The Chicago Board of Education recently voted to give the Superintendent of Schools much greater authority to change the way education happens in the Chicago Public Schools. Last week, an article in the newspaper described how one suburban school district send their students with disabilities to a program that is not certified by the State of Illinois. Many school districts are facing severe budget problems. One group that always receives blame are special education students. Why? Because their education costs more than for "normal" students.
The summer means that parents are away or pay less attention to what is happening in their school districts. It is VERY important for any parent who has a child with a disability to stay in touch with your school district or special education program. Find out if there are school board meetings that will discuss cutting or reducing programs. Ask the Special Education Office if there are any changes planned for the Fall. Talk to other parents to make sure everyone is staying aware and knowledgeable about programs for their children.

Having kept pages and pages of notes from the recent Conference at the Vatican, June 4-6, 2010, I will try to give what I hope is a fair summary of the days we were together. I will add my personal observations at the end.

Friday, June 4TH: approximately 70 people gathered for the Conference at the Pius X Auditorium. Forty deaf, almost all from Italy; thirty hearing: priests, religious, representatives from Vatican offices and the government of Italy. My talk was followed by a talk by PROFESSOR MASSIMO BARALDI. He chronicled the history of institutional schools for the deaf in Italy, with emphasis on religious formation. With the coming of mainstreaming, much of what the schools had been able to do in terms of religious formation has been lost. Many young deaf people have no clear religious affiliation or identity. His experience in Italy is similar to ours in the USA where the institutional schools are seeing more deaf young people with at least one other serious disability, and also young deaf people who have "failed" in mainstream settings who now are sent to the institutional schools with the label, "failure".

   However, it was DEACON JOSEF ROTHKOPF (deaf, Germany) whose talk started serious discussions among the participants. (Father Christian from Germany was his interpreter!) Deacon Josef addressed the issue of how do we proclaim God's Word(Scripture) in an effective way in the deaf community.   Josef talked about how the Bible has been translated over the years and that even now there are many different translations of the Bible in the same language. Can we develop translations of the Bible that are appropriate to the deaf without diminishing the content of the message? In Italy right now, the Jehovah's Witnesses are very active among the deaf, using the Bible "against" the Church. How do we respond?
  Later in the day(I will return to a talk that happened in between), FR. GERARD TYRRELL explained his work as a "Chaplain" for the deaf in Ireland. What caused quite a stir was when Fr. Gerard happened to show the "Lectionary for the Deaf" used in the British Isles.

BANG! Between Deacon Josef's presentation and Fr. Gerrard's, the deaf participants took over the proceedings.The questions and comments flew furiously! Who wrote these? Are there other "Deaf Lectionaries" in other countries? How do you develop them? Do the deaf have a part in this process? How do you evaluate he quality? Do these become so "deaf friendly" that they lose the power of God's Word?  At the same time, there was a general dissatisfaction among the deaf about simply having to sign the "hearing"translations of the Bible at Mass.

  This whole issue bled into another issue that was not on the agenda: sign-language interpreters and their role in the Liturgy. Again, there was a lot of response on this from the deaf. How do interpreters learn to do religious interpreting? Is there any way to evaluate their skills? Is there training for religious signing? Volunteer interpreters vs. paid, professional interpreters. Everyone agreed that this issue, tied into the former one on translations, was very important to deaf people in Italy.

  Earlier that same day, SR. VERONICA DONATELLO (Religious Sister, CODA, professional interpreter) gave a talk on developing Christian formation programs for deaf adults.She outlined several different programs in Italy (the ABC course; the "ZERO" course) that she and others have used.  The next day, FR. SAVINO CASTIGLIONE (Rome) gave a good talk on  celebrating the liturgy and sacraments in ways that deaf people can understand.  However, between the two presenters there was an obvious disagreement re: strategies.(Both people care very much about the Faith and deaf people.)  While Sr. Veronica opts for a more active outreach to the deaf, Fr. Savino would emphasize the importance of having a center, a place where the deaf can come for services. Sr. Veronica's push would be for going to the deaf wherever they are. Fr. Savino emphasizes establishing more Church centers where the deaf know they can receive whatever help they need.  Enter into this discussion, FR. JAIME GUTIERREZ VILLANUEVA(deaf priest, Spain). (Thanks a bunch to LORETO his interpreter.)  Fr. Jaime talked about his work with the deaf in Madrid, and the pastoral situation in Spain. (70 dioceses;17 with some sort of deaf ministry.) His description of pastoral work seemed to take in both approaches (discussed above), but with a huge emphasis on technology: web-sites, DVDs, twitter, texting, etc. Fr. Jaime's point was that you do need some sort of identifiable place where the deaf can come for worship (he has a parish for the deaf (Saint Mary of Silence in Madrid), but continue aggressive outreaches to the deaf, and in a special way using technology to reach deaf youth. For example: every Sunday, the readings and homily at his deaf Mass are taped and put on the web.

   Later, Fr. Jaime gave a presentation on World Youth Day in Spain 2011. www.madrid11.com (You can click on the "Disability" link for good info on their plans. Fr. Gerard and I spent three hours Sunday after the Conference discussing with Fr. J and Loreto just how the deaf piece of the WYD would be worked out.)

  There were other speakers, presenters, but the issues that continued to surface were the following:

1) GOD'S WORD: how do we proclaim the message of salvation that is both respectful of the message, yet appropriate for deaf people? What is the role of our bishops in all this?

2) INTERPRETERS: these are key people in the transmission of the truths of Faith. Training? Resources? On-going learning? Evaluation?

3) TECHNOLOGY: this is the world in which many deaf people now relate to one another and to the wider world. How do we use this in an effective way? How do we manage this in a responsible way? Who has the say in how this is to be used?

4) PASTORAL STRATEGIES: in a Church that still does not seem to recognize the unique pastoral challenges of deaf ministry, what strategies give us the best results. How do we measure "results"?

5) WORLD YOUTH DAY: how do we take advantage of this unique opportunity to bring deaf youth into greater participation in the Church's life?

  The Congregation did develop a set of "Conclusions" (in Italian), so we need to wait for their translation.

SOME PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS:

1 I felt honored to be involved in this Conference and to represent the ICF.

2 It is obvious that  the Pontifical Council on the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers feels it has done all it can to promote deaf ministry. Several times, the message was: "The Council has opened a "window" in the Church; YOU have to act, NOW! This is YOUR time to move!"

3 At the same time, we all need to be most grateful to Archbishop Zimowski and especially Archbishop Redrardo and the staff of the Council for its support.(Archbishop Redrardo gave a great homily at the Mass on Sunday re: deaf people in the Church!)

4 ICF performs a valuable function. It is really the only organization right now coordinating information on deaf ministries on an international level.

5 Deaf people are hungering for greater participation in the life of the Church. We need to create more opportunities for this.

   If there is some topic on which you need more info or clarification, feel free to contact me at :jmulcrone@archchicago.org

SUNDAY AFTERNOON, the Conference was officially "over". (I encouraged people to come to Chicago in 2011 for the ICDA Conference.)Was able to take a nice walk around Rome which has suddenly become VERY hot! May was rainy and cool; now the temperature has spiked! Later in the afternoon, FR. TYRRELL(IRELAND) & I spent two hours discussing World Youth Day with FR. JAIME VILLANUEVA & LORETO (the interpreter) from MADRID, SPAIN. The issues involving deaf young people, programs, interpreters are all complicated, but we all want World Youth Day in Spain next year to be very accessible to the deaf!
Later that evening, FR. GERARD & I went to dinner with FR. JOHN KENNEDY of Ireland who works in the Vatican. Romans eat dinner very late, always after 8pm.We did not sit down to eat till 9pm, and the place was packed. The food, of course, was wonderful!
Because a lot of my talk focussed on health care issues and deaf people, I have been reading on this trip an exceptional book: PASSAGES IN CAREGIVING: Turning Chaos Into Confidence by Gail Sheehy. Morrow;2010. This is a very well written, and very helpful book for all families, especially those with family members who are older and/or ill.

The Saturday afternoon session began with a presentation by FR. MAURO SARNI, the priest for the deaf in the Diocese of TRANI, ITALY.
he talked about his own history in deaf ministry. Then, gave a very structured plan of how to go about starting a deaf ministry in a diocese that does not have a previous history with deaf ministry.

   Then, FR. JAIME GUTIERREZ VILLANUEVA, from madrid, presented a very detailed explanation of WORLD YOUTH DAY 2011 in Madrid, AUGUST 16-21, 2011. The committee in madrid has been very inclusive of the deaf and people with disabilities since the beginning of the planning.

  The basic website is www.madrid11.com.  To reach the deaf ministry directly by email: sordos@jmj2011madrid.com    Later, talking with Fr. Jaime and his interpreter Loreto, they are very anxious to have a good turnout of deaf youth in Spain.  At the same time, they want to know who will be bringing interpreters, how many, etc.   It raises an issue for me.   In Chicago, we hope to bring a deaf group and have already contacted several interpreters who know Spanish and ASL. (Knowing Spanish is NOT a requirement, but it certainly will help.)   However, for deaf Catholic groups around the USA who may only be sending a couple of deaf and who cannot afford to pay for an interpreter, we need to coordinate this.   That is, those dioceses who will send the deaf need to get the information to a central place.   I will discuss this with ICF to see how we might be able to handle this.

   There were several representatives from the Italian bishops' conference at the meeting who asked to speak for a few minutes.    We also had a liely session of exchanges between the presenters and people attending the gathering.  We finished around 7:30pm. Then, a group of us -hearing & deaf; American, Irish, Spanish, Italian -went out to eat.   The conversation at the table was fun, challenging(4 different sign-languages; three different spoken languages), and very confusing to the waiters in the restaurant.   We were in a part of Rome, Trevere, which was totally jammed with people on a beautiful Saturday evening in Rome.  

   I am writing this Sunday morning as we head off for Mass, then the last session of the Conference.

THURSDAY, JUNE 3rd: things did NOT get off to a great start. I arrived in Rome at 7:05am, but my bags (and all my clothes) had been left behind in Atlanta, GA.   I had to go out to buy a black suit and clergy shirt!    That evening, FR. GERARD TYRRELL(Ireland) & I went to join the Italian deaf for a Mass with the Pope to celebrate Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ) at St. John Lateran. We were outside and a terrible storm(the worst in Rome in two years!) hit us and we were drenched. The Mass was moved to the inside of the church. The Pope cmae; he looks so frail!  Yet, he celebrated the Mass with great energy and faith.

FRIDAY, JUNE 4th: The Conference on EPHPHETA! THE DEAF PERSON, ANNOUNCER OF THE GOSPEL, began at 9am in the Pius X Auditorium, Vatican City.   ARCHBISHOP ZYGMUNT ZIMOWSKI & ARCHBISHOP JOSE REDRARDO both greeted us to begin the Conference.   The Conference is all in Italian (voice and sign-language).  We have listening devices with a person to translate into English. The opening prayer was done with a beautiful video using the Italian language, music, and gorgeous images.  Everyone signed the prayer, along with the video, in Italian sign-language.  (Italian sign-language and American sign-language are not the same.)  We also have people interpreting the conference in german and Spanish(Spain) sign-language.

   I gave the opening talk, "SIGNS OF HEALING AND MERCY TO DEAF PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK AND SUFFERING."  I discussed the talk with the Italian interpreters.  One of my topics was "HOSPICE". Interestingly, "Hospice" is not a well-known idea in Europe. In fact, there is no sign for the word! A big emphasis in my talk was deaf people as Care Ministers of the Sick.  The deaf who attended the talk were very interested in this, because it is a new idea for them.   One of my other topics was the whole area of mental health care and the deaf. Again, several people expressed a concern that very little is done re: mental health and the deaf, outside of USA, England, Ireland.

  The next speaker was PROFESSOR MASSIMO BARALDI, the Director of one of the institutional schools for the deaf in Italy. He discussed the history of the institutional schools for the deaf, what is happening in deaf education in Italy now, and what is the future.   He told me later that in Italy there is a huge increase in the number of deaf children who have disabilities, and no one seems to know why.   He said that when the deaf attended the institutional schools, they learned the Catholic Faith. Now, with mainstreaming, many young deaf have no idea what the Catholic Faith means.

  After a break, DR. JOSEF ROTHKOPF,  deaf Permanent Deacon from Germany, gave a powerful presentation re: evangelization with deaf people. He emphasized the need to do a much better job using the Bible in evangelization.  However, he pointed out that we need to figure out how to take the Bible and "translate" it into a language deaf people can understand and use.

 There was a question and answer period, with a lot of discussion centering around Deacon Josef's topic.   It was 12:30pm. Following the Italian tradition, we broke for lunch to return at 4pm!

  The afternoon: SR. VERONICA DONATELLO, the hearing daughter of  Italian deaf parents and a religious Sister, gave her presentation on Spiritual Formation programs for adult deaf people.  She emphasized how more and more of these programs depend on being creative with technology, especially computers.   The deaf ARE hungry to learn about Jesus and what His message is.  However, technology can never replace human interaction.

  The final presentation was by FR. GERARD TYRRELL from Ireland. He described the program of  Chaplaincy for the Deaf in Ireland. Part of his talk explained the use of the "Lectionary (Bible readings at Mass) for the Deaf" used in Ireland."  Then the discussion...and what a discussion!!!!

   We spent well over an hour with all sorts of questions and comments from the deaf community re: how to develop a lectionary for deaf people; how do we take a written langauge(the Bible), translate it into our native languages (Italian, English, etc), then translate it again into sign-languages. This topic caused a lot of discussion(that continued into Saturday) re: the difference between "adapting" the Bible into sign-language without destroying the content of the Scriptures.   We finally ended at 8pm!

SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 5TH: a glorious, beauitful day in Rome! Not a cloud in the sky. It is "tourist season" in Italy and the streets of Rome and the Vatican are jammed!  None of us want to go inside to the meeting, but.......

   The lead-off speaker this morning is FR. SAVINO CASTIGLIONE, the priest who works with the deaf community of Rome. He gave an excellent talk about the Liturgy, the sacraments, and deaf people.   He made a wonderful point:in the Mass we do not celebrate  "magic", but a "mystery", that Jesus Christ is present with us here and now. He emphasized that for many deaf people, they do not understand the Sacraments and how Christ is present in each Sacrament.

  Next FR. JAIME GUTIERREZ VILLANUEVA, young deaf priest from Spain(www.stamsilencio.com), gave his talk on celebrating the sacraments for and with deaf people. He uses websites in a very powerful way to do faith education with the deaf community.  In Spain there are three deaf priests.  There are 70 dioceses, but only 17 have any kind of deaf ministry.

Again, we had a very energetic, at times "heated", discussion about: sign-language interpreters(how do they get trained; how do they develop skills in religious signing; what is their role at Mass); Bible texts(don't dumb down the texts, this insults deaf people); what is a "deaf liturgy"; how do we proclaim the faith in a "deaf way";  how to attract deaf young people to the Faith.   Even though the topic is Italy, so many of the questions apply to deaf ministry throughout the world.

 Time for lunch, 12:30pm.  I head back to the place where we are staying, THE DOMUS SANTAE MARTHAE,  the hotel in the Vatican.   The weather is unbelievable: sunny, warm, not a single cloud in the sky. For lunch I stop at one of the food vans that are all over Rome. I get a pannini (salami & cheese sandwich), an ice tea, and walk back enjoying Rome on a gorgeous summer day.   The next set of Conferences begin at 4pm (more in my next report). By the way, my clothes finally arrived around 5pm on Friday!

Travelling around the country these last few months, I have been noticing more and more dioceses and archdioceses cutting back on services to people who are disabled and/or deaf. More than half of the dioceses in the United States do not have one full-time person whose sole responsibility is ministry to this expanding community. Some of these dioceses might respond, "we have made our church buildings more accessible." Truthfully, many more church buildings are accessible than twenty years ago. However, making a building physically accessible is the easiest kind of accessibility. Most dioceses of the Catholic Church pay little or no attention to people with disabilities or their families. Some examples:
a) there are few dioceses that have any staff person responsible for the religious education of children with disabilites. Many of the families of these children have long ago left the Church;
b) there are very few people with disabilities whom the Church hires as employees. There is no aggressive campaign by dioceses to do this;
c) the population of persons with disabilities is expanding; more "boomers" are becoming disabled; we have a mushrooming population of "wounded warriors" returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who have a multiplicity of disabling conditions. Outside of a few dioceses like Washington, DC, little is being done in response to this phenomenon.
Those who lead the Church love to talk about how all are welcome into the Body of Christ. In terms of putting your money where your mouth is, this is simply false. The number of people with disabilities in our church communities compared with the number of people with disabilities in our society is incredibly disproportionate. Most people who are deaf and/or disabled simply do not feel welcome, do not feel they belong, are not hired for any jobs, given any responsibilities, and generally believe that the Church is only interested in you if you are able-bodied.

On Friday evening, 5/28, I was part of two small ceremonies. First, I went to visit a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. The husband has a lot of physical problems and has not been able to leave his home for several years. His wife sat on the bed with him as I prayed over them, thanking God for their 50 years of marriage, and His love for them. One of their sons was present. Small, simple; a couple of hard working people who raised a bunch of kids, steered them in the right direction, kept their faith in God and each other. When it was done, we celebrated with a cup of coffee.
Later that same evening, I drove to a suburban funeral home for a service for a deaf man who had died very suddenly last Sunday. He and his wife had been married almost 40 years; no children. He had been very devoted to her through the years and her illnesses. His death was a shock and a cause of great sadness for all those who knew him. About thirty people were there as we said "good-bye" to this good man.
TRINITY SUNDAY celebrates that the God of all Christians is a God of relationships. The Father loves His Son; the Father loved us so much that "He sent His only Son so that through Him we might be saved"; the Father and Son's love for one another gave us the Holy Spirit so that we might continue to love one another. Trinity Sunday tells us that the Trinity is a mystery because love is a mystery! Even God does not want to be alone!
If we want to truly celebrate the wonderful gift of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - then look around your dining room/kitchen/picnic/back yard table this Memorial Day weekend. Look at the people who are there, who fill our lives with their love. Go to the cemetery. Bring a pail for water to wash off the grime of winter; bring some shears to cut away the clutter. Then stand there and simply remember how much you were loved, how much you were given, how much you owe. And in that quiet moment, when the whole mystery of loving and being loved overtakes you, then realize you have gotten as close to understanding the Trinity as you ever will.

Earlier today (5/20), I went to visit a deaf person in a hospital. When I arrived, there was a sign-language interpreter there. On the patient's night stand, there was a tty next to the phone. The interpreter was very skilled in making the communication between the patient and the doctor clear and accurate for both people.
Twenty-five years ago, a young deaf man was injured in an auto accident on the southside of Chicago. The paramedics brought him to a hospital emergency room. The young man pleaded for a sign-language interpreter. The hospital told him that he appeared to be okay, and that an interpreter was not needed. The hospital sent him home. He died six hours later from internal bleeding. The family sued the hospital and eventually got a settlement of over 5 million dollars.
The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) has been a great benefit for deaf people, persons with disabilities, and the larger community. (The interpreter and tty in the hospital room today are a result of the ADA.) The ADA has helped people get jobs; prevented people with disabilities from being arrested, tried and convicted unjustly; and has allowed deaf people to have access to the SAME medical services as non-disabled persons. At the same time, the ADA has saved businesses and organizations from costly law suits based on discrimination and the myths tied to people with disabilities.
The ADA is an incredible sign of hope to people in other countries. When I have explained the law in places such as Venezuela, Ecuador, Italy, deaf people and people with disabilities have said that such a law in their countries would change forever their lives for the better. The ADA is something that everyone - EVERYONE - in our country should prize and fight to maintain. People who claim that the law is an unfair or costly burden on society simply do not know what they are talking about.

In the 1980's & 90's, a group of deaf and hearing advocates worked together to change deaf services in Illinois. From their efforts, we created...
....the State of Illinois Deaf and Hard of Hearing Commission;
....mental health services for deaf people in Illinois;
....a State-Wide Coordinator of Deaf Services for DCFS;
....a change in the way the State provided Vocational Services(DVR) for deaf people;
....interpreter referral services for deaf people;
....ARD (Addiction Recovery of the Deaf).
Many of those who worked for these changes are dead, retired, have moved, or have just gotten old (like me!). Now, there are new threats to the deaf community...
....a recent article in the "Chicago Tribune" suggested the State of Illinois could save money by not funding the State Commission for the Deaf;
....the State of Illinois planned to eliminate all funding for the State of Illinois Deaf-Blind School; this decision was changed, at least for this year;
....a group of deaf and hearing were working to pass a bill in Springfield to help pay for hearing aids. At the last minute, the legislator who was supposed to be on "our side" switched sides in favor of the insurance companies, and the bill died;
....the State of Illinois is so far behind in paying bills to deaf mental health services, that we will see a loss of mental health counseling services for the deaf beginning this summer;
....because the State of Illinois has not paid what it owes to school districts, we will see cuts to Special Education (including deaf programs) when schools open again in the Fall;
....in Washington, DC, the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) wants to cut funding for Deaf Communication needs meaning fewer interpreters for Relay calls(and longer waiting times), less VP services, reduced training for Relay interpreters, etc.
There are good, hard working deaf advocates in our community. However, many other deaf do not know the history of why we have good services now. Many deaf enjoy VP; the ability to get a sign-language interpreter for weddings, etc; counseling services. Many hearing parents of deaf children do not realize how hard we had to work to force school districts to provide for deaf students.
IF the deaf community, hearing parents of deaf children, interpreters, Special Education teachers and aides do NOT work together, then much of what we worked to achieve in the last thirty years WILL be lost in Illinois and nationally. The State Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, IAD, ITHI, IRID, WSAD,CCE,CCD, etc need to get together and develop a common agenda or we will soon return to a time (only thirty years ago) when the government ignored the deaf community and did nothing for its deaf citizens and their families.

....