EVANGELIZING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES ABOUT THE GREATER NEED FOR DISABILITY MINISTRY PART ONE..............

The following is the first of three columns on the next three consecutive Thursdays (June 19th, 26th July 3rd). I will be blogging in these columns on the need for a more comprehensive implementation of Ministry to Persons with Disabilities and Special Needs, by the Catholic Church in parishes and dioceses of the United States.  Please read, reflect, and respond to them, by posting your comments on my blog by Monday July 7th.  Thank you.  This is a project for my final exam in the New Evangelization class at the Catholic University of America, that is part of the Doctor of Ministry degree program I am studying for currently..............Father Troy David Powers

The Catholic Church believes in and teaches the sanctity of all human life from the moment of conception to natural death.  Respect for Life is at the heart of the morality we profess and practice as faithful Disciples of Jesus the Christ. The Catholic Moral Life calls us personally and communally to respect and reverence the inherent dignity of the human person.  Therefore, the Church Jesus founded as the Body of Christ in the World must be welcoming and inviting of every person who wants to be present and to participate in the Catholic Church.  That is true in regards to my particular focus for evangelizing you - the greater need for Disability Ministry in the Catholic Church of the United States.

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (U.S.C.C.B.) were groundbreaking and  prophetic in publishing a 1978 Pastoral Statement on Ministry to Persons with Disabilities.  The U.S. Bishops Pastoral Statement on Disability Ministry predated by a dozen years the Americans with Disabilities Act, (A.D.A.) which became the federal law of the land in 1990.  The 1978 Bishops Statement is morally driven and based on the Gospel Values of Jesus' inclusive and healing Ministry.  Jesus embraced the sick, the diseased, and the disabled.  He reached out to them with welcoming and compassion.

Just as, "concern for people with disabilities was one of the prominent notes of Jesus' earthly ministry" (USCCB Pastoral Statement 1978 paragraph 4) so too must our response and ministry to persons with disabilities and special needs, be selflessly free of indifference, insensitivity, prejudice, and discrimination.  ..."Recognizing that individuals with disabilities have a claim to our respect because they are persons, because they have a share in the one  redemption of Christ, and because they contribute to our society by their activity within it", (Pastoral Statement 1978 paragraph 11) we must do more than, "affirm" their rights, we must "advocate" with and for the disabled, as the requirement of, "every individual and organization in the Church... for "justice"... in meeting their personal and social needs".

The wholeness of the Catholic Church in the United States and throughout the World is achieved individually and collectively only with he acceptance, welcome, presence and participation. of all persons, especially those among us who have disabilities or special needs. Their desire and Christian right to the Church  being  accessible, inclusive, and empowering, of their, "full, active, and conscious", presence and participation is a given priority of both Jesus' Ministry and the Pastoral Statement of the U.S. Bishops.  The summation of the 1978 Statement found in paragraph 33 evangelizes us about this call to action very aptly : "People with disabilities are not looking for pity.  They seek to serve the community and enjoy their full baptismal rights as members of the Church.  Our interactions with them can and should be an affirmation of our faith.  There can be no separate Church for people with disabilities.  We are one flock that serves a single shepherd".

Why then after three dozen years since the U.S. Bishops Pastoral Statement on Ministry to Persons with Disabilities, are we still struggling to get dioceses and parishes to  embrace and implement it ?  Next Thursday June 26th, I will blog about the first and most fervent fruit to be derived from the 1978 Pastoral Statement - The National Catholic Partnership for Disability (NCPD) and the yeoman, cutting edge, work they have been doing since 1982, in bringing Ministry to those with Disabilities and Special Needs ever more into existence in the Catholic Church of the United States..............fr.tdp

Please take time to share with me your response to this blog column by posting a comment.  Thank You.