The entire group went to the Coliseum in Rome. We had two excellent deaf guides for the deaf participants.
There is a wonderful organization in Rome that provides deaf guides who know ASL for deaf tourists and deaf groups.
Chelo and I left to make last minute arrangements for the evening meal.
At Noon, the DCYIA Board had a meeting. We discussed all that had happened in the week. We also talked about our work, whrre to go to continue our ministry with deaf young people in poor countries.
4pm, our last event. Everyone gathered for a last meal of four different kinds of pizza and salad overlooking Rome.
Eduardo Alvarez, a deaf young man from Panama, invited us to Panama January 2019 for world Catholic Youth Week.
7pm, our staff of 27 people gathered to evaluate the events of the week. Most of the staff were young people, hearing and deaf, who had worked extremely hard preparing for this week and gave of themselves totally to this effort. Many of them had never been outside of Mexico or Guatemala. Our interpreters had done amazing work considering all the languages, spoken and signed, that we had used.
Suddenly, it was time to say goodbye. Tears, hugs, last photos. This was an incredible team. I was proud to be a part of it.

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From 1 till 7pm, DCYIA hosted a Conference “Walking with Jesus in Faith ” at the Augustinian College in the Vatican. We had four sign languages: English, Spanish, Italian, and German for two permanent Deacons from Germany, one deaf, the other deaf-blind.
Our first main speaker was Cardinal Turkson. He is a very close assistant to Pope Francis. He was born to a poor family in Ghana, Africa. He speaks 7 languages including very good English. I was able to speak with him a bit before his talk. He was very friendly, humble, and very funny! He gave us a wonderful talk about how Jesus walks with us, accompanies us on our journey through life. Jesus never leaves us
So, we must be willing to travel with others, especially those who are suffering. Then, he said that being deaf means we have the same responsibility to do God’s work in the world. He was so enthusiastic and encouraging.
After the Cardinal, we had a typical Italian coffee break with excellent pastries and fruit.
We resumed with a panel of deaf priests, deacons, and lay people discussing their experiences in the Church, and how we can improve services for deaf people.
Finally, we had Archbishop Fisichella, the head of the Vatican Office for Evangelization.. His message was that everyone in the Church, including deaf people, have to let other people know about God’s love in Jesus Christ. Many deaf people do not realize that Jesus died to save them too.
By the end of the day, everyone on our team was exhausted, but thrilled that all our planning for three years had worked out.

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JUNE 27: an amazing day. We were all assembled at 7 30am to enter the Paul 6th meeting hall right next to St. Peter’s Square. Our group of 130 was there along with about 150 persons with disabilities who were in Rome to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Special Olympics. Our group w a s seated in rows of chairs right in the front. We agreed to have three interpreters: ASL, LSM (Spanish), and LSI (Italian). The interpreters were nervous because they would be near the Pope. Suddenly, around 8 15, Pope Francis walked out on stage. Our whole group was waving( deaf applause). Young people with disabilities were yelling and applauding. Suddenly the Pope turned to the deaf group and waved back.
The Pope then gave a short talk and thanked DCYIA for coming to the Vatican. He walked down from the stage and talked to and hugged each of the young people, many of whom had severe disabilities. Then…
…he came over to our group.with interpreters on each side of him, he stopped and talked to every person in our group. Many of the young deaf people who had come from Mexico, Guatemala, and Panama could not stop crying.The Pope was surprised to meet two deaf priests, Fr. Shawn Carey and Fr. Chris Klusman. BRIAN SWATEK presented him with a Chcago Bears Jersey with the name POPE FRANCIS 1 on the back.The Pope laughed out loud and Brian explained it was an American football team. He took the jersey.
Finally Pope left. Many of those in our group still were so overcome with emotion, they just sat in their chairs tears of joy rolling down their cheeks. T he Pope was out in St. Peter’s Square greeting the 75,000 people sitting there in the hot sun.
PART 2 to follow.

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