Home
♦ Contents
♦
Search
♦
Contact Us
About NCPD
♦
News
♦
Issues
♦
Access
♦
Resources
♦
How You Can Help
|
Home
♦ Contents
♦
Search
♦
Contact Us
|
|
IN THE
SHADOW OF THE CROSS
I silently thanked God for the events of the previous evening. I had addressed a meeting of young people with muscular dystrophy about the benefits gained and lessons learned as a result of my disabilities. I asked them of their experiences with their evolving impairments. They had come with walkers, wheelchairs, canes and crutches. Some were unable to speak or see clearly. I suggested they silently reconsider our feelings about our disabilities. Late into that night each precious person affirmed the positive results brought by their limitations. In 1992 Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua told the thousands gathered in Vatican City for a conference on disabled persons in society, “A blind woman who is married, a mother, a computer instructor with a Master’s degree and a lector in one of our parishes states that for her ‘the greatest suffering is not in my disability but in the attitudes of others,’ who seek to define her by and confine her to her blindness.” He told of Frantz who confirmed to him that “we are handicapped by our ambitions, our intellect, and our pride from understanding as Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince put it that ‘what is essential is invisible to the eye’ but detectable by the human heart.” Frantz said just before his First Communion, “Father Tony, you are bringing Jesus to me today,” and the young priest answered, “Yes, Frantz and you are bringing me to Jesus.’” Shared Vulnerability But there is the pain of rejection as well as the satisfaction of new insights. A beautiful young woman who had a progressive neurological condition who brought a walker, then a scooter, and finally a motorized wheelchair into her world noted: “The priest asked me not to come any more. He said my increasing disabilities disturbed everyone else.” In a historic 1978 statement, the U. S. bishops affirmed: “If people with disabilities are to become equal partners in the Christian community, injustices must be eliminated and ignorance and apathy replaced by increased sensitivity and warm acceptance.” They noted we must educate ourselves “to appreciate fully the contribution people with disabilities can make to the Church’s spiritual life. They bring with them a special insight into the meaning of life, for they live, more than the rest of us perhaps, in the shadow of the cross. And out of their experience they forge virtues like courage, patience, perseverance, compassion and sensitivity that should serve as an inspiration to all Christians.” And twenty years later, in 1998 they stated “We welcome qualified persons with disabilities to ordination, to consecrated life, and to full-time, professional service to the Church.” In the presence of Pope John Paul II and thousands of people in Vatican City on December 3, 2000, the Jubilee Day for Persons with Disabilities, I said: “We, the disabled people of the world, must illustrate and teach the people of Christ’s Church the power of the powerless, the strength of our shared vulnerability, the wisdom of the concrete minded, the beauty to be glimpsed beyond sight, the healing words not spoken aloud.” In 1992, at an earlier gathering in the Vatican, I had the opportunity to tell the audience: “Our vulnerability, which has been encoded into our gene pool, is the catalyst which brings us into community and church with renewed recognition that we need each other and our Lord. When God tied the gift of life to the trait of vulnerability, He may have given us the only incentive which could counter our tendency to disregard of the rights and value of others. It is our common recognition of interdependency which weaves the threads of our societies together. Each time on of us feels needed and essential to another, the threads of that interaction are reinforced and the fabric which holds us together as Church and as society is powerfully strengthened.” Continuing Education One story of the loving and self-confident abilities of some of our brothers and sisters with disabilities is that of Jimmy Mulzet. He repeatedly said he needed to tell John Paul II how people with disabilities were treated in the Church. His friend, the late John Cardinal O’Connor, arranged for him to go to World Youth Day in Denver. To Jimmy, this was an opportunity which his intellectual “betters” insisted was impossible. But his “naďve” expectation resulted in the opportunity to join other young people in sharing his faith. The Pope gave Jimmy a “big hug,” and said, “God loves you.” That made Jimmy feel very blessed, and ever since he knew why God made him the way he is. “He wants me to go out and spread the word, to share the Gospel.” Jimmy says, “It’s just like god gave me a very special gift that I guess no one else has.” Another friend, a young woman whose tiny twisted body is usually nestled in a small wheelchair, was invited to address a major Catholic conference on the discrimination she faces in the Church and society. Her simple story of the taunts and disrespect she faced as a young girl moved the crowd, but then she shared the comforting image of being along with the wounded Christ. To the foot of the Cross she retreats to be with Him, who understood her pain and frustration. “I am then so close to Him. It is almost as if I am a part of Christ.” Later she was asked to read at a worship service, which she did beautifully. She mentioned later that she’d often volunteered to read or teach but is never allowed to do so. As each child born with a significant impairment struggles to survive and thrive, surely we are reminded of the miracle of the gift of life. Each time a person rises from a bed of pain and injury to return to living productively, we can glimpse in that will to return to their community the desire to join with Him in offering gifts to one’s family and society. And as we witness the smiles of joy, as well as the acceptance of the challenges of life shared by those who have few other ways to interact with us, how can we escape the reality that each human being is created to reflect some aspect of Our Heavenly Father with lessons to teach us. As our society grows more utilitarian each day, it is essential that we recognize and welcome our frail sisters and brothers who are living out our shared vulnerability. Blinding Light In my own case, before God granted me the gift of physical blindness, I was an intellectual bigot and had rejected applications from students with disabilities who had submitted applications to the graduate school where I taught. I failed to see merit in “flawed” people. And God looked down and thought there was something to be salvaged from the intolerant intellectual I had become. I lost my sight and later developed a range of disabling conditions. Each added to my education of how precious is the gift of life. I found I had much to learn from my colleagues - that my newly acquired blindness prevented me from making superficial evaluations of those I encountered. From my wheelchair I learned that people could treat an ex-professor as if she were a child. I unwillingly joined a community of people with a strong sense of their common concerns despite the differences in abilities and diagnoses. I slowly recognized there was beauty and unifying power in the ways in which our shared needs and gifts interact. Not long ago what I consider to be a miracle took place. After 30 years of blindness, surgery and heavenly blessing returned my sight to me. I never had prayed for that. I’ve only prayed that my words would convince the Church that those of us with assorted disabilities have an important role to play within our parishes and communities. I like to think that the Holy Spirit and those saints to whom I’d turned for guidance had looked down and said, “Look, she has finally learned the beauty of diversity. She understands that every life is precious. Maybe it would be a good idea to allow her to regain her sight in order that she might make the best use of the insights she has been given.” In December 2000, John Paul II advised, “The integration of disabled person has made progress, even though there is still a long way to go; indeed, there are some important and urgent needs on which it would be good to pause and reflect.” Let us come together and reflect. This article appeared in Lay Witness, the publication of Catholics United for the Faith, Steubenville, OH, May/June, 2002. |
Home ♦ Contents ♦ Search ♦ Contact Us ♦ Accessibility at This WebsiteAbout NCPD ♦ Guiding Principles ♦ News & Views ♦ Disability & Church ♦ Disability & Society ♦ Creating Access ♦ Resources ♦ How You Can Help
|