Newspaper Page Text
April 24,1980
PAGE 5
Handicapped But Whole
BY FATHER
CORNELIUS J. VAN DER POEL, C.S.Sp.
Some years ago I wanted to discuss some
aspects of family ministry with the couple
who led the local Marriage Encounter group.
I invited the couple to the rectory. They
were newly-elected and my appointment was
fairly recent. We had never met.
I do not know now what my expectations
were. I like to think that I am open-minded.
Nonetheless, I was surprised to see a
gentleman struggle to pull a wheelchair up
the four steps to the rectory entrance. I
hesitated for a moment but regained my
composure soon enough to help him with
the last step. He made no explanations for
the wheelchair. It was clear that the
wheelchair was part of this couple’s life and
relationship.
My original plan was to meet in my study
upstairs. Since this was clearly impractical
and since the downstairs parlors were
occupied by other visitors, the dining room
was the only choice. I told them frankly
why we were there and they laughed. We
had a great meeting.
I doubt that I am the only person who,
perhaps unconsciously, expects that active
ministry must be done by able-bodied
people. Too often people feel sorry for
handicapped persons and, perhaps without
intending to do so, place them on a level
different from that of the non-handicapped.
The kinds and degrees of handicaps are
almost innumerable. They include minor
disability, total paralysis and intellectual or
emotional disability. Sometimes
handicapped persons can be active
physically; sometimes they are incapable of
any physical activity; sometimes their
activity is impaired.
Unfortunately, people who are not
handicapped are inclined to use standards
that apply to themselves as the proper
measure for what is normal and acceptable.
They become uneasy, then, in the presence
of people who are different. It is often
simpler to overcome this uneasiness by
treating handicapped persons as objects of
concern rather than partners. Yet, many
handicapped people can teach important
lessons in life.
I remember a young couple about to get
married. He was a paraplegic who had
injured his back in a swimming pool
accident. He was able to sign his name only
Discussion
Points And Questions
1. Father van der Poel indicates that many people, perhaps
unconsciously, assume only persons without handicaps can participate
in ministry. What would the reasons for this be?
2. What kinds of handicaps are there?
3. What sorts of handicapped persons have you met in your parish,
at work or in your social life? How are they treated?
4. How were David, Irene and Mary able to participate in the liturgy,
according to Brother Maloney?
5. What does Brother Maloney mean by the term, “invisible
Christians?”
6. Imagine you are a handicapped person. How would this change
your life? How could your parish help you?
after placing a special holder on his hand. He
did this very slowly and with great
awkwardness.
His fiancee, a very efficient secretary,
quietly sat back and watched him do it his
way. A year earlier she did not have that
patience. I am not sure whom I admired
more, the young man who put up a fantastic
struggle to overcome his paralysis, or the
young woman who loved him for what he
was and had the courage to let him be
himself. Her acceptance supported his
remarkable success and gave him a sense of
personal value. His need deepened the
beauty of her personality.
People who are not handicapped are
frequently more result-oriented than
person-oriented. The widow in the Gospels
of Mark and Luke had, apparently, a
handicap: She had no money to put in the
offering box. Yet Jesus did not consider this
a handicap. He told his followers that her
limitation gave her a special kind of courage
and would not keep her from being a partner
in worship.
The Gospels, as well as human
experience, teach that results and efficiency
are not the only important factors in human
action. God called us to use our capabilities
as effectively as possible. Therefore, personal
dedication becomes at least as important as
results. In this way we give back to God
what God gave to us.
Every neighborhood and every parish has
people with some form of handicap.
Frequently they are objects of concern.
Seldom are they accepted as partners in
parish activities and ministry.
This is not always the fault of the parish
community. Sometimes handicapped
persons are self-conscious and feel inferior
because they too are result-oriented.
Sometimes it is hard for the handicapped to
accept themselves as they are.
However, it is necessary for handicapped
and non-handicapped people to accept their
condition as a challenge for a totally
personal response to God. In this way, the
handicapped can experience personal value
and can offer their specific services to
others. Non-handicapped people can learn to
accept the handicapped as they are. All,
then, are full-fledged partners in the most
central human vocation.
MANY PEOPLE FEEL,
consciously or unconsciously, that
active ministry must be done by
able-bodied people, Father Cornelius
J. van der Poel writes. As soon as a
person is handicapped we are inclined
to feel sorry, he says. By this attitude
we place them on a different level
than “normal” people, which may not
always be charitable. (NC Photo by
Mimi Forsyth)
Invisible Christians
MARY PENNY works at her desk in the chancery foyer
in Omaha, Neb. Childhood diabetes has left her totally blind
in one eye and with only a small amount of sight in the
other. Despite her handicap, she has served two archbishops
since 1962 and feels she lives a full and fruitful life. (NC
Photo)
Just A Penny
BY JOHN C. MCGINN
To those who do not know her, she is just
a Penny.
But to those who do, she is worth a
million.
Not in dollars, of course, but in the value
of her everyday commitment to Christian
witness and service.
Mary Frances Penny, secretary from
1962-76 for two archbishops of Omaha,
Neb., is a person with a special message for
fellow-diabetics.
The 1949 Cathedral High graduate moved
from her secretarial position to that of
receptionist in the archdiocesan chancery -
not because her speedy typing fingers have
slowed, but because progressive diabetic
blindness has taken its toll.
Mary is blind in her right eye and has
only a small amount of sight in the other.
But she is fantastic at recognizing the voices
of callers. Persons coming into the chancery
foyer are unaware that she has no idea who
is there until they speak.
Courage became a Mary Penny trademark
many years ago. She developed diabetes at
age 9 when she was a third-grader in St.
Cecilia’s Grade School in Omaha. Insulin
shots have been part of her life each day
since.
As secretary for the late Archbishop
Gerald T. Bergan and then to Archbishop
Daniel E. Sheehan, Mary observed the
archdiocesan scene from a special vantage
point. She followed post-Vatican II
developments at close range. Mary likes most
of what she has seen and feels that the
bishops at the council “knew what they
wanted to do, and did it.”
Her sight remained good until about 15
years ago. Total darkness came to the right
eye about five years ago, and the left “is
steadily worsening,” Mary said. Laser-beam
treatments in the early 1970s helped for a
time, but no longer are able to slow the
disintegration.
Not one to complain, Mary instead
rejoices that she continues to enjoy a full
life. She has taken some training in Braille
and looks upon her pending blindness with
amazing resignation. She says: “I know God
is on my side. There is nothing to worry
about.”
Mary has seldom missed a day on the job,
despite her troubles. Because of this, she is
sensitive about the job discrimination many
diabetics experience.
“You hear about a few bad diabetic cases,
but they do not tell the whole story.
Thousands of persons have diabetes and are
on the job every day,” she declared.
An only child, Mary lives with her
84-year-old father, Frank, a retired insurance
auditor. She cared for her mother during her
final years. The only time she became
depressed was when her mother passed away
several years ago. “Three months after
mother’s death,” my own illness “really hit
me and it was hard for awhile,” Mary said.
But, thanks to friends and co-workers, she
soon felt better.
Mary is active in the Nebraska chapter of
the American Diabetes Association. She
promotes their activities, partly to combat
discrimination, but also because heredity
plays such an important role in the disease.
“It is important for parents to know if
there is a history of the illness in their family
backgrounds, and also to know how to cope
with the problems if diabetes strikes,” she
notes.
Various groups formed by the association
enable interested persons, such as Mary, to
help spread information about the control of
diabetes.
BY BROTHER JOSEPH MALONEY
On a recent Sunday in a parish church
nestled in a Currier-and-Ives setting, several
unique events occurred. Irene sang her first
solo in the choir, Mary enjoyed the homily
and David rang the bell at the Consecration.
The events were unique because these
people are members of a special group in
parishes who can be called invisible
Christians.
Irene is 28 and lives in her own
apartment. She teaches math in a local high
school and loves her students. She belongs to
the Rosary Society and the choir. When the
professor told her he wanted her to sing the
solo during the Communion reflection, she
was astonished.
Solos are sung in churches every day of
the week. But Irene’s rendition of “Be Not
Afraid” brought tears to the eyes of many
people. Irene is blind. A gentle tug on the
leash of her golden retriever brought her to a
halt at the lectern. She read the music,
placing her fingers on the brailled paper, and
sang along with the guitar.
Mary is 22 and works at a local
newspaper as a typesetter. She had been
attending a church service once a month 20
miles from her home. One day she received a
letter from her local parish inviting her to
attend a special Mass on Sunday morning.
She could hardly believe her eyes as she read
the letter again and again.
That Sunday she arrived 15 minutes early
and sat in the front, left section as the letter
indicated. Father Bob winked a big hello and
Mary responded with a wave.
Just before the announcements, a woman
placed herself in front of the pews on Mary’s
side. Simultaneously with the lector she
signed the announcements, prayers, hymns
and the homily in the language of the deaf.
For the first time in her life, Mary
participated in the Mass in her parish church.
David is 26 years old, lives with his family
and enjoys music. For many years he has
had a deep relationship with Jesus. He
attends Mass with his mother and gains
much strength from the warmth of the
parishioners. David also has a special
fondness for Father Bob. David received
confirmation and Communion when he was
14.
On this special Sunday, David
contributed to the Mass by ringing the bell
at the Consecration. He practiced for weeks
with his sister, Marie, and Father Bob.
Ringing the bell was no easy matter for him.
David has had cerebral palsy since his birth
and has little control over the movements of
his body. At times he must be restrained in
his wheelchair so he will not hurt himself.
Instead of being invisible Christians these
young adults, who happen to have
handicaps, were able to participate fully in
the life of the church. They did their
assigned tasks well. Their presence and
ministry was seen and felt by the
parishioners.
There are thousands of Davids, Irenes and
Marys who are invisible Christians. Often
their gifts remain untapped and their
participation in church is minimal or
non-existent. They are kept out by physical
barriers and by attitudinal barriers of fear,
misunderstanding or pity.
But there is hope for the future. The
1980s may well be the decade when the
handicapped are invited to join more fully in
parish ministry. When this takes place the
church can truly boast of being one flock,
following a single shepherd.
KNOW
YOUR FAITH
(All Articles On This Page Copyrighted 1980 By N.C. News Service)
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