Recently, I learned that the Ministry to the Catholic Deaf Community, Diocese of Green Bay, WI will move. I called Fr. Guy Blair, the priest who works with the deaf, to find out what was going on. Fr. Blair told me that the bishop of Green Bay decided to move the deaf ministry to a hearing parish thirty miles OUTSIDE of Green Bay. Why? Because the deaf community wanted to move? NO! The diocese of Green Bay did not even ask the deaf what they wanted! Instead, the diocese decided that the hearing parish needed a priest, so they assigned Fr. Blair to this parish. If the deaf wanted to continue receiving services, they had to move with Fr. Blair. Also troubling, the diocese did not ask the people of the hearing parish if they would welcome the deaf ministry to be part of their parish. According to Fr. Blair, some of the people of that parish are concerned because now they will have to share facilities with the deaf without any prior discussion or planning.
What is SAD & SCARY about all this? Just last February, the Diocese of Phoenix, AZ got rid of the full-time pastoral worker with the deaf in that diocese. This woman, who had a deaf son, had worked with the deaf community for many years. She was a very good signer. Now, she is gone. There is no one who replaced her in this position. Fr. John Greb is a good priest who cares about the deaf community in that diocese. However, he is the pastor of a large parish, and cannot devote his energies full-time to the deaf. More and more, as I look around the United States, I see Catholic dioceses cutting back or eliminating services to deaf Catholics, Catholic people with disabilities, and their families. Last November, I attended a wonderful conference on "Deaf People in the Catholic Church" at the Vatican. The notes from that Conference are in my blogs from November, 2009. While the officials in the Vatican are saying that the Church needs to do MORE for deaf people, dioceses in the USA are trying to do less! Half the dioceses in the USA have NO official ministry to deaf Catholics or Catholics with disabilities. Phoenix, AZ; Green Bay, Wi; whose next?