2014 disability awareness magazine

DISABILITY AWARENESS MAGAZINE

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2 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine Disability Awareness 2014

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“We should protect all people with disabilities from societal indifference, antipathy and any bias against them.”

United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, 99

Cover design by Karen Hanlin

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Vol. 6, No. 3

Publisher | Bishop David A. Zubik

General Manager | Ann Rodgers

Editor | William Cone

Operations Manager | Carmella Weismantle

Disability Awareness Project Editor William Cone

Associate EditorsPhil Taylor (Special Projects)

Chuck Moody (News)

Staff Writer | John W. Franko

Graphic DesignersDavid Pagesh | Karen Hanlin

Advertising Director Carmella Weismantle

Account ExecutivesMichael A. Check | Paul Crowe

Michael Wire

Circulation Mgr./Parish News Coord.Peggy Zezza

Administrative Assistant | Karen Hanlin

Office Assistant | Jean DeCarlo

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Pittsburgh Catholic Disability Awareness Magazine is a complimentary publication available at all 199 Catholic parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh from the Pittsburgh Catholic Publishing Associates, Inc. Paid first-class delivered subscriptions are available.

~Acceptance of an advertisement in the Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine, while based on an assumption of integrity on the part of the advertiser, does not imply endorsement by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

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Inside this issue:4 | Inspired by my BFF:Opening eyes on disabilities.

6 | Award for a pioneer:Grace Harding receives national recognition.

9 | Strive to be holy:Christian virtue for caregivers.

14 | Signing spoken here:At home at St. Mary of the Mount.

17 | Our vocation to love:Three actions to consider.

21 | Comfort zone:Seminarians learn how to build relationships.

26 | Pope speaks out:He warns against the dangers of a “culture of money.”


Mary Ann, my best friend

By Helene McneMAr

I don’t think of Mary Ann as disabled. I think of her as my best friend. Yes, my friend is disabled, but my friendship with her is not disabled in any way. One must understand that the disability, although very much a part of the person, is not the person. She is one of the kindest, caring, giving and loving people who I know.

Our friendship has steadily grown over the years into a sisterhood. Her physical disability has never interfered with our friendship. She and I are kindred spirits. We are single moms trying to guide our children spiritually through a difficult era where other people, as well as modern technology, have a great influence on our children.

Temptation is everywhere, and no one wants their mom telling them what to do, how to think, how to behave and what to choose. It is difficult to stand by and watch them make the same mistakes that we made. But we must. Luckily, we have each other to lean on for strength, comfort, guidance and, sometimes, a shoulder to cry on.

As we talked about this article, Mary Ann gave me her perspective about a friendship like ours. She said, “As with any friendship, be patient. Disabilities can cause everyday frustrations that able-bodied people may not be aware of. Things take longer to do, like just getting dressed or getting out of bed — these are things that non-disabled people can do quickly without even thinking about it. Personal hygiene issues can frequently upset daily routines and require time and an understanding, patient friend.”

She said of our friendship, “Helene and I have been there to give spiritual and emotional support to each other through life’s difficulties. Just listening and caring — these things are valuable to any friendship, and trying not to judge or ‘fix’ each other. Accepting each other as we are is the key to a loyal friendship.”

Our lives and circumstances are very similar, which is why we relate to one another so well. Every family has issues, some more serious than others. We each carry baggage from our pasts that have molded us into the people we are today and could disable us if we let it. Our strength lies within our ability to “roll with the punches.”

Mary Ann advocates that we must all be caring people. She said, “First be aware of the needs of others and be open to serve with a Christian heart.” Her example is Nathan, a man who is blind and comes to Mass with his seeing-eye dog.

At the sign of peace, she says, “Hello, my name is Mary Ann and it’s good to have you here.” She does this to acknowledge him since he cannot easily reach out to others. However, she offers a word of caution when approaching a blind person with a seeing-eye dog. “The dog will protect, as I found out when I reached over the dog to shake Nathan’s

hand. The dog immediately put his mouth on my wrist as a warning. I learned to approach from the opposite side of the dog for safety reasons. We all need to be welcoming and smile at everyone, not just the disabled.”

The most important thing that we share is our faith. Both Mary Ann and I surely know that all things are possible. We walk by faith knowing that God led us to each other. Disabilities are obstacles that we must work around. No matter what obstacle gets in our way, we will overcome and we will be triumphant.

Mary Ann moves around in a wheelchair, but the chair is not the obstacle. God always finds a way for Mary Ann and me to share our faith with one another as well as opening the doors for us to share with others.

People are only as disabled as they think they are. The mind can shut us out of all kinds of places, but God directs our paths and removes the obstacles. We, as a society, have to understand that it is those of us without disabilities who are truly disabled. It is up to us to make sure that all are welcomed and have the ability to participate.

It is particularly disheartening when we cannot go to an event sponsored at a church

because it is not accessible for wheelchairs. We must always check to make sure that there are no steps to enter any building that we are going to and that the restrooms are handicap-accessible.

It is important that, when making preparations for an event, the location is handicap-accessible regardless of whether it is braille material for the sightless or a sign language interpreter for the hearing-impaired or ramps for those who cannot use steps.

Just because an event declares that all are welcome does not mean that it is true. If all were truly welcome then someone would have made sure that there were no barriers preventing those with disabilities from entering, listening, following along and participating in all ways. There are those who have food disabilities. Has the event made sure that all areas have been covered to include those with certain dietary needs?

Wake up the people around you to the wonderful people you know who should be put at the top of the list as invited guests. Every time we want to do something we have to figure it out because of the chair that Mary Ann uses to be mobile. The disability is not hers; it is in the obstacles that we place in her way. But we will not be deterred — where there is the will of God, there is a way.

Mary Ann talked about putting together a prayer group from our parish, St. Catherine of Siena in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood. It was Mary Ann’s fortitude that has made it possible. She believed that God would find a way, and it has happened. We now have a prayer group that meets once a week. It is amazing to see how many people are hungry for God’s word and how prayer brings a kinship to a group of strangers.

I truly believe that God made Mary Ann to open my eyes and the eyes of everyone who is privileged to know her and to all the possibilities that are available to all of us when we believe. Mary Ann has a disability but she is not disabled. She is my best friend.

Mcnemar and her friend, Mary Ann Mulkerin, are “parish advocates for persons with disabilities” at their parish, St. Catherine of Siena.

Photo by Chuck AustinHelene Mcnemar, left, with her friend, Mary Ann Mulkerin.

Disability Awareness 2014 Pittsburgh Catholic Magazine 5

The people we support have many life challenges, including physical and intellectual disabilities, psychiatric and neurological diagnoses, and more.

Their biggest challenge, though, is the labels that people place on them. Labels like “disabled,” ”incapable,” “restricted,” “incapacitated.”

The truth is, they just have different abilities … they use their abilities differently than those with “typical abilities” do. They are still people who think, read, play, work, and enjoy family and friends. They are just like you and me.

At InVision, we do not limit the people we serve. They are integrally involved in decisions about their lives. They determine where and how they live, what they eat, how they spend their free time, who they call friends and neighbors. This is what you and I want, and how we live. We believe everyone should be able to do this, regardless of their physical or intellectual abilities. And we help make that a reality for the people we support.

Thank you for supporting people with disabilities by smiling at them, working alongside them, and talking with them. You can also help by donating to organizations who provide services so they can live a meaningful life. InVision is one of those organizations. Thank you for your support.

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Let’s Talk About Different Abilities


By Dr. GretA StOkeS tuCker

Grace Harding, former director of the diocesan Department for Persons with Disabilities, was the recent recipient of the Msgr. Cribbin Lifetime Service Award by the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.

Nominated by the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Grace received the prestigious award at the NCPD

conference and awards dinner for her exemplary leadership and service to ministry for those with special needs. She has been a pioneer in defending the life and dignity of people with disabilities as articulated in the 1978 “Pastoral Statement of U.S.

Catholic Bishops on Persons with Disabilities.”

For more than 30 years, Grace

Harding’s name was associated

with education, awareness and

advocacy for people with disabilities in

the Catholic Church. Her contributions have been

invaluable to dioceses and parishes nationally and internationally. Her zeal and compassion have guided her in shaping the direction of ministry to people with disabilities.

In 1981, Grace began her long tenure with the diocese as coordinator of special religious education, working with the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) program. The Department for Persons with Disabilities was established six years later under her leadership and vision for inclusive catechetical and pastoral ministry to respond to the needs of people with disabilities.

She worked tirelessly to form and recruit others to advocate for the full inclusion of all God’s people in all areas of the church. She championed people with disabilities as integral and active members of the church and its parishes.

While serving as department director for 18 years, Grace was able to work locally, nationally and internationally to initiate the direction of the ministry, particularly in providing religious education for children.

In her leadership role, she advanced ministry to people with disabilities by engaging and encouraging parishes, schools, diocesan staff, clergy, seminarians, and laity on how to be inclusive and welcoming. She offered guidance and developed the necessary curricula, resources and networks to assist them.

Grace Harding receivesnational recognition

See Harding, Page 8


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Whether it was consulting with a pastor and his staff in determining how to make the church’s physical space accessible, or working with catechists on how to teach children who require adaptive learning, or educating seminarians on disability awareness, the impact of her leadership was felt and sustained throughout the diocese.

In collaboration with parishes, Grace organized and trained “parish advocates for people with disabilities” to provide awareness, coordination and advocacy in parishes. In addition, other networks were formed to minister to those with physical disabilities and intellectual/cognitive disabilities, and hearing and visual impairments.

Under Grace’s leadership, programs, curricula and resources were created and disseminated throughout the diocese and nationally to meet the needs of people with disabilities. One of the programs she developed was the

Opening Doors speaker’s program to Catholic schools, CCD classes and youth ministry groups to teach about living with disabilities. Five picture books for children on disability education and awareness were created.

Today, dioceses and parishes nationally continue to request the resources that were produced under Grace’s leadership.

Grace received national and international acclaim for securing a grant from the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation for the diocese to develop and promote nationally The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Curriculum for comprehensive religious education for people with intellectual disabilities in collaboration with Eunice Kennedy Shriver. This phenomenal curriculum for parents and catechists is an invaluable catechetical resource that is being used in dioceses nationally and internationally.

To bring awareness of the importance of welcoming people with intellectual/cognitive disabilities in the worship experience, Grace collaborated with Ginny Thornburgh, the wife of former

Pennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh and director of the Interfaith Initiative at the American Association of People with Disabilities in Washington.

Although Grace retired to Florida in 2005, she has continued to minister as a part-time catechist preparing children with intellectual/cognitive disabilities for the sacraments of reconciliation and first Communion.

As a church, we have been blessed with the fruits of many national and international accomplishments that Grace instituted while serving in this very special ministry. However, most importantly, we are blessed and enriched because Grace Harding, led by the Holy Spirit, shared her wisdom, acceptance and love of all people with disabilities within the Diocese of Pittsburgh. She is a woman of faith, a Spirit-filled leader, a steadfast pioneer and a truly dedicated advocate who helped us to embrace and see the giftedness of all God’s holy people.

tucker is director of the diocesan Office for Cultural Diversity and Persons with Disabilities.

HARDINGContinued from Page 6

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By DeACOn tIM kIllMeyer

Life does not exist in a vacuum. Just like everything else that we do in this life; just like everything else that happens to us in this life, maybe more so, a disability affects more than just the person with the disability. It has an effect on everyone we interact with — in stores, at sporting events and entertainment venues, at church.

Everyone has to change their “normal” routine just a little bit. Some people manage this better than others. However, the people most impacted when disability strikes a person are that person’s family. Again, some people manage this better than others. But depending on the severity of the disability, the members — or, more often, “a” member of the family — become the primary caregivers.

As caregivers, it is easy — or at least I’ve found it easy — to fall into the trap of thinking that, simply by virtue of what we do day in and day out, that is what makes us holy. And of course, it doesn’t help that people tell us “Oh, what a saint you are for taking care of your wife, or your child, or your husband or mother,” or whoever it is that we devote our time and attention. Some people believe that as caregivers our holiness derives primarily from the attention and interaction we give to others.

Christian virtue is not defined primarily by “doing good deeds” or “performing heroic acts.” You don’t have to be Catholic or a Christian for that. Christian virtue is defined by something altogether and entirely different. What is it? What does that statement mean to us as caregivers?

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See Caregivers, Page 13

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By StePHen GuIlFOyle Catholic News Service

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A fox red Labrador retriever named Festus has given Marine Staff Sgt. Nick Bennett something he hasn’t had since he heard a whistling noise from a rocket attack in Anbar Province in Iraq in 2004.

He has his life back. A Marine reservist from Franklin,

Indiana, Bennett had asked 10 years ago to deploy during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Technically working as a acommunications officer, he also pulled security duty at his forward operating base just outside of Baghdad, which is where he was struck by a rocket attack Nov. 11, 2004.

The blast that hit Bennett, on his way to assist other Marines, badly wounded his legs and arms.

He had been in Iraq for less than three months. When he returned home, the loss of muscle in his right leg made it hard to keep his balance and pick up something up from the floor. The explosion also caused him to panic

whenever he heard loud noises. He turned to the Indiana Canine

Assistant Network for help and found it through a dog trained by Charlie Petrizzo, who breeds dogs to be donated for service on his three-acre property just south of Charlotte.

Petrizzo, a Catholic who formerly worked in financial services and is now retired, said he felt compelled to put his faith into action. After he suffered two near-death experiences, a family Labrador retriever helped him heal and dogs have remained a source of comfort for him.

So after years as a Fortune 500 executive, he searched for a way involving dogs that would enable him to help others who needed similar healing.

He founded Project2Heal, which breeds Labradors and donates them to organizations to train as service or companion dogs. They serve the disabled or injured veterans such as Bennett, but they are also trained to help children who suffer from seizures, autism spectrum disorder and more.

The “puppies,” as Petrizzo affectionately calls them, get all the attention, but the idea is to help people. Project2Heal is his way of expressing Catholic charity, he said. “Charity comes from the word ‘caritas.’ It means Christ-like love.”

Petrizzo works with up to 50 volunteers at Project2Heal who handle the daily operations. They start when each litter of carefully bred pups are just 2 days old, Petrizzo says, “imprinting” them with the sights and smells they’ll need to understand later as trained service dogs. When the most promising puppies are just weeks old, they are given to service dog training groups for specialized training.

In the case of Bennett’s service dog, Festus, Project2Heal sent the pup to Indiana Canine Assistant Network which then matched him with Bennett one year ago. It was the organization’s 100th service dog, and its first with a combat-wounded veteran.

Now, 3-year-old Festus is helping the former Marine in ways he never imagined.

There’s the “brace” command where Festus lets Bennett lean on his back for support to enable him to put on his socks and reach for items on the bottom

Dog brings new life to wounded MarineCnS photo/Stephen C. Guilfoyle, Catholic news Herald

See Dog, Page 12

Charlie Petrizzo, pictured with dogs, founded Project2Heal in 2005 to help breed and train service and companion dogs and donate them to service organizations.

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shelf at stores. Before Festus came along, Bennett said, he simply didn’t go to the store by himself. Now, he can go out anytime he wants.

Festus helps Bennett walk straight, too keeping him from sidling too much in one direction because of his leg injuries.

And the “nudge” command makes possible experiences like going to a Chicago White Sox game, despite the worry of loud noises and crowds triggering his post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Like a lot of teams, they have fireworks when the White Sox hit a home run,” Bennett said, but the whistling and exploding noises of fireworks can set off a panic episode where he can zone out for 20 minutes or more.

Without Festus, “I’d be hoping the White Sox do not hit a home run,” Bennett told the Catholic News Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Charlotte.

But the dog nudges him, pushing his cold nose into the side of Bennett’s leg until he snaps out of the trance. Now these episodes last only five minutes or so.

Festus has not just helped Bennett, though. Bennett’s wife, his sole caregiver, is not afraid to leave him now to run errands or take time for herself.

“The anxiety that he has lowered in her, you can’t ask for anything more in this world,” he said.

Because Petrizzo bred the dog that has given him his life back, Bennett calls him a “major angel.”

It’s the simple things Festus does to help him that truly amaze Bennett, noting that he can now “do a flight of stairs like I did 10 years ago.”

Despite the 26 surgeries to repair his hands and legs, he still feels pain from his injuries, but the pain has lessened considerably. And, he added, “If I fall, he’s going to be there to pick me up.”

Guilfoyle is a contributor to the Catholic News Herald, newspaper of the Diocese of Charlotte.

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Our call to holiness, to sanctity, is the same as every other person of faith. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that what we do as caregivers is totally worthless in the pursuit of holiness, in the pursuit of our desire to live forever with God in heaven as a saint. But it is not primary to attaining holiness or sainthood.

We have to remember why we were created by God in the first place. Why did God make us? Remember the Baltimore Catechism? “God made me to know him, to love him and to serve him here in this life so that I can be happy forever with him in the next.”

That is the essence of striving to be holy, to constantly strive to know God more and more as we come to love him ever more deeply. Then that love blossoms into a need to serve the other instead of ourselves. Sometimes we try to come at it backward by serving and serving and serving, but never growing in the knowledge or the love of God, which is the essence of holiness.

We should be praying for closer union with Christ, allowing him to live in us more and more. What we do as caregivers is a fruit of that union with Jesus, allowing his Holy Spirit to enliven us. As much as our duties allow us, we should participate in the life of the church, which exists primarily to bring us to that closer union with God, leading us to partake of his divine life.

We gain much strength from our Eucharistic Lord. If the person in our charge receives holy Communion, we should be offered a chance to receive as well. If not, you should ask for it.

Finally, when we read the Gospel stories about Jesus, we begin to notice that he tried regularly to go to places where the people would not find him. But they constantly wanted his attention … wanted him to do things for them. He is the ultimate caregiver. And because he was human as well as divine, often he needed to go off by himself to pray, rest and regenerate. He did this not only so he could give better attention to the task at hand, but for himself, for his own spiritual and physical well-being.

As caregivers walking in the footsteps of Jesus, we should take his example to heart, not necessarily for the sake of those we love (though they will certainly benefit from it!), but for our own sake … our own peace, that we might better manifest Christ’s love to the world.

Deacon killmeyer is the diaconal assistant of the Office for Cultural Diversity and Persons with Disabilities.

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By FAtHer WAlter G. ryDzOn

The Catholic Deaf Community has called Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood home for the last 20 years. Settling in at a parish church with a pastor who signed, they became part of the hearing parish of St. Justin in 1994 and the first bilingual parish in the diocese.

That St. Justin was the parish of the deaf for the Diocese of Pittsburgh was one of the best-kept secrets around. In a bright church with natural sunlight, great for seeing American Sign Language, the Catholic Deaf Community thrived and grew in faith, and a deaf culture was presented to a hearing culture, and both came to appreciate the other.

By 2009, the same stresses affecting other smaller parishes in the diocese, especially of the inner city, began to plague St. Justin. The parishes of St. Justin and St. Mary of the Mount had worked together for years on combined programs such as baptism seminars, confirmation programs and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.

The neighborhood’s two pastors thought that, as one Eucharistic community, one parish on the Mount could be stronger, offering more and serving more people. So in 2009 a committee of people, hearing and deaf, from both parishes began discussions and plans for a merger.

After more than two years of studies, planning, town hall meetings and a most transparent process, St. Justin closed Feb. 10, 2012, and the Catholic Deaf Community had a new home only blocks away at St. Mary of the Mount.

As Scripture says, “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.” Deaf people from all over the country and the world who visit Pittsburgh and inquire about a parish with a signed Mass are directed by folks who simply point up to Mount Washington and sign, “See that church on the mountain? That’s where you want to go.”

I, as pastor of the Catholic Deaf Community, moved with the deaf to St. Mary of the Mount so a full signed Mass could continue. Father Michael Stumpf,

pastor of St. Mary of the Mount, is learning American Sign Language so the Catholic Deaf Community will have a priest who signs when I retire.

The Deaf Choir continues to “sing” with its hands every Sunday at the 11:30 a.m. Sunday signed Mass. The word of God continues to be shared by our deaf lectors, who proclaim with their hands, standing next to a hearing reader. And that person who is signing “The Body of Christ” to you when you approach the altar at Communion prays just the same as you, only you may use your voice; he/she uses their hands to give praise to God.

The parish also offers a children’s Liturgy of the Word for all children, deaf and hearing. Come join us!

The Catholic Deaf Community is no longer hidden. It is a beacon of God’s light shining out for all to see. And see it you can from all over Pittsburgh.

Father rydzon is chaplain of the Catholic Deaf Community at St. Mary of the Mount, 403 Grandview Ave. in Pittsburgh.

Father Walt rydzon, right, uses sign language during Mass, with Bishop David zubik as the main celebrant.


“There can be no separate church for persons of different races, colors, disabilities, or national origins. Indeed, the vitality of the Church can truly be measured by how we treat those whom society has often placed on the margins…..The Diocese of Pittsburgh has worked for many years to ensure that we recognize all as brothers and sisters, that all are welcomed as persons of dignity and talent, that all are included fully in the life of the Church.”

Most Rev. David A. Zubik, DD October 5, 2012

Awareness, advocacy, accessibility and acceptance of persons with disabilities is the act of loving God and our neighbors with all our heart and mind.


By BlAnCA MOrAleS Catholic News Service

MIAMI — In a society saturated with photo-edited images of models on magazine covers, not to mention billboards pushing plastic surgery, three young Catholic women from Miami are facing down the beauty industry — and not just figuratively.

During a recent visit to Grand Rapids, Michigan, Alanna Cuadra and Katherina and Christina Parrilla participated in a new campaign to promote positive body image.

The initiative, Go Boldly, was started this spring by a Grand Rapids photographer, Bri Luginbill, to counteract negative body image messages imparted by the media.

Driving on the highway, Luginbill spotted ads she found to be contradictory: billboards promoting Botox and plastic surgery that urged women to “go confidently” by changing their appearance.

Luginbill’s images are not Photoshopped and feature women of different ages and body types, including those with disabilities. The goal is to promote the natural beauty that is found in all women, as well as men, who also can suffer from body image issues.

Luginbill’s portraits of Cuadra and the Parrilla sisters are now being sent to women’s magazines, and plans are in the works to feature them on billboards. The goal is to offset the discouraging messages that abound.

The three young Florida women are featured in this PSA by Go Boldly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdxxpV_ZOcA. The website for the campaign is www.goboldlygr.com.

Cuadra, 18, who is a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and started at Florida International University this fall as a nutrition and dietetics major, has noted the media’s negative influence on her peers.

“(The media) says that the only way to look beautiful or love yourself is to become, or look like, something you’re not,” she told The Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Miami Archdiocese.

The images of celebrities and models presented in ads even had her second-guessing her own sense of self — until she remembered the

Students are models in healthy body image campaign

See Image, Page 20

CnS photoAlanna Cudra, of Miami, poses for a photo to promote “Go Boldly.” the initiative counteracts negative body image messages imparted by the media.

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We are one!

By lOrIe uHlMAnn

“He made from one the whole human race. … In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17: 26, 28).

In September 2015, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia will host the eighth World Meeting of Families. It is hoped that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, will attend the event. As we look to our understanding of family, Pope Francis wrote in “The Joy of the Gospel, “The family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences, and to belong to one another” (“Evangelii Gaudium,” 66).

“The Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” is the title of the working paper (“instrumentum laboris”) for the extraordinary synod to take place at the Vatican in October. It will be an opportunity to respond to the new challenges of the family.

It seems clear to many of the faithful that Pope Francis is very concerned about the family. He wrote, “The church is called to reflect on the path to follow, to communicate to everyone the truth about conjugal love and the family; and to respond to its many challenges. The church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors wide open, where there is a place for everyone…” (“Evangelii Gaudium,” 66, 41.)

So you might say to yourself, what does all this have to do with families that have members that have different abilities? EVERYTHING! In the synod’s working paper, the Vatican secretariat writes, “The family is acknowledged in the people of God to be an invaluable asset, the natural setting in which life grows and develops as a school of humanity, love and hope for society. The family continues to be the privileged place in which Christ reveals the mystery and vocation of the person” (31). It is critical that See We are one, Page 18

parents share their faith with their children and bring them to an awareness of Christ. As the paper states, “Christ must be the center of the family” (41).

As a family that faces daily challenges with members who have different abilities and needs, what can be done to keep Christ as the center? How can families live out their vocation of love as children of God? What are some practical things that can be done to maintain an enduring relationship with the family of God? In order to do these things, the following three actions are for reflection and consideration: communicate, collaborate, connect.

Communicate: It is so important for families to share the gift of themselves within their faith communities. Introducing oneself and children to the pastor, religious education director, deacon, pastoral associate and other staff members opens the doors of understanding in terms of the gifts the family members have to offer within the parish community, as well as the needs that may be present.

The synod document refers to the parish as the “family of families.” It is within this context that renewed pastoral care can sustain the family and its journey of faith no matter what circumstances may come along.

Collaborate: Working together and praying together in the life of faith and the church can make all the difference for families in their everyday experiences as well as the whole parish community. So often families that are living each moment with different challenges of its members exemplify the light of Christ wherever they go. They are living witnesses to the message of the Gospel in all that they do and say.

The synod document states that there is great “significance in the close collaboration of families/homes and the parish in the mission of evangelization as well as the need for active involvement of the family in parish life through support and solidarity on behalf of other families. In this regard, invaluable assistance comes from the community made up of families” (48).

Connect: As active members of the family of God, all need to look at new and creative ways of connecting with one another. There needs to be true exchanges between generations, with parents and caregivers actively participating in the process.

The synod document reflects, “Family ministry enables the engagement of so many brothers and sisters in the pastoral


WE ARE oNEContinued from Page 17

care of family that it can lead to new, effective forms of service for the church community, which, because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, is emboldened to ‘go out’ of itself in mission” (50).

Through communication, collaboration and connection, all can come to know the formative value of love within the family of God for all of its members. So then, the “family,” as the first, holy, domestic church, reflects the family of God as the school of love, the school of communion, the gymnasium for relationships, and the privileged place to learn and to build meaningful relationships that help each and every person develop a capacity for living and giving of oneself, as well as sharing the love of Christ.

When this happens, then all know they are welcome and live in response as one.

uhlmann is director of the diocesan Office for Faith Formation (Adults, Families, Persons with Learning Needs).

PRAYER TO THE HOLY FAMILYBy POPe FrAnCIS

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,In you we contemplate the splendor of true

love,To you we turn with trust.

Holy Family of Nazareth,Grant that our families, too,

May be places of communion and prayer,

Authentic schools of the GospelAnd small domestic churches.

Holy Family of Nazareth,May families never again experience

violence, rejection and division:May all who have been hurt or scandalized

Find ready comfort and healing.

Holy Family of Nazareth, May the approaching Synod of Bishops

Make us once more mindful Of the sacredness and inviolability of the

family,And its beauty in God’s plan.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph,Graciously hear our prayer!

Amen.

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teachings of her faith. “I know I should be thankful for what I have and

that God made all of us in his image and likeness,” she said.

Two years ago, when Christina Parrilla was struggling with her body image, she did not consider herself worthy of being photographed.

“I was unhappy with my body and hated looking at myself in the mirror,” said the 21-year-old, who is now a college student in Michigan.

At the Go Boldly photo shoot, however, she was affirmed and encouraged to embrace who she is.

“I am not a model, and a lot of times I feel weird just standing there and having someone take a bunch of pictures. What I loved most about being photographed by Bri is how comfortable she made me feel,” said Parrilla. She and her 16-year-old sister, Katherina, are from St. John Neumann Parish in Miami.

“We were reminded how we are all special and that we should love ourselves the way we are,” added Cuadra.

Luginbill’s type of photography, called photo therapy, helps those in front of the lens accept

their image and appearance. Many photo-therapy photographers feature pre- and post-partum bodies, as well as people afflicted by medical conditions of various kinds.

Christina Parrilla said she was able to see the impact of her non-Photoshopped portrait when it was enlarged for a rally organized by Go Boldly supporters. Rally participants displayed the campaign’s photographs near a Grand Rapids highway where cosmetic surgery billboards are located.

“I am still not used to seeing myself blown up on a poster, but it’s always fun to see,” Parrilla said. “I am so grateful to be a part of such a beautiful movement.”

The young women say they now feel compelled to communicate the importance of positive body image with others, especially in a body-conscious city such as Miami.

“I think women should love their bodies because it’s the only one they are going to get. Your eyes, nose, curves — those are all things that make you, you,” said Parrilla.

Cuadra said she will “constantly remind myself and others how truly special we each are.”

Morales is a correspondent for The Florida Catholic, newspaper of the Miami Archdiocese.

IMAGEContinued from Page 16

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By DeACOn lArry SuttOn

Over the years, in my work with the disabled, I have had to prescribe treatments for a disabled person to be conducted in their home or somewhere in their neighborhood. The fact is that families with a disabled child are often so busy that they have to prioritize and choose which child to take to an activity and which to leave at home. They want to do everything they can to help their disabled child or children.

The sad fact is that the number of families with a disabled child is growing. One estimate suggested that one in every 50 births in the United States is a child in the autism spectrum — and this number doesn’t include those non-autistic children with intellectual or sensory (hearing and vision) disabilities. Many of these people are found within our families and parishes.

Who is there to help these families, especially when the child is first diagnosed with a developmental disorder and the

family feels so isolated or alone? Aren’t these families some of the very people to whom Pope Francis refers when he speaks about the need for evangelization? If these are the same people, then we must ask whether our parish priests and parishioners are prepared to reach out and provide meaningful help, guidance and solace to these needy families?

These thoughts ran through my mind as I joined the staff of St. Vincent Seminary one year ago as director of pre-theology formation. Typically this program is a two-year preparation time required of men wishing to enter a seminary. It struck me that, with the seminary academic schedule so full, when could an aspiring priesthood candidate find the time to learn about ministry to the disabled? I thought, how could they experience and learn in such a way that it would be both exciting and meaningful for them — an experience that would leave them yearning for more?

Through the grace of God, two brothers,

Mark and Tim Shriver, the sons of Eunice Shriver, founder of the U.S. Special Olympics in 1962, offered to help me to include St. Vincent Seminary’s pre-theologians in the Pennsylvania Special Olympics Sports Summer Camp, held Aug. 10-16 at the Antiochian Village in Bolivar, Pennsylvania. This was a true “golden opportunity” for me to assist these fine men to enter into an “immersion experience in ministry” with disabled youth and adults.

At the camp, each seminarian was paired with another volunteer, and together they “lived” with a group of Special Olympic athletes for the week-long experience. I can still recall one of the seminarians’ plea to me after the first four hours at camp, when he asked me if I could help him because he felt “so out of my element …” Yet, by the third day of camp, this same man could be seen hand in hand with “his” athletes at meals, in sporting events and in their social activities.

Seminarians experience disability ministry by working

with Special Olympics

Assisting athletes at a Special Olympics camp helped pre-theology students from St. Vincent College gain a better understanding of people with disabilities.

See Olympics, Page 22

Photos courtesy of Deacon larry Sutton


The purpose of this immersion experience was in part to help these aspiring priests to learn about ministry to the disabled in safe and comfortable ways, and at the same time help them to begin learning about priestly formation and ministry.

We prayed morning and evening prayer together, and we celebrated Mass together each day. Starting out as individuals, these new pre-theologians learned to pray as a community, learned to share and celebrate the joys and disappointments of their newfound friends (the athletes), and all the while they were learning, in a firsthand way, what disability ministry and evangelization could be. They also experienced the added bonus of working with and learning from many other camp counselor/volunteers from the Orthodox tradition.

What was the most striking experience the seminarians had? It wasn’t just helping their athletes in the various sporting events. It wasn’t even the joy they saw as many of the athletes and counselors danced with each other before each meal or at recreation. Rather, it was the real and heartfelt

emotions that were shared in the newfound friendships they built with one another.

James, for example, despite having pretty good language skills, also has an intellectual deficit. The tenderness with which James spoke and the time he spent with his new friend (counselor) brought tears to all of our eyes at one point or another because it was a great example of a deep, genuine and innocent love.

Our participants in this immersion experience were introduced to an aspect of ministry not often made available in seminary formation — to disability ministry. By living for only one, intensive and exhausting week with some of God’s very special people, they had an experience that for some will be truly life-changing.

Pope Francis speaks often about the importance of evangelization — of helping Catholics return to the church, of work with families and of meaningfully including all people in our universal church. An often unacknowledged yet very real difficulty in this regard, though, is found in many of our very own parishes — namely, how to minister to individuals and families within our parishes where one or more members might be disabled.

oLYMPICSContinued from Page 21

Special Olympics athletes exhibit a spirit of friendly competition.

the participants anxiously await the results of their events to see where they placed among their friends.

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If we are to successfully follow Pope Francis’ challenge for evangelization, isn’t an immersion experience, such as we have supplied to our pre-theologians, an ideal way to begin to introduce future seminarians to it?

The Diocese of Pittsburgh is blessed to have many organizations that help and support the disabled, including the St. Anthony School Programs, DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, Catholic Charities and the McGuire Institute, to name just a few.

As the St. Vincent seminarians have learned firsthand, evangelization begins with building relationships and coming to understand those who are different from us, or who are needy. Ministry means going out of our comfort zones and learning to reach out to others in order to establish meaningful pastoral relationships with all God’s people.

Deacon Sutton was ordained in 1999 and is assigned to Our Lady of Grace Parish in Scott Township, where he has led a religious education program for autistic children and teens using teen faith mentors over the past 10 years. He is also director of the Pre-Theology Formation Program at St. Vincent Seminary in Latrobe. He can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].

the friendships forged during the camp will help future priests feel more comfortable ministering to people with disabilities.

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By CInDy WOODen Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY — Only those who recognize their own limits can accept the great gift of salvation in Jesus Christ, which is why Catholics with disabilities are such important and powerful witnesses of faith, Pope Francis said.

Meeting in March with close to 7,000 members, staff and volunteers of the Apostolic Movement for the Blind and the Little Mission for the Deaf, Pope Francis insisted it is “truly blasphemous” to believe that a physical limitation or disability is a punishment from God.

“Jesus radically refused that way of thinking,” he said.

“The person who is sick or has a disability, precisely because of his or her fragility and limits, can become a witness of the encounter: the encounter with Christ who opens one to life and to faith; and the encounter with others, with the community,” Pope Francis said.

“Only one who recognizes his own fragility, his own limits, can construct relationships that are fraternal and marked by solidarity in the church and in society,” he said.

The key to being a trustworthy, effective witness to Jesus, he said, is first having had the experience of meeting Jesus.

“A witness to the Gospel is one who has encountered Jesus Christ, who knows him or, better, feels known by him, recognized, respected, loved and forgiven. This encounter has touched him deeply, has filled him with new joy and given his life new meaning,” the pope said.

Discussing the story from the Gospel of St. John about the man born blind — the same Gospel story read at Masses around the world March 30 — Pope Francis said the man becomes a believer and witness to Jesus and to “the life, love and mercy” of God.

Father Delci da Conceicao Filho, a member of the Little Mission for the Deaf, told Pope Francis that too many parishes have, in effect, closed their doors to Catholics who

are deaf because they make no provision for sign language or other forms of assistance. Too often, he said, those who are deaf are “without catechesis, without the sacraments and with faith. They are unable to have a personal encounter with Christ because there is no one to sign for them or no one willing to make subtitles for them.”

Pope Francis, reciting the Angelus March 30 with visitors in St. Peter’s Square, returned to the Gospel story and urged people to read and re-read the ninth chapter of St. John’s Gospel during the coming week.

He said the story, which deals only briefly with the miracle of the man recovering his sight, speaks at length of the man’s faith and the Pharisees’ doubts. The story “opens with a blind man who begins to see and ends — curiously — with those who presumably can see, but who continue to remain blind in their souls.”

The Pharisees, “closed in their presumptions,

believe they already have the light and for this reason, they are not open to the truth of Jesus.” In fact, the pope said, their opposition to the light of Christ “becomes aggressive” and they throw the healed man out of the temple.

“Our lives sometimes are like that of the blind man who opens himself to the light, to God and his grace,” the pope said. “But unfortunately, sometimes we are a bit like those doctors of the law and from the heights of our pride we judge others and even the Lord.

“Today we are called to open ourselves to the light of Christ to bear fruit in our lives and to eliminate non-Christian behavior,” he said. “We are all Christians, but all of us — all of us — sometimes have non-Christian behaviors, behavior that is sinful. We must repent of this, eliminate these behaviors and decisively set out on the path toward holiness.”

Recognize your limits, open yourself to Christ, pope says

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By FrAnCIS X. rOCCA

Catholic News Service

KKOTTONGNAE, South Korea — Pope Francis visited a set of Korean Catholic institutions exemplifying some of his highest priorities for the church, including engagement of laypeople and dedication to the needy.

The pope’s Aug. 16 visit to the hilltop complex of the Kkottongnae community, about 60 miles south of Seoul, included time with disabled children and adults, speeches to members of religious orders and lay activists, and a moment of silent prayer at a symbolic cemetery for aborted children. It took place on the third day of his five-day visit to South Korea.

“To assist the poor is good and necessary, but it is not enough,” the pope told about 150 leaders of various Catholic lay organizations. “Multiply your efforts in the area of human promotion, so that every man and every woman can know the joy which comes from the dignity of earning their daily bread and supporting their family.”

Such dignity, the pope warned in an off-the-cuff addition to his prepared text, was currently under threat from a prevalent “culture of money.”

Pope Francis paid tribute to the Korean church’s unique tradition of lay leadership. All but one of the 124 martyrs he beatified earlier that day in Seoul were lay Catholics.

But the pope alluded to the possibility of tension with clergy, asking his audience to “work in complete harmony of mind and heart with your pastors, striving to place your own insights, talents and charisms at the service of church’s growth in unity and missionary outreach.”

The Kkottongnae community was founded in the 1970s by Father John Oh Woong Jin, a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and now operates in 10 countries outside Korea. The complex Pope Francis visited includes a retreat center, a spirituality training institute, a university specializing in social work and rehabilitation centers for disabled children and adults.

The pope’s first event at the complex was a meeting with about 70 disabled adults and children, some of them in wheelchairs or hospital beds. Before going inside, he removed his shoes as a sign of respect, according to custom at the center. He stopped and greeted the patients one by one, embracing them or placing his hands on their heads for a blessing, and watched a brief dance performance by the children.

A small boy in a wheelchair greeted the pope with a bouquet of flowers, which the pope placed at the foot of a statue of Mary. For the rest of his visit to the rehabilitation center, he wore a necklace of flowers he had been given.

Pope Francis spent the better part of an hour with the disabled, longer than planned, then visited the Garden of Aborted Children, where crosses mark the symbolic graves of the unborn. The pope prayed there with Brother Lee Gu-won, a missionary who was born without arms or legs and was abandoned at birth.

To get back on schedule, the pope canceled a celebration of vespers with members of religious orders, at which he had been scheduled to read an opening greeting and a closing benediction in Korean.

“There is no time,” the pope told the religious, almost all of them women, as he pointed to his watch with a smile.

But in a speech to the religious, the pope urged them to reaffirm their vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.

“Mature and generous obedience requires that you cling in prayer to Christ who, taking the form of a servant, learned obedience through what he suffered,” he said. “There are no shortcuts: God desires our hearts completely.”

“Chastity expresses your single-minded dedication to the love of God,” the pope said. “We all know what a personal and demanding commitment this entails. Temptations in this area call for humble trust in God, vigilance and perseverance.”

The pope’s strongest words concerned threats to the vow of poverty, as he warned against “all things which can distract you and cause bewilderment and scandal to others.”

“The hypocrisy of those consecrated men and women who profess vows of poverty, yet live like the rich, wounds the souls of the faithful and harms the church,” the pope said. “Think, too, of how dangerous a temptation it is to adopt a purely functional, worldly mentality which leads to placing our hope in human means alone and destroys the witness of poverty which our Lord Jesus Christ lived and taught us.”

Pope meets and honors Korean laypeople, religious and disabled


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2014 disability awareness magazine

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