OCDR – ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN DISABILITY RESOURCES
venerationEven if persons with developmental disability lack the potential to ever reason abstractly, their experience of the Mysteries (the Sacraments) can be just as rich as those who can reach that stage. For the Mysteries have Divine depth, and always beckon one forward to greater participation and fuller comprehension of their import. For the experience ultimately transcends conceptualization.
Fr. John Breck, in “Down Syndrome at Pascha,” in his book God With Us: Critical Issues in Christian Life and Faith, describes Marie, a woman who had Down Syndrome, at the Holy Friday service: (pp. 66-67)
“She was entirely dressed in black. Her face was streaked with tears, her head was bowed, and her arms hung down at her sides. As she approached the shroud, she slowly made the sign of the cross three times, prostrated herself before it, and for a moment kept her head to the floor. Then she rose, kissed the face and then the feet of Christ, and finally venerated the Bible and the Cross. “
Here’s a word from the publisher on the Fr. John’s book as well as the site through which one may order it: http://www.svspress.com/product_info.php?products_id=79
Marie’s heart was prepared for the worship of God and the honoring of the symbols which reveal Him. One who would seek to truly touch the hem of His garment with a pure heart in the same way would also need to prepare himself; this involves the devotion of time and effort, and more importantly, the gracious response of Him Who Is Love (A Fire!). On participating in the Mysteries of the Orthodox Church, see here: http://www.antiochian.org/node/16917
For more on the Orthodox Church, see also http://www.antiochian.org/node/16958
In regard to persons with diability and the experience of the Mystery of Christ, See also Fr. Stephen Plumlee’s 1986 article, from the Orthodox Church in America’s Resource Handbook- Parish Development Page, The Handicapped and Orthodox Worship: http://oca.org/resource-handbook/parishdevelopment/the-handicapped-and-orthodox-worship
photo from http://stjohndfw.info/
our Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus said, “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed.”(Luke 14:13-14a) St. John Chrysostom had much to say about this in his sermons. And St. Paul also addresses this same call in relation to Church life: “The parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable.” (1 Cor. 12:22)
My wife Margaret and I have been advisors for persons with intellectual disability for an organization in Lancaster County, PA, Friendship Community, for many years. There have been joys all along the way, but there have also been struggles. But we have pressed with this life, strengthened from above to do it. Thanks be to God.
In 1999, accumulating questions on the variety of ways Protestant churches “stand on the Bible” led me (and Margaret) to visit St. John Chrysostom Antiochian Orthodox Church. In the following year, these questions were put into the perspective of the Apostolic Tradition by Fr. Peter Pier, and we were received into the Church by Chrismation on Lazarus Saturday, 2000.
Finishing the Antiochian House of Studies’ St. Stephen’s Course in 2005, the opportunity to pursue the Masters of Arts in Practical Theology beckoned me; I felt that our years in the group home ministry and Orthodox theology intersected in a way that called for expression. And so with God’s help I wrote “St. John Chrysostom and the Socialization of Persons with Developmental Disability: Patristic Inspiration for Contemporary Application.”
St. John Chrysostom was, as Fr. Georges Florovsky noted, “the Prophet of Charity,” a champion of the poor, of those who struggle in this world. All the fiery, golden words he preached on this theme have direct application to persons with disability. He emphasized in no uncertain terms that our attention to weak and struggling people is crucial to our life in Christ and our “good defense before [His] fearful judgment seat.”
The thesis draws out specific aspects of Church life in respect to persons with developmental disability- liturgical worship, family support, Christian education, and the incorporation of gifts. The words of John Boojrama and other leading lights of our Faith are weighed in light of this specific ministry imperative. The thesis brings out how “the liturgy after the Liturgy,” our continuing sense and practice of Church family life in the hours and days between services, will show the genuineness of our unity in Christ’s Body and Blood. The Lord Jesus indicated in St. Matthew 25:31-46 that how we respond to those who are different or in difficulty- persons with disability being the case in point- is a key to His final evaluation of us.
One of my recommendations in the thesis is that an Orthodox Christian website addressing these issues should be developed. Fr. Ted Pulcini, the first reader of the thesis, encouraged me to develop one. Beginning with a prayer, it took shape, and came to be: “Arms Open Wide: Orthodox Christian Disability Resources.” ( http://armsopenwide.wordpress.com )
Christ stretched out His loving arms on the Cross for us; His arms are open wide for persons with disabilities and their families. Beyond the list of websites, ministries, and writings are the Inspiration and Posts pages. “Inspiration” consists of select verses from Holy Scripture and quotes from St. John Chrysostom; “Posts” are occasional, short writings, related to the subject for the most part. Comments are very welcome. May the Lord use this site to encourage many to press on toward reflecting the likeness of Christ, with arms open wide to persons with disabilities and to all.
- William Ephrem Gall
Here are some excerpts from a Greek report, which though not from the Orthodox Church itself, is very illuminating. It is entitled on “Welfare, Church, and Gender in Greece,” by Effie Fokas & Lina Molokotos Liederman:
“Beyond state benefits and the informal but important care provided by the family, social needs that are not fully satisfied by the family or the state are usually filled by private or voluntary sectors (international organisations with Greek branches, such as the Red Cross, SOS Children’s Villages, etc.) and the Church. Therefore, the Greek case is a good example of the Southern European welfare model, with a classic underdeveloped state welfare sector coupled with the important role played by the family and women in providing essential social care. In this bi-polar model, the Orthodox Church is a third source, offering a wide array of social services, including the provision of support services for women and the family (see part II). The Greek example is schematically described as a triangular welfare model (state-family/women-church), in which the family and women seem to act both as providers and receivers of social care.” p. 298
“Finally, there are a variety of state financed programmes for persons with disabilities (such as disability benefits and boarding houses for semi-independent living and full-time living for disabled persons, as well as, activity centres and summer camps for persons with disabilities) and other vulnerable groups (refugees and asylum seekers and Greek Roma communities) in collaboration with NGOs.85.” (P. 301)
“Before highlighting the Greek Church’s actual social work, it is important to note a tendency for it to not publicly promote its welfare work, primarily because it takes place at the level of local interaction between the parish priest and individuals. Furthermore, the Church considers publicising its social work to be contrary to the principles of philanthropy and the Orthodox ethos.190 Therefore, the Church’s organisations and monasteries involved in social activities also tend usually to act locally and informally and, thus, to avoid any type of public visibility of their social work, seemingly being more interested in offering social services rather than receiving public recognition for their work; in this way, they also tend to have an inward focus and operate in a closed network with minimal cooperation with other non-religious organisations involved in similar activities.” P. 318
“The Church’s social services are put into action by local parish priests and other religious and non-religious staff (paid and unpaid laymen and laywomen), working for the Church in various capacities. Moreover, the Church benefits from a large network of volunteers it has created; according to 2001 statistics, the Church has an active network of approximately 23,000 people who are utilised and mobilised on a regular basis, offering their services to the great variety of social services provided by the Church … including … “Christian Solidarity“: charitable funds established by the Archdiocese of Athens and other metropolises; they provide locally, at the parish level, material and other types of support to a variety of individuals (elderly, single mothers, people with special needs, etc), suffering from poverty and financial and social exclusion, such as shelter and food (”soup kitchens”/sisitia), scholarships, child and elderly care, blood donations, etc. In 2003, there were 1,839 such funds. … People with special needs: assistance to individuals with special needs (for example, the blind) including medical care, financial assistance, psychological counselling, institutional care, training and professional occupation and leisure, as part of a wider effort to improve their insertion and integration into Greek society. Some local metropolises, which are active in this area, employ a large number of individuals with special needs (such as in the painting of icons, in gardening, in cooking and kitchens, etc). (pp. 319-322)
The original report does not seem to be currently available online; here is a bibliographic reference to it:
MOLOKOTOS-LIEDERMAN, Lina, FOKAS, Effie, “Welfare, Church and Gender in Greece”, in Welfare, Church and Gender in Eight European Countries. Uppsala, Institute of Diaconal and Social Studies – University of Uppsala / Ed. Ninna Edgardh Beckman, 2004, p. Uppsala, Institute of Diaconal and Social Studies – University of Uppsala / Ninna Edgardh Ed Beckman, 2004, p. 288-338.
For more from Effie Fokas and Lina Molokotos Liederman, scroll to the end of the post.
And here are some previous posts of interest concerning Greek disability resources for convenient reference:
from Nov. 9, 2007: more Greek disability websites « Arms Open Wide
from Dec. 28, 2007: Theotokos Foundation (Greece) « Arms Open Wide
from Nov. 8, 2007: In Greece « Arms Open Wide
from Nov. 6, 2007: two Greek-American contributions « Arms Open Wide \
Here is some more material on and from Effie Focas: http://www.crs.uu.se/node155
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/kokkalis/GSW2/Fokas.PDF : (“Greek Orthodoxy and European Identity“)
Islam in Europe: Diversity, Identity and Influence – Google Books Result (click to access)
Religious America, Secular Europe?: A Theme and Variation – Google Books Result (click to access) And here is a review of this work: http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=637&title_id=&edition_id=9882&calcTitle=1
An Essay: “Religion in the Greek public sphere” by Effie Fokas: http://www.eurotopics.net/en/magazin/magazin_aktuell/religion/religion_griechenland/?EURO=205d7344a6ea5706cb8ff250ea2520ed
Also, from Lina Molokotos Liederman:
The ‘Free Monks’ Phenomenon: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Greek Orthodoxy: http://hirr.hartsem.edu/sociology/liederman.html
The Greek ID Card Controversy: http://www.faithineurope.org.uk/idcards.pdf
Orthodox Diakonia Coordinator: http://www.iocc.org/orthodoxdiakonia/index.php?id=survey
Scott Cairns
The Orthodox Christian poet Scott Cairns wrote a book on this subject:
The End of Suffering: Finding Purpose in Pain
http://www.paracletepress.com/the-end-of-suffering-finding-purpose-in-pain.html
It is a book that may be profitably compared and perhaps contrasted with a similar book by C.S. Lewis:
The Problem of Pain: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0032.html
And here is a video of Scott Cairns discussing the subject of his book. It’s one hour, 25 minutes long. It doesn’t simply address suffering in general; the event of the tragic destruction of thousands of people in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 is discussed at length:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfKBhDy1HPo&feature=player_embedded
He is by the way, a prominent poet. For those of you who would like to hear him read his poetry: http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/cairns
Amy Julia Becker, a master-of-divinity candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary, is a writer and mother in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. She recently published her first book, Penelope Ayers.
Ms. Becker writes on the goodness of the lives of persons with disabilities, derived from this quotation by Hans Reinders in his chapter ”Life’s Goodness: On Disability, Genetics, and ‘Choice’“ in the new book Theology, Disability, and the New Genetics: Why Science Needs the Church.
Here is her article The Good Life on the First Things‘ Website on December 31, 2008:
http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2008/12/the-good-life
She is the mother of Penny, who has Down Syndrome.
From the Orthodox Church of America’s online Resource Handbook for Lay Ministries’ Parish Development Page, by permission.
Written by the Very Reverend Father John Matusiak –Rector of St. Joseph Church, Wheaton, IL; managing editor of the publication “The Orthodox Church;” and secretary of the Orthodox Church of America’s Diocese of the Midwest.> (at the time this article was written)
The Accessible Church
The rights of people with handicapping conditions first received the support of federal law with the enactment of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Title V, Section 504, prohibits discrimination against qualified persons with handicapping conditions in federally-assisted programs or activities solely on the basis of disability.During the years immediately following enactment, administrators and advocates learned that non-discrimination is more difficult to practice with the disabled than in cases of racial or sexual discrimination. The reason is that people with disabilities may need different treatment than others for equal access to public life. That realization prompted demonstrations at Health, Education, and Welfare offices across the country and led to the development of the Section 504 regulation in 1977.For the most part, churches have ignored the needs of the disabled, and many church buildings are virtually inaccessible. Steps, pew placement, inaccessible washroom facilities, and insensitivity to the needs of the disabled in general have posed problems for decades. Yet as we consider the means by which the Orthodox Church in America can effectively evangelize, grow, and reach out to everyone — including the disabled — we should consider accessibility one of our top priorities, as every parish can expect that one out of four of its members will be handicapped at some point in life. A major attitudinal barrier to overcome is the idea that people with disabilities are people in need. As Orthodox Christians we should strive to see people as having abilities instead of disabilities, capable of offering leadership and a host of other talents to the Church and community. The parish which truly seeks to evangelize as Christ commanded will welcome all people, as Christ Himself did.
Building Language
Let’s consider a few facts.
The disabled persons are not necessarily handicapped. A handicap exists when the disabled person cannot overcome a barrier. Therefore the responsibility for accessibility is in those who create barriers or who should remove such barriers once their presence is recognized.
Buildings send messages in what might be termed “building language.” The message that church buildings need to say is “welcome.” A church building or parish hall with countless steps, inadequate sound systems, or inaccessible facilities surely does not extend a warm invitation to the disabled.
We may fool ourselves that proposed structural changes are planned only for the permanently disabled people. Not so. At any moment many able-bodied parishioners are recovering from illness or are temporarily in casts or on crutches. Further, every parishioner is growing older. These are all conditions which benefit from “barrier-free” access to our church facilities.
One of the purposes of the Church is the maintenance of Christian fellowship. We assume that it is a person’s desire to continue active involvement in worship and in fellowship as long as life will allow. On the other hand, every parish has its list of homebound parishioners who are no longer active. The decision to be homebound is theirs. They perceive that, given their disability, to leave home and enter the church building or hall is too difficult. If every church building could be barrier free, the greater part of the perceived difficulty will have been removed.
Assessing Needs
An Accessibility Audit is one of the easiest ways of discovering architectural barriers, and considering the different ways in which these barriers can be removed is usually quite simple.
Determining costs, procedures, and the time involved in removing physical barriers is more difficult. But with such information in hand, decisions, plans, and implementation take place at whatever pace a particular parish accepts.
Awareness-building might proceed more quickly if able-bodied parishioners used a wheelchair or crutches to tour their parish facilities in order to experience first hand some of the problems faced by disabled persons.
It is also essential to recognize the fact that we are long past that time when the need for accessibility developed. The long list of those now considered shut-in makes that self-evident. We need also to remember that removing existing architectural barriers will not, of itself, return to active parish life those who are comfortably established in their home-bound lifestyle. Those for whom we are becoming barrier free are, primarily, those who are presently active and those becoming active as time goes on, the one out of four who will become disabled at some point in their lives. Our goal should be to extend their time of active participation for as long as possible.
What Is An Accessible Church?
An accessible church is one that has overcome:
The physical or architectural barriers that make it difficult for people with handicaps to enter or to participate fully;
The attitudinal barriers that keep them from feeling welcome. Of the two, the attitudinal barrier is the most difficult to overcome. Once awareness, sensitivity, and understanding are achieved, the removal of physical barriers becomes an easy task.
Attitudinal barriers might be more easily overcome if we kept the following points in mind:
People with disabilities also have many gifts and talents given to them by God. We are all called to be stewards of our own gifts and to encourage others to share theirs as well.
Disabled people should be included in parish leadership roles. When planning programs, learn firsthand the needs of the whole parish.
Parishioners may have relatives with handicapping conditions who are anticipating or experiencing attitudinal or physical barriers. Listen to their fears or anger and involve them in the process of change.
To assure that people with visual disabilities can fully participate in liturgical services, contact your local society for the blind. For little or no cost they will gladly assist you in producing prayer books and other religious literature in Braille or large-type.
Christianity has a long and unfortunate history of excluding hearing-impaired persons. St. Augustine, an early Christian writer, declared that deaf persons could not be Christians because they could not “hear the Word.” Past mistakes do not justify continued insensitivity. Since it is generally impossible to offer services with sign language interpretations, consider better sound amplification, which can be accomplished by installing a “loop” system in the pews. Your local society for the hearing-impaired will provide information about mechanical means of access.
Non-sighted persons will want to move around parish facilities independently. Ushers or greeters can express their welcome by orienting them immediately to steps, doors, and corridors.
Several modifications may need to be made for equal access by those in wheelchairs. Can they move freely around the church? Are some pews shorter than others thereby allowing persons in wheelchairs to be part of a row rather than an appendage of the worshipping congregation?
When your parish has learned to integrate people with handicapping conditions into its life of service, you may want to explore new opportunities for outreach and evangelization by noting in parish publications, phone directory listings, and advertisements that the church building is accessible to the disabled. It is a proven fact that the disabled will more readily join churches which are accessible.
Because of its history of barring those with disabilities, the Church is challenged to seek out people with handicapping conditions and invite their participation in a common ministry. Elimination of architectural barriers, as vital as it is, is not enough. An on-going ministry to the disabled should be an integral part of every progressive parish.
(outdated resources omitted)
