Finding their place in parish life: Catholics with disabilities and their families strive for full inclusion

National Catholic Reporter, Nov 18, 2005 by Kris Berggren

It takes everyone from parents to parishioners to people in positions of power to effect changes that will create an inclusive church. When it comes to including the 14 million U.S. Catholics with disabilities, there is little, if any, dispute about the right thing to do. That is: to welcome and support people with disabilities in all aspects of church life, even if it means spending money to make buildings work for wheelchairs; hiring staff to help accommodate children with autism or Down syndrome or blindness in religious education; and inviting persons with disabilities to serve on the parish council or lector at Mass.

As the 1978 bishops' benchmark Pastoral Statement on Persons with Disabilities states: "To exclude members of the parish from these celebrations of the life of the church, even by passive omission, is to deny the reality of that community. Accessibility involves far more than physical alterations to parish buildings."

In some ways, it's easy to create access by building ramps and elevators that accommodate wheelchairs, or offering sign-interpreted Masses or large print handbooks. And it's not necessarily extremely costly. For example, at St. Patrick Church in Cedar Falls, Iowa, a Boy Scout group added a railing so people with limited mobility could safely walk a long hallway between the accessible entrance and the elevator, while a parishioner who is a licensed electrician installed better lighting in the emergency exit for people with disabilities, said Jean Ripplinger, volunteer parish advocate for people with disabilities.

Diocesan offices--at least those that remain open amid a climate of budget cuts--can be important resources for parishes trying to meet the myriad needs of parishioners in wide ranging circumstances. Those offices with the strong support of the bishop fare best, say advocates.

Franciscan Sr. Marci Blum is director of the Office of Special Needs of the Dubuque, Iowa, archdiocese, which includes St. Patrick. Blum has convened an archdiocesan advisory committee that meets quarterly; implemented a parish advocacy program enlisting a volunteer from each parish to be the point person for people with disabilities; and puts out a bimonthly e-newsletter with events and tips; conducts retreat and renewal days for persons with disabilities. She has written a handbook about strategies for teaching adults and children with disabilities. She presents an annual special needs award to a parish that has made significant steps toward inclusiveness.

"Sister Marci's office is very supportive and she has the support of the archbishop," said Jackie Crimmins, parish advocate at Dubuque's St. Anthony Parish. Crimmins has five children, including two daughters, ages 28 and 11, with "extraordinary needs."

Advocates for people with disabilities say opportunities for inclusion have improved since the U.S. bishops' pastoral, which was updated in 1989 and again in 1998. Wider societal awareness of the concerns of people with disabilities has helped to push some church reforms forward.

"With the advent of the [1990] Americans with Disabilities Act, expectations have changed," said Jan Benton, executive director of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability in Washington. "People with disabilities are experiencing access in other parts of their lives. Some are approaching parishes and asking for the same."

Dorothy Coughlin, director and founder of the office for persons with disabilities in the Portland, Ore., diocese and a former board member of the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, grew up with a sister with mental retardation and epilepsy and even as a child, keenly felt the injustice of her sister's exclusion from parish life and religious education. "That pastoral spoke of the hoped-for church that I really longed for in my experience," she said. "I hoped for a church where my sister Barbara would have a place at the table just as I did."

For more than 20 years, the Portland diocese has held adapted Masses where all are welcome no matter how severe their disability or unconventional their behavior. Today there are five each month, held at parishes in different geographic areas, including one in Spanish that grew from seven to 29 families in just three months.

Adapted liturgy is not a "mask for all people with disabilities," said Coughlin. It's not about isolating people with disabilities. On the contrary, it's about making them feel like they have a place in the church.

"The majority do not need the accommodation of an adapted liturgy. It is for people with conditions that are such where it is difficult to be in a large group of people" such as children who are highly agitated or who vocalize loudly during Mass, she explains. "It is similar to ramping an entry for someone who can't manage the steps into a church. We make it possible for people whose families have a difficult time taking them to any large public gathering to come to church. For families to experience that they can count on the church to be there for their son or daughter sometimes brings the whole family back to the church."