PASTORAL STATEMENT ON ACCESSIBILITY 

NOVEMBER 3,1991

"COME TO ME…”

The Church's Response to Disabled Persons

You are the exception if you have not had contact with a person who is disabled. Our diocese has a large population of persons, both children and adults, who are deaf, hearing impaired, blind, visually disabled, mentally retarded or otherwise developmentally disabled, wheelchair users, those using crutches or disabled in some other way.

As Christians, we are called to accept all people as created by our Father. At the same time, we are unfamiliar with the situation of so many of our brothers and sisters. We may feel awkward, and sometimes appear inadvertently cruel. What can we do? Jesus gives us some guidance.

Throughout his life on earth, Our Lord showed great compassion for all people. He embraced with his healing touch, those who seemed to be the most alienated or excluded by their circumstances or disabilities, so that they might know themselves and be known by others as members of the whole community. As disciples of Jesus we seek to imitate His compassion, for the compassion of Jesus is the very compassion of God.

The mission of the Church is to enable all persons to draw closer to God by the proclamation of Christ and his gospel. As we come to know Christ better, as we become his disciples in the community of the Church, we find ourselves becoming more and more like our compassionate God, filled with the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Throughout the centuries, the Church, in faithfulness to its mission, has continued to share the revelation given in Jesus. In our own time we have come to understand more clearly the universal love of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, as it applies in a special way to persons with disabilities. "This same Jesus who heard the cry for recognition from the people with disabilities of Judea and Samaria 2,000 years ago calls us, his followers, to embrace our responsibility to our disabled brothers and sisters in the United States."2 [PSPD‑1]

Certainly more than anywhere else, it is in the liturgy that we experience the Paschal Mystery and the very nature of the Church, and where we should find full communion with God. That this is one of the chief characteristics of the liturgy is stated clearly in the Constitution on the Liturgy of Vatican Council 11.

         "For the Liturgy . . . is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives and

         manifest to others the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church ... [which is] a sign

         lifted up among the nations, under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together,

         until there is one flock and one shepherd." [CL.2]

Likewise, the Constitution states that

         “…(the Church) earnestly desires that all the faithful be led to that full, conscious and active

         participation in liturgical celebrations called for by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation

         by the Christian people as 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people' [Ipt

         2.9; see 2:4‑5] is their right and duty by reason of their baptism." [CL‑14]

We are a sacramental Church. To exclude anyone from "full, conscious and active participation" in the life of the Church, especially in its liturgy, is to deny him/her full access to communion with God in the Church. If people are not welcomed to the Sacraments, they are not welcomed to the main source of life in the Church, the celebration in our midst of the Mystery of Christ in the Eucharist and in other Sacraments. To exclude anyone from full participation is also to deny ourselves complete access to the Church, that is to all the people who are members of the Body of Christ.

It is in the liturgy where this inclusion or exclusion is primarily experienced. Our bishops remind us that the liturgy should be a particular concern of the parishes:

         "It is essential that all forms of the liturgy be completely accessible to persons with disabilities, since

         these forms are the essence of the spiritual tie that binds the Christian community together. To

         exclude members of the parish from these celebrations of the life of the Church, even by passive

         omission, is to deny the reality of that community. Accessibility involves far more than physical

         alterations to the parish buildings. Realistic provision must be made for disabled persons to

         participate fully in the Eucharist and other liturgical celebrations. . ." [PSPD ‑ 23]

The parish is the heart of the Christian experience for many Catholics. It is in, from and through the parish that persons receive their spiritual sustenance and emotional support. The attitude of the parish community and the policies and physical make‑up of the parish facilities are of great significance. "Full, conscious and active participation" (CL‑ 14) in the whole of Catholic life by all should be the goal of every parish in our Diocese.

But a parish can be inviting or dis‑inviting to disabled persons. Whether we like it or not, what the parish does, or fails to do, says a lot about how accessible God seems to be to all in the community. Since we believe that God became accessible in Christ, and that the role of the Church is to embody that accessibility in the power of the Spirit ["Through him we have gained access by faith to the grace in which we now stand…" Rm. 5.21], then each parish should want to remove all the unnecessary physical and attitudinal barriers that seem to isolate any person from God.

For example, the physical set‑up of the parish church building can be a help or a hindrance in manifesting the community's openness to all members. At one time steps going up to the doors of the church building may have been understood as symbolic of an upward journey to God. Now we are much more conscious that, to the contrary, steps may say to the elderly person, who finds steps difficult, or to the person in a wheelchair: "Sorry, you do not have access to God in the same way we do; you cannot join us as we ascend to God."

A parish community that does not include disabled persons is itself an incomplete parish community. Exclusion diminishes a person and says to him/her that he/she is not capable or worthy of full participation, that he/she is not fully human. Exclusion denies all the faithful access to the gifts of all the people of God.

Likewise, the attitudes of parishioners can handicap an individual more than a disability itself. One sad way this can happen is when an agency announces plans to open a residence for disabled people. All sorts of objections, some of them based on faulty reasoning or lack of information, are voiced, at times even violently. Although the issues are often very complex, one cannot discount the influence of existing prejudices.

We have to be very careful in equating a disability with evil, and we certainly cannot equate a disability with sin. Jesus himself says that there is often a godly purpose to a disability ["It was no sin, either of this man or his parents. Rather, it was to let God's works show forth in him" Jn. 9.3]. Every circumstance in life, especially if there is suffering involved, presents an opportunity to grow in the image of Christ and to give glory to God.

As a result of false conclusions, the burden of guilt can be added to the reality of a disability: "There must be something wrong with me/him/her. I guess that I don't/he doesn't/she doesn't have enough faith." By concluding that the person with disabilities is in some way responsible for his/her own condition, we separate ourselves from the often unconscious fear that some type of sudden disability might happen to us.

The cry of the disabled person is the universal cry for recognition: "Look at me; see who I am; then accept me." Every disabled individual is a personfirst. Unfortunately many of us seem to consider persons with disabilities as "different," not quite whole, or outside the mainstream of other human beings. Non‑disabled persons are called to see that these "differences" are just that, differences amongpersons who are all equally human beings, children of God.

Our sense of compassion should motivate us to welcome, include and accept all persons, especially those who are marginalized or alienated. As Christians we recognize that all of us are in need of salvation. We are all limited in some ways, most of us in hidden ways. No person, however, wants a spotlight shining on his/her weaknesses, but on strengths: "See my abilities, not my disabilities."

Persons with disabilities do not want pity, but rather they want to be treated with dignity and respect. Once we begin to accept persons with disabilities fully, we will recognize that they have much to give to the Church and our communities. Whatever their condition, persons with disabilities must never be put in the situation of being only on the receiving end of service. They need to be recognized for the fact that each has many gifts and talents to give and to share.

Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul 11, has spoken out many times on these topics. In noting "The International Year of the Disabled Person," the Holy See listed four basic principles that should govern the way we relate with people who have a disability:

         1]  “ . . . the person with a disability ... isa fully human subject with the corresponding innate, sacred

         and inviolable right."

         2]  "Since the person suffering from disabilities is a subject with full rights, he or she must be helped

         to take his or her place in society in all aspects and at all levels as far as is compatible with his or her

         capabilities. "

         3]  "The quality of a society and a civilization is measured by the respect shown to the weakest of its

         members."

         4]  "The fundamental approach to the problems connected with the sharing by the disabled in the life

         of society must be inspired by the principles of integration, normalization and personalization."

Furthermore,

                 “…the person with a disability must be urged not to be content with being only the subject of rights,

         accustomed to receiving care and solidarity from others with a merely passive attitude. He is not only

         a receiver. He must be helped to be a giver to the full extent of his capabilities. "

There is a much higher percentage of disabled persons in the U.S. population now than ever before, especially among the elderly and the new born. In fact the two fastest growing sectors of the disabled population are the very old and the very young. Elderly persons have many of the difficulties of the disabled population: impaired mobility, hearing and/or visual impairments. Babies who otherwise would not have survived are now born alive, and many of them are left with severe disabilities because of advances in medical science. Similar medical advances have resulted in many accident victims surviving with injuries which lead to disabilities.

A disability should not be an obstacle to employability, especially by the Church. That includes not only employment of disabled lay people in the parishes and agencies of the Church, but the inclusion of disabled priests and religious, where possible, and in keeping with the mind of the Church. This would include two types of priests and religious: those disabled before ordination/profession and those disabled after ordination/profession. For the glory of God and the service of the Church, we are strongly in favor of including persons with disabilities in all ministries of the Church as far as it is compatible with each one's capabilities. Ministry should not only be ministry to disabled persons, but also ministry by and with disabled persons.

Of course, if persons with disabilities are to be active in employment and ministry within the Church, the places of employment and ministry have to be accessible to them. It is one thing to say that disabled persons are welcome to work somewhere, but it is another thing to make the necessary adaptations, not only in places, but also in persons and their attitudes. In fact, a change in attitude may prove to be the most significant and the most difficult one to make.

Access-ability is not a static goal to be achieved once and for all and then forgotten. Accessibility is a continuing process, an ongoing response‑ability.

I "Pastoral Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops on Persons With Disabilities" [formerly "Handicapped People"], Nov. 16, 1978. Hereafter PSPD, followed by paragraph numbers.

2 "Constitution on the Liturgy" ["Sacrosanctum Concilium'Jof theSecond Vatican Council. Hereafter CL, with paragraph numbers.

3 Cf. Holy See's Statement "On the International Year of the Disabled Person," March 4, 1981. [Hereafter, the term "handicapped" has usually been rendered as "persons with disabilities" in keeping with its usage in other parts of the Pastoral Statement.]