THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC PARTNERSHIP ON DISABILITY AND THE US BISHOPS PASTORAL STATEMENT 1978.............

In 1982, the year I entered seminary formation for my native local Diocese of Sacramento California, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America founded the 'National Catholic Partnership For Disability', an outgrowth of the 1978 U.S. Bishops Pastoral Statement on Persons With Disabilities.  I have been aware of the Pastoral Statement and National Catholic Partnership for Persons with Disabilities, (NCPD) for several years since my Ordination to the Diocesan Priesthood for the Church of Sacramento and our 20 counties, having ministered in 10 parishes in 5 counties of the twenty, since May 2, 1987.  I have become even more familiar with both the National Disability Partnership and the U.S.C.C.B. Pastoral Statement expressing support for, the Inclusion and Empowerment of, the Disabled in the Catholic Church and Society of the United States, as I strive to preserve my active priestly ministry and resume working full time after a year and a half of being involuntarily and unfairly warehoused in a seniors residence.  In this column today I will blog about it and share insights into how it applies to me and other disabled and still able to minister priests, religious, deacons, and laity, who are Catholic-Christians in the nation of the USA.
When the American Bishops of the Catholic Church authored their Pastoral Statement on involving Persons With Disabilities with the GOAL of their Full Inclusion in the Church and Society, as is attested to at the top of the NCPD web page on Facebook, they were being prophetic in the truth and fidelity of Jesus, and Gospel Values.  They were also being trailblazers in the USA, as their 1978 Pastoral Statement on our personal, communal, and national, responsibility for advancing full and equal opportunities, preceded the enactment of the Federal Government's Americans With Disabilities Law passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President George Herbert Walker Bush, in 1990.  So why is their any question about the exclusion or obstacles to to accessibility for the Disabled 23-35 years after these landmark accomplishments, particularly in the U.S. Catholic-Christian Church ?.  To give you an introductory preview of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Pastoral Statement on Persons With Disabilities, which I will blog about more extensively in the weeks ahead, let me quote to you from the first paragraph of that Document.

 "The same Jesus who heard the cry for recognition of the people with disabilities  of Judea and Samaria 2,000 years ago calls us, His followers, to embrace our own responsibilities for our own disabled brothers and sisters in the United States.  The Catholic Church pursues its mission by furthering the spiritual, intellectual,moral, and physical development of the people it serves.  As pastors of the Church in America, we are committed to a deeper understanding of both the pain and the potential of our neighbors who are blind, deaf, mentally retarded, emotionally impaired, who have special learning problems, or who suffer from single or multiple physical handicaps - to all those whom disability may set apart.  We call upon people of goodwill to reexamine their attitudes toward their disabled brothers and sisters and promote their well being with the same sense of justice and compassion that the Lord so clearly desires. Further, realizing the unique gift individuals with disabilities have to offer the Church, we wish to address the need for their integration into the Christian community and their fuller participation in its life."...NOVEMBER 16, 1978 - 1st Paragraph of the U.S.C.C.B. Pastoral Statement on Persons With Disabilites

Why then, are I or any other disabled priest, religious, deacon, or lay person, in the Diocese of Sacramento or anywhere in the Catholic-Christian Community of the USA, delayed or denied the opportunity to serve and share in the mission and ministry of our Church, in carrying out the Vocation we have received by virtue of our Baptism coupled with either ordination, profession, or personal commitment ?  We must continue to work and pray for the enlightened and wholehearted  preference of all Bishops and their staffs, for including and empowering those of us who are Disabled not unabled.   What Does Jesus The Christ expect the Church He founded, to Do ???.............Father Troy David Powers