Newspaper Page Text
Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
Vol. 23. No. 26
Thursday, July 18, 1985
$10.00 Per Year
A MILESTONE-In its tenth year, the Corpus
Christi ministry to the deaf hosted a regional
gathering of the National Catholic Office for the
Deaf. Among the speakers was Father Ray
Fleming, one of about six deaf priests in the
United States.
ROLE MODELS-Brother Rene Robert,
Chaplain of the Florida School for the
Deaf/Blind, at left and Father Fleming, right
Corpus Christi Workshop
Blazing Trails
For The Deaf
BY RITA McINERNEY
“Is being a deaf priest hard?”
The question was put to Father RayFleming,pastor of St.
Mary’s Church for the Deaf in Rochester, N.Y., by Brent
Shiver, 12, a deaf member of Corpus Christi Church, Stone
Mountain. Brent, an altar boy, is giving thought to his
future.
“It is a very difficult thing being a priest in 1985. For
Catholics it is the best and worst of times, there is excite
ment and creative tension. To be deaf today is also a dif
ficult thing because it means being part of a minority group
struggling for recognition and rights not only in the Church
but in society in general. Being deaf is a very exciting thing
because we are more and more recognized as a minority
and a culture and the language is being accepted as a
language. If you put them together there are very few
models. So, it is very exciting to be a trailblazer. Hopefully,
that same kind of excitement will be here for you and all the
young people in the Church today.”
Father Fleming is newly assigned to the Rochester
church which has a congregation of 250 on the parish list
and a weekly attendance of about 50. He is 34 and was or
dained three years ago in the Diocese of Rochester. Assign
ed first to a non-deaf parish in Webster, N.Y., his new
assignment to the deaf parish was “hoped for but not ex
pected.”
He was at the Stone Mountain Church for the three-day
workshop for the deaf, held July 11 to 13 by the Atlantic
Seaboard Region of the National Catholic Office for the
Deaf. (NCOD) He is one of about six deaf priests in the U.S.,
actually, he believes, only the third priest who grew up
deaf.
(Continued on page 12)
“listen” to the signs of Brent Shiver, a 12-year-
old Corpus Christi parishioner and altar boy.
Single-Parent Families
New Program Brings
"Rainbows" To Kids
BY GRETCHEN REISER
Concern among counselors, teachers and religious
educators about the struggles of children who have
experienced a family divorce is leading to the in
troduction of a special program for the children.
“Rainbows For All God’s Children” hopes to pro
vide a setting for children, ranging in age from early
grades through high school, to meet regularly with
others their own age who are experiencing the same
or similar situations. The program, designed by a
Chicago mother, who is a single parent, and a priest
from the archdiocese of Chicago, is for children who
have suffered the loss of a parent through separation,
divorce or death, and for children living in step
families. An adult who is trained to guide discussion
and activities will lead each group.
“The real foundation is that it is a nurturing sup
port group,”said Diane Huey,who is volunteer coor
dinator of the “Rainbows” program for the ar
chdiocese. A counselor who works in several
parishes, Ms. Huey is also a single parent and the
mother of two teenaged sons, who is aware of the
need she and her sons have had at different stages of
their family life for support and encouragement.
(Continued on page 8)