ARTICLES

Inclusion Sunday brings new awareness on disabled

By Nita Grignol
Special to The Catholic Virginian

In recognition of the 30th Anniversary of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Pastoral Statement on Persons with Disabilities, our diocese held Inclusion Sunday June 15. The purpose of Inclusion Sunday was to heighten awareness of the gifts and talents that individuals with disabilities bring to their parishes.

In every church, one out of five, or 20 percent of the parishioners are disabled. The disability can be physical, sensory or intellectual.

The disabling condition can be from birth or acquired later in life.

We should ask ourselves are we reaching out to people with disabilities and their families to make them part of our communities?

Did more people with disabilities attend our churches on Inclusion Sunday? They did!

They came using wheelchairs, walkers and canes.

They came with portable oxygen tanks and with their seeing eye and service dogs.

They were provided with accommodations, large print materials, assisted listening devices, Braille, and Sign Language Interpreters.

They came from group homes, nursing homes, and assisted living facilities. They came with invisible disabilities such as brain injuries and learning disabilities.

Some came in silence because of the stigma associated with mental illness, even though one in four individuals experience some sort of mental illness in their lifetime.

With Inclusion Sunday many of our churches welcomed, encouraged and trained others with disabilities encouraging their participation.

Were we able to recognize their gifts and see their abilities? Yes, reported the 90-plus Disability Parish Advocates who worked to make their respective parishes all-inclusive. Their fellow parishioners and their pastors and deacons expressed gratitude.

At St. Michael’s in Glen Allen, Anne Meacham, who has Down Syndrome, did the first reading and, although visibly nervous, did a beautiful job.

When the second reader began he couldn’t help but express his feelings and stated, “what an honor and a privilege it is to follow our first reader.”

The whole congregation erupted in applause! Everyone recognized Anne’s gifts!

This was a powerful message since we live in a culture where 90 percent of babies whose mothers test positive for carrying a baby with Down Syndrome choose abortion.

Families brought their child with autism. These children who have trouble communicating and socializing often have behavior difficulties.

And when one child out of every 150 births falls in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), parishes filled with young families have many children with ASD. In these churches children with autism participated as gift bearers and greeters. It was reported that the parents’ pride in their children was evident to all, not to mention their children’s smiles.

Our seniors with disabilities were a part of Inclusion Sunday. At St. Bede’s Church in Williamsburg, Toni Collingwood, who uses a walker, struggled to get up to the ambo while over 1,000 parishioners watched as her husband helped her.

Throughout the diocese we saw couples assisting each other as one spouse experiences diminishing mobility, sensory or intellectual functioning. This causes us to remember our wedding vows “ ...in sickness and in health...” and sends a message to couples, both young and old!

The hospitality that we demonstrated was affirming to the families who provide the love and care for their family members with disabilities. The courage and determination to overcome obstacles that they shared with us made us realize that we can do more.

They make us recognize our own vulnerability and make us aware of our Catholic social teaching... “that human life is sacred.” We are all community! Regardless of a disability, we all still have the abilities that God has given each of us.

We left our Sunday Mass that day renewed in our faith of hope and remembering the Gospel on Inclusion Sunday, the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, especially the last two lines — Matthew 10:7–8, “As you go make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Without cost, you have received; without cost you are to give.”

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