By Anthony Barich
Analysis
The Australian Bishops’ Commission for Pastoral Life has established a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Committee to facilitate the inclusion of people who are deaf and hard of hearing in church communities by the training of priests in sign language and greater use of interpreters at Mass.
This is a step forward, as most Australian dioceses have zero resources to cater for Catholics with these disabilities, let alone the myriad of other disabilities many Catholics have.
But problems abound as to the practicality of catering for people who are deaf and hard of hearing whose disabilities are as individual as they are.
This is compounded by the fact that there is only one full-time priest-chaplain for deaf and hard of hearing – Fr Paul Pitzen of the Archdiocese of Perth’s Emmanuel Centre run by and for people with disabilities.
Emmanuel is the only centre of its kind as it caters for a range of people with an even greater range of disabilities.
Emmanuel has helped establish several Mental Health Support and Well Being Groups around the Archdiocese and travels beyond its own Archdiocesan boundaries to run full day sessions with schools to create awareness of deaf and hard of hearing people, such as recent trips to Port Hedland in the Geraldton Diocese and Collie in Bunbury Diocese.
It is estimated that there are approximately 600 Catholic deaf in the Perth Archdiocese, with about 10 in Bunbury and a few more in Geraldton. Most of the Catholic deaf in Broome are understood to be Aboriginal.
Beyond WA, Sydney’s Ephpheta Catholic Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people services Sydney, Broken Bay and Parramatta. While it is well supported by Sydney Cardinal George Pell and specialises in signing for the deaf, it does not have expertise in catering for the hard of hearing.
Melbourne has the John Pierce Centre for Deaf Ministry, which services Victoria by dealing in Auslan, “our natural language”.
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Committee was launched on 29 September by the Australian Bishops’ Commission for Pastoral Life under the auspices of the Australian Catholic Disability Council (ACDC).
The committee, consisting of Emmanuel coordinator Barbara Harris and Fr Paul Pitzen, Ephpheta’s official translator Nicole Clark as chair, Ms Danni Wright and John Pierce Centre executive manager Rebecca Miller, will have monthly teleconferences and will meet face to face on 3-4 November in Melbourne.
The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Committee will address barriers to inclusion and participation in the Church experienced by people who are deaf and hard of hearing.
A new Youtube clip has been posted on the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference website in which Danni Wright, part-time community worker at Sydney’s Ephpheta Catholic centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing, signs the content of the press release announcing the new Committee.
ACDC chair Michele Castagna said the focus committee has an “extremely important role” in bringing issues to the attention of the wider Church community at all levels and is an outcome of participation in The XXIV International Conference Ephphetha!’ The Deaf Person in the Life of the Church held in Rome in November 2009.
Australia was the first country to report back with information about specific actions planned, the first step being the establishment of the National Committee for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Measures discussed and recommended by the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Committee will include training priests to use sign language, having regular interpreted Masses and other diocesan events and creating awareness throughout the Church of the rights by Baptism of deaf and hard of hearing people to fully participate at all levels in the life of the Church.
Ms Clark said the committee will be a voice for those who are often without a voice in the Church.
“The Church, through new action and a new approach, can truly fulfill the words of Jesus when He said ‘Ephpheta – be open’.
“With a true commitment to Jesus’ teaching, the Church can empower and encourage deaf and hard of hearing people to take their rightful place in the family of God”, Ms Clark said.
Barbara Harris told The Record that while the establishment of the committee is a much-needed step forward, addressing the tangibles of the deaf and hard of hearing requires lateral thinking.
“As deafness is very much an individual thing, you need not necessarily use the same resources because people’s deafness is so individual,” she said.
“It’s better to have creativity so that then you make the resources fit the person, not the person fit the resources.
“One really doesn’t understand that concept unless one really understands deafness.”