by Marie Elena Giossi
For Patricia Guinyard and Gloria Casanova, being able to receive the sacrament of reconciliation in their native tongue is a rare gift.
Guinyard and Casanova are deaf, and in order to confess their sins, they usually need an interpreter to come into the confessional with them or they have to write their offenses on slips of paper and hand it to the priest.
Last Saturday, these women had the benefit of experiencing the sacrament in the manner and language most natural to them because they had a confessor who was fluent in American Sign Language (ASL).
Opportunities to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and the Eucharist were available and accessible at an afternoon of recollection for persons with disabilities and for the deaf at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Flatlands, on May 3.
“Jesus Heals” was the theme of the afternoon, which also included a luncheon, a reflection on the theme by Father Dwayne Davis, parochial vicar, recitation of the rosary and Divine Mercy Chaplet, and Mass with an ASL interpreter and closed captioning.
Sponsored by the Catholic Charities Office for Parish and Community Services, this event was one of four diocesan events planned for persons with disabilities this year, explained Father James Bradley, coordinator of disability services for Catholic Charities.
“It is important that everyone feel included and part of the Church,” Father Bradley said. Events such as this one, he said, “witness to the whole Church that we are an inclusive community.”
He noted that St. Nicholas of Tolentine parish, Jamaica, held a similar event on April 27. A Mass of Inclusion and reception is set for St. James Cathedral-Basilica, Downtown Brooklyn, June 1, and another gathering will be scheduled this fall.
Organized by local parish advocates for persons with disabilities (PWD), the day at St. Thomas Aquinas was designed to help participants “get closer to God and Mary,” said Joanna Delfino, St. Thomas Aquinas’ advocate for PWD.
“It’s important for handicapped people to know they’re important in the Church,” said Delfino, who has struggled with health issues for 15 years.
Craved Community
When she first became disabled, she felt isolated from her faith family. Physical ailments kept her in the hospital and confined to bed for several months. Though she craved community, she was unable to fully participate in the life of the Church.
Sensing a sheep was going astray, the late Father Thomas Lyons, former parochial vicar at St. Thomas Aquinas, reached out to keep her in the fold.
“Father Lyons would not let me lose my faith,” she said.
He visited and prayed with Delfino, and when she was hospitalized, he would go to her house to cook for her father, who couldn’t care for himself.
That compassion preserved her faith at a difficult time in her life, and now she’s made it her mission to help others with disabilities stay close to God.
She welcomed attendees to Msgr. King Hall for an opening luncheon, where Msgr. John Brown, pastor, also personally greeted guests. Food and beverages were served by parish youth, including students with special needs whom she instructs in the catechism.
James Flynn, 11, donned plastic gloves as he placed sandwiches on attendees’ plates.
“I’m volunteering to hand out food today,” said Flynn, a sixth-grader who has cerebral palsy, “because I like helping people. It feels good.”
Among those Flynn served was Dr. Robert Harsen, an educator who also has cerebral palsy. He works to “bring Christ to others” as a PWD advocate at Mary, Queen of Heaven Church, Old Mill Basin.
“Very often in our own parishes we feel alone,” Harsen said. “When we come together like this, we feel like we are really part of the Church.
“We need to know we are not alone. Even if we don’t see each other all the time, we know there are other people out there,” Harsen said.
“At Mary, Queen of Heaven, I know I’m accepted and loved and respected for who I am. I think that is all any one of us wants.”
Addressing the attendees, whose disabilities were both visible and invisible, Father Davis acknowledged, “This journey of life is difficult at times.”
Sometimes, he said, people lose hope, and they think no one cares for them.
But he assured the faithful that “the Lord never tires to listen to each and every one of us. Go to Him and pray.”
And he noted that prayer “is not going to the Lord with all the choice and best words. Prayer is a real openness to speak to Him from our circumstances and seek healing.
“Though we may want big healings, though we may want big miracles, Jesus brings small miracles and healings into our lives every day,” said Father Davis, inviting attendees to be open to the blessings in their lives.
Fellowship was one of the blessings enjoyed last Saturday, as attendees had time to share their stories with each other. They offered words of encouragement and support and even some suggestions, such as removing a few pews in a church’s worship space for people with wheelchairs and walkers and offering confession outside a small, enclosed stall.
“Someone in a wheelchair can’t fit into most confessionals,” explained Delfino.
For that reason, confession stations were set up throughout the parish church during the penance service. Fathers Bradley and Davis were available for confession as was Father Raphael Mundy-Kukana, parochial vicar at Our Lady of Mercy, Forest Hills, who is fluent in ASL.
Father Mundy learned sign language as a seminarian and offers an ASL Mass every fifth Sunday at St. Mary, Mother of Jesus Church, Bensonhurst.
“Deaf people and people with disabilities are part of the Church, and they have to feel included,” he said. “I think it brings more life to the Church.”
For Guinyard and Casanova, parishioners at St. James Cathedral-Basilica, the presence of a signing priest was a blessing.
Speaking through her interpreter, Michelle Santarpia, Guinyard said that being able to go to confession to Father Mundy was “really wonderful.”
“When I have someone I can communicate with, I feel very comfortable,” she said.
