The Church And The Deaf Community

Be Opened! The Catholic Church and Deaf Culture offers readers a people’s history of deafness and sign language in the Catholic Church. Paying ample attention to the vocation stories of deaf priests and pastoral workers, Portolano traces the transformation of the Deaf Catholic community from passive recipients of mercy to an active language minority making contributions in today’s globally diverse church. Background chapters familiarize readers with early misunderstandings about deaf people in the church and in broader society, along with social and religious issues facing deaf people throughout history. A series of connected narratives demonstrate the strong Catholic foundations of deaf education in sign language, including sixteenth-century monastic schools for deaf children and nineteenth-century French education in sign language as a missionary endeavor. The author explains how nineteenth-century schools for deaf children, especially those founded by orders of religious sisters, established small communities of Deaf Catholics around the globe. A series of portraits illustrates the work of pioneering missionaries in several different countries—“apostles to the Deaf”—who helped to establish and develop deaf culture in these communities through adult religious education and the sacraments in sign language. In several chapters focused on the twentieth century, the author describes key events that sparked a modern transformation in Deaf Catholic culture. As linguists began to recognize sign languages as true human languages, deaf people borrowed the practices of Civil Rights activists to gain equality both as citizens and as members of the church. At the same time, deaf people drew inspiration and cultural validation from key documents of Vatican II, and leadership of the Deaf Catholic community began to come from the deaf community rather than to it through missionaries. Many challenges remain, but this book clearly presents Deaf Catholic culture as an important and highly visible embodiment of Catholic heritage.

This book is a study of a Christian theology without words, focussing on theology in the Deaf Community. Deaf people's first and preferred method of communication is not English or any other spoken language, but British Sign Language - a language that cannot be written down. Deaf people of faith attend church on a regular basis, profess faith in God and have developed unique approaches to doing theology. While most Western theology is word-centred and is either expressed through or dependent on written texts, theology in the Deaf Community is largely non-written. This book presents and examines some of that theology from the Deaf Community and argues that written texts are not necessary for creative theological debate, a deep spirituality or for ideas about God to develop.

The Church and Deaf People examines Jargen Moltmann's ecclesiology from the specific perspective of deaf people, who form a minority group within our society and who have been marginalized and effectively oppressed. Inspired by his contact with deaf people after his first wife became profoundly deaf and mindful of the example of his deaf grandmother, Roger Hitching sensitively examines the history and present experience of deaf people in relation to Moltmann's radical ecclesiology.

Following years of theology of deafness based on the premise that Deaf people are simply people who cannot hear, this book breaks new ground. Presenting a new approach to Deaf people, theology and the Church, this book enables Deaf people who see themselves as members of a minority group to formulate their own theology rooted in their own history and culture. Deconstructing the theology and practice of the Church, Hannah Lewis shows how the Church unconsciously oppresses Deaf people through its view of them as people who cannot hear. Lewis reclaims Deaf perspectives on Church history, examines how an essentially visual Deaf culture can relate to the written text of the Bible and asks 'Can Jesus sign?' This book pulls together all these strands to consider how worship can be truly liberating, truly a place for Deaf people to celebrate who they are before God.

Deaf people have the right to read, study, pray, worship, serve, discuss, and meditate on God's word. Ayres calls for the rediscovery of the spiritual legacy of the Deaf-World as he explores the history of ministry programs and proposes a definitive plan for the future. Deaf ministry patterns over the past forty years are highlighted and a description is given of the New Culture of Deafness--brought about by the radical changes in Deaf-World. Each chapter concludes with useful discussion guides for students or small groups. Ayres calls for the rediscovery of the spiritual legacy of Deaf-World as he explores the history of ministry programs and proposes a definite plan for the future. "An invaluable contribution to the field of Deaf ministry..." --Rick McClain, Deaf Pastor for College Church of the Nazarene, Olathe, Kansas "An unusually keen knowledge of the past, a strong sensitivity with the present, and a proposed plan for the future..." --Duane King, Founder/Executive Director, Deaf Missions, Council Bluffs, Iowa "God has clearly inspired Bob to write this book for precisely 'such a time as this.'" --Mary J. High, PhD, Associate Professor, Gardner-Webb University, Boiling Springs, North Carolina "Deaf Diaspora is a 'must read' for anyone who is active in or serving a Deaf Christian ministry..." --Mark Seeger, Pastor, Jesus Lutheran Church of the Deaf, Austin, Texas Included are inspirational personal narratives by Chad Entinger.

This report echoes the call of deaf people to be seen as true members of the Church of England and shows the real contribution that deaf people can make to the life of the Church.