were not related - who was a pioneer in working with and for the Deaf in the Church in the Philippines. I regularly celebrate Mass in Sign Language. One of the tragedies in the Philippines is that young Deaf people are a very specific target of fundamentalist Christian groups with their roots in the USA. Young Deaf people here are easy targets for the simple reason that the Catholic Church has so far done very little to minister to them. This is not by design. Church leadership is generally on the side of the poor and those on the margins. So many are on the margins in the Philippines because of widespread poverty but the Deaf, most of whom are from poor families, are on the margins of the margins..

Cardinal Seán O'Malley OFMCap, Archbishop of Boston, celebrates Mass with the Deaf thereZenit.org carries this report on the recent Congress on the Deaf held in the Vatican. I've highlighted some parts and added [comments].

A congress on ministry with and for the Deaf was held in the Vatican recently and there are a couple of reports below.



Conclusions of Vatican Congress on the Deaf


"Herald and Witness of the Proclamation of the Gospel"

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 7, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the executive conclusions adopted by the Congress on the Pastoral Care of the Deaf entitled "Ephphata! The Deaf Person, Herald and Witness of the Proclamation of the Gospel," which ended Sunday in the Vatican.


* * *


At the end of this Congress on Pastoral Care, entitled "Ephphata! The Deaf Person, Herald and Witness of the Evangelical Proclamation," organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, the instruments were defined for the realization of some priorities in the ambit of the integration of deaf persons in ecclesial life and more generally in society. [Deafness cuts off a person in a way that another disability doesn't. A person born deaf has no common language with his parents or with the community, including the Church community, unless he and they learn Sign Language. In my experience, the only 'native signers' I have come across are the hearing children of Deaf parents. The isolation of a deaf person is added to if his family lives in a relatively remote area and is very much added to by poverty.]

In this second stage of the dicastery's commitment to those affected by deafness, recommendations were received and began to be implemented which arose at the end of the International Conference "Ephphata! The Deaf Person in the Life of the Church," held last November in the Vatican. This result was obtained thanks to the active participation and support of exponents of the pontifical council and of other Vatican offices, of the Italian episcopal conference and of the dioceses of Rome, Bari, Brescia, Foggia, Chieti, Crotone, Padua, Patti, Vicenza, Bologna, Palermo, Sulmona, Aquila, Imperia, Agrigento, Teramo, Assisi, Florence, Foligno, Frosinone, Salerno, Milan, Trani, Modena, Tursi-Lagonegro, Venice, Messina, Perusa, Terni, Rimini and Pordenone. Added to them are the religious personnel, specialists and volunteers. A great contribution was also made by the representatives of the Church in America, Spain, Ireland, and Germany, who came to Rome for the Congress. [No Asian countries mentioned.]

These are, in synthesis, the priorities and instruments delineated during these working days:

1. To offer local and particular churches the instruments to begin to work "for and with" deaf persons, [Deaf people are not persons 'to be helped' but to be enabled, with their full cooperation, to become fully active members of the Church and of society, both giving and receiving] beginning both from specific elements for pastoral programming as well as multimedia subsidies. Among the latter, visual DVDs, which contain the translation in sign language, which will be used as an aid in the course of formation and participation in the life of the ecclesial community. [Hearing people need to be made aare of the needs of the Deaf and to be enabled to communicate with them.]

2. To take care and spread with particular commitment the "formation of formators," in the first place of future priests, of religious personnel and of all pastoral agents. [Some countries have Deaf priests and some have hearing pirests involved in full-time ministry with the Deaf. There are no deaf priests in the Philippines and very few priests in full-time work with the Deaf. By 'deaf priests' here I mean priests who were born profoundly deaf or became so while young, not priests who have grown deaf, ie, hard of hearing, as they grow older. though that can be isolating too its a different reality from that of the person born deaf.]

3. As it emerged in this congress, it is considered of essential importance that, for example, in seminaries it be possible to come close to the reality of deaf people by learning: the basis of sign language, their historical and personal experience, that is, the difficulties they meet in society and in school, as well as in the Church. Such an outline of formation, with the due adaptations, can be used everywhere. [I don't think that the average seminarian, or the average priest, has any idea of the situation of Deaf persons. This is not a condemnation of them but an observation. There are some priests and lay persons who consider a signing interpreter at Mass as a 'distraction'. When there are regular Masses with a priest who sings or with an interpreter hearing people gradually come not to notice while the Deaf are made part of the worshipping community.]

4. To make permanent, in the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, the study group announced during the international conference. This organism will make possible the necessary qualities and uniformity of work carried out in this realm.

5. To create an Internet reference space, useful for the diffusion of initiatives, as well as for communication and exchange among those who work in the pastoral care of deaf persons. [The internet is a place where a deaf person can function on equal terms with hearing persons.]

6. To promote an ad hoc certification for those in the ecclesial realm translating into sign language. It is considered essential that a distinction be made between the "translator" and the "facilitator." The latter must have sufficient religious competencies to enable him to follow correctly, for example, the course of a Eucharistic liturgy, the course of the religious function.

Finally, all the participants in the congress committed themselves to see that these operative conclusions are quickly made concrete, in response to what has been requested by merit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and recalled during the opening of the works of this congress by the president of the dicastery, Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski.

Vatican City, June 6, 2010

[Translation by ZENIT]

Some of the Deaf giving the Sign of Peace, which we also use in Worldwide Marriage Encounter

Zenit.org also carried a report on 7 June, Archbishop: The Deaf Have a Place in the Church.

One paragraph in this reports reads: The prelate (Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski) pointed out that it is important that Christians "recall the mandate received at baptism and work for the diffusion of the Gospel through personal commitment and witness, becoming true 'heralds and witnesses,' even if they cannot hear or are close to persons affected by deafness." [In other words, the Deaf have the same obligation as hearing persons to witness to the Gospel. but as tings are now, especially in the Philippines, hearing people have to enable the Deaf to claim their rightful place in the Church].

The crucifix given by the Catholic Deaf community in Boston to Cardinal Seán O'Malley

All photos from Cardinal Seán's Blog.

Deaf graduate's speech

Sarah O. Talibong (above) of LSU Ozamiz Deaf School commented on the story, Deaf student graduates with a magna, in the Misyon editor's blog, The Pilgrims' Inn, where I posted it on 29 November as well as on the Misyon Online Forum and here. At my request she sent me a link to Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce's graduation speech.



The link is on Deaf E-news. The two videos of the speech under the heading Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce's Graduation speech were posted on October 19.

Ana Kristina Macasaet Arce

Here is the text of the speech that Ana gave. I have highlighted some parts.

Brother President Victor Franco FSC, Vice Chancellors, Assistant Vice Chancellors, Deans, Administrators, Faculty, Parents, Sign Language Interpreters, Guests, fellow graduates, and the Benildean Community, Good Morning.

Let me begin my speech with this passage from the Holy Scriptures, found in Jeremiah 18, and I quote …"And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it". In pottery, the potter places a mold of clay on a table and the potter turns it around carefully. Using his hands, the potter will repeat the process several times until he gets the perfect shape. As hands are important to a potter, hands are also important to us, Deaf persons. Our main source of communication is through the use of our hands, we talk and express ourselves through them. And just like the potter whose hands make the perfect creation, we also hope to get the best if not the perfect performance for ourselves using our hands. With our hands, we can go places, change lives and make a difference.

I was born Deaf and when my parents discovered this, like most hearing parents of Deaf children, they felt that the only way for me to survive was if I learned to speak and so they enrolled me in different oral schools where I had to wear hearing aids and learn how to lip read. I was enrolled in four different oral schools and we tried to find something workable that would fit. I tried my best in these schools but still it wasn’t easy for me to adjust. And then my parents thought of trying it out in a school for the Deaf and they enrolled me at the Philippine School for the Deaf where sign language is used as the medium of communication. I quickly adjusted and started doing well in my academics, and received several awards in grade school and I was also the class valedictorian of my batch. I was also an achiever all throughout high school and even if I transferred to a Deaf private school during my senior year I still managed to finish with academic honors.

And then came College, during my first year I was enrolled in another college where Deaf and hearing college students were together in class. I found the experience to be more saddening than exciting. I often cried because my hearing classmates would exclude me in meetings and group projects, maybe because they thought I will not be able to understand them and communicate with them. I struggled to adjust and tried to show my hearing peers what I can do but they never gave me a chance to prove myself to them. Do you want to feel useless? I’m sure you don’t and neither do I or any other Deaf person for that matter. I tried to think that maybe my classmates were doing this because they have big hearts and are trying to understand me and make things easier for me, but I ended up frustrated and I was the one left trying to understand them. Before the end of the first semester, I had set my mind to move to another school, this time, one that offers a program for Deaf students.

And so it was through the efforts of my mother that we found DLS-CSB’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Studies. At DLS-CSB, SDEAS especially, not only did I find an academic institution, but I also found an environment where teachers and other members of the community welcomed us. I felt loved and cared for, and I felt that the school was like a family. I learned that I am a Deaf person; the word, Deaf, being spelled with a capital D, which means that I am identified, not merely as a person who cannot hear, but as someone who is part of the Deaf community, partaking in its unique culture and natural sign language. And with that, I believe that one of the best fruits of education is our ability to understand and change people’s attitude about the Deaf and other Persons with Disabilities, and that is what SDEAS’s education has given me. Our Benildean education has developed us Deaf persons into persons of dignity, integrity, and with a deep sense of spirituality, and we are now being given the chance to become productive members of society.

If you go around the different high schools for the Deaf I am sure that all of the students there will say that they all wish to go to college. However, very few schools offer quality education and those that do, are expensive schools, and most of the Deaf cannot afford to pay the high cost of tuition and fees. And aside from that most people, sad to say even some parents of Deaf students, assume that because we are Deaf we cannot succeed in college so better not send us to school. For students like us, going to school is no walk in the park. We often need to rely on kind-hearted teachers and interpreters to understand the lessons. Getting an education is a big challenge for us.

And so I am thankful to DLS-CSB for opening its doors and welcoming the Deaf regardless of our disability. We have learned so much from this school and we can now proudly say that we are complete Deaf persons and we now embody the teachings of Saint Benilde Romançon.
I especially wish to thank Br. Vic for his utmost concern for the Deaf and his big heart by increasing the number of slots for Deaf scholars from 30 to 60 students starting the school year of 2008-2009. My sincere thanks and appreciation to all of you hearing students for your willingness to interact with us and for making us feel that we are not an isolated group and that we can also be active participants in school activities and be a useful bunch of interesting students. That we, the Deaf students, are your peers…your equals.

At this point, allow me to make an appeal to all the hearing students and guests of this occasion. We may be Deaf persons but we can also do anything you can do, except hear. Communicating with our hands should not make a difference. We live in one country, one world. That means we also long for respect, inclusion in accessibility, and acceptance with dignity. We are not a different breed because of our disability. We also want to live in a society where people will not stare or frown at us or treat us differently. We are also human beings and we are similar regardless of our disability. Please allow us to show you what we can do; please, believe in us too. Let us prove to you that yes, the DEAF CAN. Dear fellow graduates, I hope that when you have established yourselves in the companies you are working for, or if you have successfully put up your own business, please remember the Deaf Benildeans who may need your help in advocating our skills and capabilities, remember us and other Deaf graduates who may have the talents and potentials to be a part of your companies and contribute to its growth.

To all our teachers, you are part of this achievement we are reaping today. You painstakingly taught us all the tools we would need to make us productive individuals and showed us the way towards academic independence. You instilled in us the core values of upright citizens and we will forever treasure our years with you in our hearts. To our parents, thank you for your patience and perseverance, for your selfless understanding of our endless needs, and your unconditional love and care that carried us through our countless years of struggle to get the degree that we received today. My utmost gratitude go to my own parents, Ramon and Vilma Arce, who loved, cared, and gave me all the support that enables me to stand before all of you today. We, the Deaf students, also wish to offer our sincerest thanks to all our interpreters with generous hearts, who are willing to serve the Deaf in assisting us in our communication needs.

I would like to enjoin my fellow graduates, especially my hearing batchmates, to always keep the Benildean Core Values in our hearts. Guided by these values, we can definitely scale to great heights. Let us never forget the people who made our presence here possible. Let us always remember the values of sharing and selflessness so that when we look back, we can proudly say that we lived a meaningful life and we made a difference in the lives of other people.
Graduation is not the end. It’s only the beginning of another journey towards a higher level of learning. Don’t be afraid to dream, for it can be the first step to achieving our goals. Always remember that with patience and hard work, success will be within our reach. The biggest challenge for all of us is to overcome our fears and uncertainty.

For those of you who still have doubts about your potentials, let me and my Deaf batchmates be the living testament of what we can all become despite our limitations. In previous years, only a handful of Deaf students would graduate every year. Today, 25 of my Deaf batchmates received our diploma, the biggest number so far, and this is a testament of our four years of struggle to attain our academic degree. I am probably the first Deaf Filipino Magna Cum Laude graduate, and I am not saying this to brag about my achievement. I am humbly sharing this with you to thank God, my potter, for molding me, His clay, into a wonderful human being. I believe we can reach our maximum potentials no matter what challenges we face in life, because God is our potter and we are his clay.

To all my fellow graduates, Congratulations and Good Luck! Remember to always be Proud To Be Benildeans and to always live Jesus in our hearts.

Thank you and good day.