In a new fiscal year we have a new format for Affiliate Connect meetings with changes designed to increase the benefit to Affiliate Dioceses. Affiliate Connects remain open only to persons in Affiliate Dioceses. Not sure if you are in an Affiliate Dioceses? Check here.
New this fall:
- Expanded time for more networking time! Affiliate Connects are now one and a half hours. We will start with 15 minutes of open sharing in breakout rooms, keeping you with your peers. Following a presentation on a topic inspired by feedback after previous Affiliate Connects, you will have more time to discuss with peers, finishing with about 10 minutes of large group processing or questions.
- Open to diocesan AND parish leaders! Registration links will be sent to diocesan disability ministry leaders one week prior to the event and are asked to share the invitation with parish leaders.
September's topic: Theological, practical, and social obstacles and opportunities for Catholics who are blind or have low vision
In the presenter's words:
In this presentation I will discuss common questions and concerns that blind Catholics face. At a very practical level, we often struggle with basic participation; finding a ride to mass, walking through the communion line, and finding the right fit for parish ministries to participate in. But we want more than help with specific tasks; to feel truly comfortable in a parish, most of us need these offers of assistance to become true and equal friendship. I will share how I have navigated these challenges, currently attending mass with my wife and two children and singing in a Gregorian chant choir. But our concerns extend to theological questions. How do we interpret Jesus’s particular ministry of healing blind people? Do we think of blindness as one of the many crosses that people bare, or think of our struggles in some different way? How do we meditate on the eucharist without being able to see it during adoration? I have my own thoughts, but I will try my best to get the perspectives of blind friends from a variety of backgrounds before the talk.
