11/22/2009: at 7am, a group of us boarded a van to travel north from Rome. At 8:30am, we arrived a the beautiful, small town of ORVIETO, ITALY. This is a city of about 25,000 people with a huge, amazingly decorated cathedral. Why is there such a large church in such a small town? Because in 1240, a Catholic priest was celebrating Mass. When he broke the host at Mass, blood came out of the host. In order to honor this miracle, the people of that area built a huge, very fascinating church.The church was built in 1253. In that church, the people keep the corporal(altar cloth) with the blood remains, of that miracle. The entire front of the cathedral carved into stone is the entire teaching of the Bible.
We walked through the town, then had a special tour of one of the 1,200 caves in the town. We learned a lot about the history of the area going back to 1,000 BEFORE Jesus.From there, we traveled another hour to Assisi.. We stopped for lunch at a unique food/wine store.This area of Umbria/Orvieto is famous for olive oil(excellent) and its white wines. The meal was very special, and at the end everyone surprised me with a very Italian birthday cake! Then, a short drive to the mountain town of Assisi. This is so hard to describe. Assisi is a place of great peace and holiness. We visited and prayed at the church of St. Clare, the woman who became a devoted follower of St. Francis.(She founded the religious order known as The Poor Clares.) We walked through this very old town with its little shops and coffee houses(and incredible desserts!!!!!). Then, we were all able to visit, tour the church where St. Francis of Assisi is buried. This was a very humbling experience. Finally, back on the bus to Rome(2 hours.)
11/23: we fly back to Chicago. In about a week, I will publish the notes from the Deaf Conference I participated in at the Vatican. The notes will be on the website of the Catholic Office of the Deaf. Many people to thanks:
1 COLLEEN CURRY at the Catholic Office of the Deaf. She kept everything running smoothly while I and our Religious Education Coordinator were gone.
2 FR. TONY SCHUERGER from Cleveland. He and I worked together at the Conference to gather notes and information. He is a good source of wisdom and humor!
3 JIM SMITH who did a terrific job keeping my computer and Fr. Tony's running.
4 JIM DUNNE who inspired us all, at age 80+, by his desire to learn about the Faith, history, and the deaf world.
5 MS SARAH ROSANI, our tour leader for this trip, who did an outstanding job coordinating all our trips, van rides to meetings, etc.
Time to go home!

THREE REMEMBRANCES:
1) Yesterday afternoon, 11/21, our group was on its way to the Post-Conference meeting and Mass. Our van driver took us to a beautiful spot that overlooks Rome.There is a large fountain that was built over 400 years ago(it still works!). While we were there, there was a very attractive,welldressed couple standing off to the side of the fountain. The sun was shining; the fountain was flowing.Suddenly the guy got down on his knees, opened a small box, and asked the young woman to marry him! (In the box was the ring!). She yelled in surprise "Si, Si!"(YES!). We all started clapping. Then, Fr. Tony and I walked over. We asked our tour guide to tell the couple we were Catholic priests and did they want to be married right then and there???(We were teasing.) They were stunned that two priests were with them at that moment. So we took some pictures, and gave them a blessing for a happy life together!
2 FR. CYRIL AXELROD is a deaf-blind priest. He was born to Jewish parents before World War II.He was deaf. The parents gave him to a Catholic family to raise him because of the Nazis. In fact, the Nazis did kill his parents. Cyril was ordained a Catholic priest, went to work in South Africa, but then began to lose his vision.Cyril now lives and works in London. He travels around the world, giving Missions and Retreats to deaf communities(he just got back from Slovakia, and his next trip is to China!). He has a wonderful sense of humor, a great curiosity about life,a strong Faith, and is way to busy to ever feel sorry for himself!
3 It is November21-22nd here in Rome, a city of over 4 million people. There are NO Christmas ads, displays, almost nothing to convince us to do Christmas shopping! When I left Chicago last week, there were signs and ads everywhere telling people that they had to start their Christmas shopping early. In America, the Wal-Mart, Kohls, Target, etc have stolen Christmas from us. These businesses(and so many others) have convinced us that Christmas is about buying things. Here, people are getting ready for ADVENT, the time of preparation for the Birth of Our Savior. I asked someone who lives here if there is a Christmas shopping "season". She said that it is about two weeks before Christmas; that's all. I told her that Christmas ads in Chicago were up at Halloween. She said, "now that is REALLY scary!"

11/21/2009: today was, like all the other days, pretty amazing. We began the last day of the Conference with an address to us by Cardinal Angelini.. He is 93 years old,and will be celebrating his 70th anniversary as a priest next Spring. In Italian, he gave a very powerful and emotional speech about the need for the Church (all of us) to be concerned for those suffering in the world. At one point he said, he really said this, "the Church is not to be found in the great basilicas and cathedrals of the world. The Church is to be found in hospitals, rehabilitation centers. Where the sick and suffering are, there is Jesus!" After that, the leaders of the Conference asked me to present a summary of the proceedings. Following that, there was alively discussion from the audience, hearing and deaf, re: what the Church should be doing to improve the lives of deaf people and help deaf people participate more fully in the life of the Church.
Then, we left our hotel at 2pm to travel to the parish church of ST.FRANCIS & ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA, the twin patron saints of Italy.We had a follow up meeting re: future directions for our Catholic deaf community. Then, Mass at 5pm in the same church. (Every Saturday, there is a 5pm Mass for the deaf at that parish.) The Mass was celebrated in multiple sign-languages and spoken Italian. PATRICIA SLISZ & BRIAN SWATEK did some of the readings at the Mass.Following all this, was a social reception at the Catholic Deaf Center in Rome, near the church. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
This Conference came after a year of very intense planning. Like any Conference, we did not accomplish EVERYTHING. We did not solve ALL problems. We did not answer EVERY question. What we did accomplish was to have over 500 people(more than 100 deaf) from over 60 countries come together with Vatican officials to describe honestly the needs of deaf people in the Catholic Church. There is MUCH work left to do. However, it was obvious to me that the bishops and other Church officials who attended the sessions were very moved by the testimonies of so many, especially deaf people who have worked for many years in the life of the Church. I believe that from this Conference, there will be some improvements and changes made. In the next two weeks, I will post on the website for the Catholic Office of the Deaf the pages of notes that I took during the Conference. Hopefully these will give you a better picture of the discussions.
A personal note: my deaf grandparents could have never imagined that one day there would be deaf pastoral workers and leaders, meeting at the Vatican, signing to Church officials in all sorts of different sign-languages their ideas and desires for the Church! They probably certainly could not have opictured me being there. As I sat in front of the entire Conference this morning to sum up the three days, their presence and mom's face flashed into my mind. For a moment, I was overwhelmed by the sense that they were there in that room, with me. They were! Their love made all the work of getting to this day worth it.

THURSDAY, 11/20: At the beginning of our trip, someone asked JAMES DUNNE, an 80 year old, deaf man, why he had come on this journey. He said/signed, "Because I wanted to be a part of history." Yesterday, Jim got his wish!
The morning began, once again, amazingly bright and sunny in Rome. The walk from our hotel to the meeting hall is several blocks, buy you have to keep your eyes open. Roman traffic means people on motor bikes coming from all directions, and "Smart" cars pulling out of impossibly tiny parking spaces. The morning session began with a number of wonderful speakers addressing, "THE FAMILY AND DEAF PEOPLE". MS. MAURA BUCKLEY, a deaf, married woman from Ireland, gave a beautiful talk about her life as a wife, mother, grandmother; someone who lost a son at age 32; a dedicated teacher and catechist for over 30 years with deaf children.Then, we had three couples from Italy: a deaf couple with hearing children; a couple where the husband is deaf and the wife is hearing with "2 1/2" children(she is expecting); and a hearing couple with three children(2 deaf, one hearing). All talked very honestly about their struggles to make their marriages work and raise families in a truly Catholic/Christian way.Each family said that deafness at times made these efforts more difficult, yet ALL said/signed that the deafness had also strengthened their love with the family.
How did communication work at these meetings? At every chair, there was an ear phone for hearing people.If the presenter was hearing and spoke, there were four voice interpreters(English, Spanish, Italian, French) who translated the talk into one of the four languages. If the person signed, then the voice interpreter spoke into a microphone, the message was translated. The sign-language interpreters had special ear phones to hear the presentation, then translate into sign. At one point yesterday, I counted ten different sign-languages being used in the hall.
At 10:45, the entire group of 500 people left the hall, and walked around the back of St. Peter's Basilica through a beautiful garden. Then, we climbed four flights of marble stairs to the meeting hall of St. Clement VIII. (It was in this hall decorated with fantastic art that the wake for Pope John Paul II was held for bishops, priests, and the Vatican workers before his public wake at St. Peter's.) We filled this large room, and then...HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI arrived. The room went crazy with cameras flashing, people cheering, and deaf people waving their arms/hands in "applause".. The Pope spoke in Italian. Luckily, MSGR GLENN NELSON from Rockford, IL who knows Italian was able to translate into American Sign-Language. The Pope spoke of how blessed the Church was by the presence of our group. He encouraged us to continue the work we do. He said that, "the deaf people of our Church have received the Good News of Jesus, but now have the duty to go and share that same Good News with the rest of the world!" Jim Dunne got his wish; he witnessed history happen!
After, I had a lunch meeting with a group of deaf, including a deaf priest, from Spain. They wanted to talk about World Youth Week in Madrid, Spain in 2011.They have developed a good plan for deaf young adults to participate in the entire week, Aug. 15-21, 2011.
The afternoon session, beginning at 4pm, had terrific presenters, including a deaf-blind priest, FR. CYRIL AXELROD, who works in London after years of working in South Africa; IAN ROBERTSON who is a good friend and co-worker from FLORIDA; and Sr. VITTORINA CARLI, a deaf Sister who works with deaf children in Italy. Finally, after all this, I had a meeting with a group of Pastoral Workers from Mexico who asked me to come to Mexico next year to talk to the priests there about pastoral work with the deaf.
It was a long, busy, exhausting, inspiring, historic day. God has blessed us throughout this trip and Conference.

THURS, 11/19: an amazing day. Again,another bright, sun shining day in Rome with temperatures in the 70's. Today was the first day of the Conference on the Deaf Person in the Catholic Church. We all went over to the Vatican to meet in the Synod Conference Hall with the meetings beginning at 9am. There was one Cardinal, five archbishops, and four other bishops there along with 400 people(100 of whom were deaf) from 60 countries! We had four spoken languages(English, Spanish, Italian, French) and four sign-language interpreters on large video screens(ASL, Spanish, Italian, British Sign-Language), then seven other sign-languages going on: Mexican,German, Polish, Irish,Australian,French, and deaf-blind sign-language for Fr. Cyril Axelrod a deaf-blind priest.
The morning session went from 9am-12:30pm with many talks. Several highlights:
a representative from the World Health Organization pointed out that 80% of all the deaf people in the world live in working-class and poor situations. They have no access to technology, special education, appropriate medical care, employment, or legal protections.
DEACON PATRICK GRAYBILL gave a great presentation about his experience as a deaf person in the world and the Church;
MARY ANN BARTH & CHELO MANERO presented their paper on 'THE PSYCHOLOGICAL WORLD OF THE DEAF PERSON; many deaf people were in tears because they signed afterwards that Maryann and Chelo were the first people to truly and honestly address the life experience of deaf people in a public way.(That paper is available on the website of the Catholic Office of the Deaf).
12:30-4pm: afternoon break.At lunch, I had the chance to talk with Fr. Charley Dittmeier who works with the deaf in Cambodia. Till 1997 - 1997 - there was no official sign-language in that country.Only now are they actually putting a sign-language dictionary together. Ran into Fr. Harry Stocks from Toronto, Canada. he worked with the deaf in India for many years. However, the Indian government would not let him return. Why? Because Harry tried to build schools for the deaf and the governement bureaucrats were stealing all the money. When Harry protested, the government cancelled his visa and would not let him come back.
4pm: we came back for more talks and discussions, including a presentation by a religious Sister who works with the deaf in Indonesia and a young Catechist who works with the deaf in Malaysia. Then, questions and comments from people of Malta, Chile, Italy,Guinea(Africa), and Britain. Finally ended at 7:45pm. People went off to eat or walk around Rome this gorgeous, cool evening.

Wed., 11/18: the weather here continues to amaze people. 75 and sunny everyday is NOT Rome in November where it is usually 50 and rainy! The World Summit on Global Hunger is here this week with lots of "important" people coming and going, so the traffic is even worse than usual. Most Romans travel around the city on motor bikes or driving Smart Cars; the parking is crazy. There seems to be no rules except...if you can park here, then it's okay!
IN the morning, Fr. Tony Schuerger from Cleveland and I walked over to the Vatican, about ten minutes walk from our hotel, to get the passes and badges for all the people in our group to attend the Deaf Conference beginning on Thursday. Then we went shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE to shop...except for books! I did pick up some religious items for the church and deaf community. Fr. Tony went touring; I had a meeting.
5:30pm, our Chgo group left the hotel by bus to go to the Venerable English College. This college was set up 400 years ago. Why? Because at that time, the English kings(Henry VIII) and queens (Elizabeth I) were persecuting Catholics and killing priests and bishops. So, the Church set up this College to train young men as priests, ordain them, then secretly send them back to England and Ireland. Many of these young men never regturned; the English rulers tortured and killed them.We celebrated Mass in the Chapel of the English martyrs, a magnificent place to pray. (So many places in Rome and Italy are inspiring places for prayer!)
The Mass was a great reunion. Fr. Paul Fletcher (London) was there, as was Fr. Charley Dittmeier(Kentucky priest) who now works with the deaf in Cambodia. Archbishop Patrick Kelly from Liverpool celebrated the Mass in Italian, spoken English, and British sign-language! We had over 30 priests; five sign-languages. BRIAN SWATEK represented us by bringing up the bread and wine for Mass; PATRICIA SLISZ offered one of the Prayers of the Faithful in ASL. PATRICK GRAYBILL was the Deacon. After the Mass, about 90 people from many different countries gathered for a wonderful meal. I sat next to two deaf ladies from Ireland. A wonderful evening and great way to begin the Conference which officially starts Thursday morning. fr. Tony and I are the official note takers; JIM SMITH is our computer expert for those days.

Usually in November, Rome tends to be very rainy and 45-50 degrees. Every day here has been 75 and sunny! The Romans are in shock. They can't believe how good the weather is.It's strange because already we see Christmas symbols and ads, but the weather is more like May-June than 40 days till Christmas.
TUESDAY, 11/17: a group of us with our guide(ROSELLA) and our sign language interpreter( ILARIO STOCCHERO) went off for a tour of ancient Rome. First we went to the Colliseum. To this day, famous architects cannot figure out how people 2,000 years ago could have built a stadium that held over 75,000 people safely, and is still standing today. From there, we walked though the Roman Forum, these are the ruins of where the government of ancient Rome was established. This was where JULIUS CAESAR, CICERO, and so many other famous people met, spoke, and ruled the world. During our walk, a woman stopped to watch us signing. She is a professor at Gallaudet University, now living in Italy. She knew Mary Ann Barth who was in our group. Small world!
From there, we kept walked to where our bus was waiting. The bus was not there. Why? Because there was huge demonstration of unemployed workers blocking the streets of downtown Rome. This happens in Rome often! The police know there will be a demonstration; they set up road blocks; the demonstrators refuse to move.So traffic becomes a mess! We walked another four blocks to the restaurant.
Eating in Italy is a JOY! The food is all fresh; the people here do NOT use chemicals or preservatives; and Italians know how to cook! Lots of vegetables, olive oil, etc. Lunch is often: bread, some pasta, then a salad! Dinner here often means fish dishes. The fish is so fresh and cooked so well! Even in a small restaurant with reasonable prices, you feel like you are having a feast! And, of course, afterwards, you go to a place for some GELATO----as one person signed to me ther other night, "I feel like I am eating some of heaven!"
After our meal, we walked to the Trevi Fountain, a place made famous by two movies, "Three Coins in a Fountain" and "La Dolce Vita". This is one of the most popular tourist areas in Rome with lots of restaurants and shops! We took the bus to my favorite church, St. Paul Outside the Walls. This the church where St. Paul is buried. I always feel very humbled to be in this holy place. Finally, back to the hotel through the crazy Rome traffic.
Our interpreter, ILARIO STOCCHERO, isa good friend, a man who taught in the deaf school in Padua, Italy for 38 years. He and his wife and two children live in Padua. He came to be our interpreter for the day. A wonderful man. I feel blessed to call him a friend.
JIM SMITH who is on our trip has helped me and others get our computers set up here. He really has been most helpful. Sadly, BERNIE FAIRWOOD, a deaf man whose wife won $3,000 at our raffle last Saturday died sudenly on Tuesday. I am in shock at this news. he was a terrific guy and I am sad I will miss his funeral.
Finally last night, a group of us went out to celebrate the surprise birthday of Mary Ann Barth who will soon be turning 60. We ate in a restaurant that is basically a fish restaurant and everyone there,e ven people who don't normally eat fish, said it was the best place they had ever eaten at! Of course, having a home made cannoli birthday cake helped! Got to bed at 10pm and slept all night; first time I had been able to do that since arriving here. Jet lag, ugh!

Sat-Sun, 11/14-15: Sat., 11/14 was an incredibly hectic day. Thanks to a wonderful committee (and beautiful weather!), the day was a success. From the racetrack, a group of us took a van to O'Hare airport. At 8:45pm, we flew out of Chicago on British Airways. en though I tried to sleep, it was impossible. I was too stressed from all the prepaprations during the week for Hawthorne, then this trip.
We arrived at Heathrow airport, London, England at 9:45am Sunday morning. We had to check ourselves through security there (very thorough), then waited to board a second flight from London to Rome. We left at 12:45pm and arrived in Rome at 4pm. After getting our bags, we walked out the door and there was a welcome smile, MS SARAH ROSANI, who had been our tour guide for the pilgrimage last summer. She had a van waiting to take us to the hotel. Rome traffic: is ALWAYS crowded, and Sunday night was no exception.However, our driver was very skilled and we arrived at Hotel Michelangelo in good time. This hotel is about a three block walk to St. Peter's basilica. Our whole group went out to eat dinner at a very Italian restaurant near the hotel. DELICIOUS! After that, we found a "Gelataria", a place that serves Italian "ice cream", GELATO. By that time, everyone was exhausted and went back to the hotel to try to sleep(Rome is 7 hours ahead of Chicago time!).
SMALL WORLD: at the hotel that evening I met Fr. John Nolan, a priest from St. Joseph parish, Chatham, IL. He was leading a tour of Rome with his parishioners. Many of them remembered my uncle, Msgr. Mulcrone, and Fr. John and I laughed about how strange for us to meet each other in Rome, Italy!

Mon, 11/16: Most Italian hotels serve a large buffet breakfast: cereal, fruits, yogurt, breads, rolls,great coffee, and...salami & cheese! After breakfast, our group met at 8:30am. MARY ANN BARTH (deaf,from KY), her sister and husband joined us.Richard & Kathy Kush, Minette Strenke, Fr. Tony Schuerger(Clevleand, OH), and Sr. Pat Francis had been to Rome before. They decided to go on their own tours that day. Our tour group for the day was Nancy Huber, Brian Swatek, Jim Smith, Jim Dunne, Bob and Maggie Swatek,, Mary Ann Barth and family, and me! We had a tour guide, ROMI who was born in Puerto Rico but had lived in Rome for 5 years. Our sign-language interpeter was named PAOLA, who is an expert in international sign-language, but also knows ASL.
We walked to St. Peters. (One thing about travelling in Italy, YOU WALK!) Romi, our tour guide, was excellent. Standing in the plaza outside of St. Peter's, she gave us an excellent introduction to the history of this amazing church.While she was speaking and Paola was interpreting, I noticed a group of eight people watching us intently. I signed to them, and they signed back to me! This was a group of deaf from Seattle and Vancouver, WA who were touring Italy. They were not here for the Conference and had no idea that there was a deaf conference. We all chatted for a few minutes. This other group, all deaf, had a deaf, Italian guide! There is in Rome a group of deaf people who are certified by the government to be tour guides for deaf people.
We continued walking. As we were walking to the Vatican Museum, a young deaf man from NEW ZEALAND spotted Jim Dunne's Cochlear Implant (because he had one, too!). His name was David and he was in Rome to come to the Conference beginning Thursday. We went into the Vatican Museum (there is ALWAYS, everyday a long line).Somedays, 30,000 people - yes, 30,000 - go through the Museum. ROMI & PAOLA did an outstanding job explaining the exhibits, helping us go through the Museum As we were staniding in the garden and signing, there was a young deaf couple who were watching us. Theyw ere from MADRID, SPAIN and were fascinated to meet other deaf people. (Many deaf people love to tour Italy. Why? because Italy is so visual - art, buildings, etc - and because it has good tour services for deaf people.)
We went to the Sistine Chapel - amazing! Then, toured St. Peter's Basilica-inspiring. I ran into two people from Australia here for the Conference beginning Thursday morning. Thery remembered Fr. Mike Depcik from his travels there.I prayed at the tomb of Pope John XXIII to thank him for what he had done for our Church. After that, we were tired and hungry. We had a delicious luncheon (salad and pasta; oops, in Italy it is pasta and salad!). In the afternoon, the group toured St. Mary Major Basilica and then the Catacombs. That evening, people went out to dinner. I had a meeting/dinner with several people on the planning committee for the Encuentro for Deaf Youth that will happen next summer in Mexico.We ate in a small, neighborhood Italian restaurant that served excellent fish! (Most Italian restaurants, even in Rome, only have about 8-12 tables. They are not large, but very welcoming. The food is outstanding. Why? Because the food is fresh, few chemicals are added,often the people working there have been in this business for generations of family, and they cook with olive oil, not butter or fats.) By the time I got back to the hotel, I was full and exhausted.

A couple of final notes.
1 Europe is incredibly expensive. Why? Because our American dollar is so weak. We live in America and sometimes think we are so powerful. Our money is worth very little here because of the mortgage lending disaster in our country, our corrupt banks and lending companies, the war in Iraq, and all the money we spend on oil. Italian people LOVE the USA, but think our politicians are totally out of touch with what is really happening in our world.
2 Immigration in Italy is a huge problem, too. The people from Romania, Albania, Morocco, and Libya are causing immgration problems here.
3 The food here is out of this world, yet the Italians are all thin. Why? Because everything they eat is fresh (no chemicals or preservatives) and they walk everywhere.
4 The Chicago people were a big help on the trip. Carol Mullis, Lisa Masciola, and Diane Russell did a lot of interpreting.  BRIAN SWATEK was very dependable,as always, in a couple of crisis situations. PATRICIA SLISZ did a terrific job with liturgy, and photography. RALPH AND VIRGINIA HINCH were always available to help with our Masses. RICHARD AND KATHY KUSH were very supportive.
5  time to go to bed. Ciao! --

JUNE 26.  AN HISTORIC DAY. St. Peter s Basilica was orginally built over 1600 years ago. The latest building was constructed over 400 years ago. Today, for the first time in the entire history of this building, something happened that has never happened in that building before. 1,200 deaf people joined with 44 priests and two bishops to celebrate Mass at the Altar of St. Peter s Throne, under the magnificent stained glass window of the Holy Spirit. The entire Mass was in voice and sign_language celebrated by Archbishop Patrick Kelly of Liverpool, England. There were deaf priests from the USA (Fr. Mike Depcik, Fr. Joe Bruce) along with other deaf priests (Fr. Peter McDonough form England and Fr. Park from Korea). Deacon Ralph Hinch was assisted the bishop. Virginia Hinch and Mary Jo Scanlan led a choir of deaf people from the USA. Never / NEVER/ has there been such a Mass at St. Peter s Basilica. The joy people felt was overwhelming as many people were literally crying for joy as they signed the prayers in 18 different sign languages!
   That afternoon, everyone 1,000 of us had lunch together at the Divino Amore Conference Center on the outskirts of Rome. I sat down with deaf people from Wales and Hong Kong, along with Fr. Charley Dittemeier who works with the deaf in Cambodia. We ended the Conference at 4pm with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.  As we left, a number of people came up to me and asked,   so, when will you do this again??????     I was too amazed to give them any answer.  A lot of people thanked me for what we had accomplished this week. I say this with all my heart. It was not me, it was the Lord. Whatever credit goes to the success of what happened belongs to the Lord in whom we placed our trust at the beginning of this project.
   Tonight, I ahd my last dinner in Rome with a number of people from Chicago. We all just sat there in awe at everything we had experienced during the ten days here.We leave tmw, FRI, for Chicago. I look forward to seeing you soon.   This Sunday is the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. I was able to visit the tombs of both of them this week, I am very blessed. Thanks for all your support and prayers for the trip. --