September—National Deaf Awareness Month

For those of you who recognize the name Vinton Cerf, would you believe he and I have something in common? We are both partially deaf. In case you don’t, he is one of the “fathers of the Internet.”

Because I have been wearing my hearing aids for only a little over a year now, I wasn’t sure what my blog topic would be for National Deaf Awareness Month, so I decided to go to an expert. I messaged a former adult theology student who is deaf and is now the proud mom of three beautiful boys. When I asked Heather what I should include in this blog piece, I was bit surprised when she zeroed in on the possibility of a religious vocation for the deaf.

Before she married, Heather, like many young women, spent time discerning if God was calling her to religious life. Had she felt called, she could have applied to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet In St. Louis, Missouri. These religious sisters came to the United States from France in 1826 to teach the deaf. They founded the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf in 1837 which has become internationally famous for the teaching of deaf children.

If a young deaf man was considering the possibility of the priesthood, he could contact the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. One of its members, Father Michael Depcik, is deaf. He was ordained in 2000, and he is the director of deaf ministries in the Archdiocese of Detroit. One source I found, that as of 2015 he and Father Christopher Klusman who was ordained in 2011 are only two of the ten deaf priests in America. Father Christopher is a priest of the Milwaukee diocese who is the associate director for the diocesan deaf/hearing impaired ministry. Permeant deacon, Tomas Garcia, Jr who is deaf, of the Los Archdiocese signs only in English but Spanish as well.

With the recent sex scandal in the Church, religious vocations may be even fewer in number as our faith community heals. However, I still want to speak to the reality that deaf Catholics deaf are underserved.

One resource I found stated that 93 percent of the deaf in America have no contact with any church. This same resource reported that less than 5 percent of the churches in the United States have some form of outreach to the deaf. Another resource included the 2010 Christian Deaf Ministries estimate that only 1 percent of adult deaf Americans attend church in any denomination.

Regarding numbers rather than percentages, Gallaudet University (a federally chartered private university for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing) posted that in 2002 there were an estimated one million individuals over the age of five who were “functionally deaf.”

Even though I found various statistics, the number of those who are deaf/hard of hearing is difficult to obtain due to the wide-range of impairment. As of 2011, the National Catholic Office for the Deaf in Maryland reported a figure of three to five million deaf Catholics. On the local level, the Office of Ministry and Life Enrichment (Catholic Charities) serves approximately 200 deaf individuals and their families. Another local program, The Deaf and Hard of Hearing Center in Corpus Christi, will be celebrating National Deaf Awareness Week from September 15-21. The Center serves a 23-county area. For more information, call (361) 993-1154.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, more priests and religious sisters, as well as religious brothers and deacons, are urgently needed to serve the Catholic deaf community. Part of the answer to that prayer is Deacon Ramiro Regalado, Jr. who will be ordained to the priesthood in June. God willing. As part of his ministry assignment will be as chaplain to the Ministry and Life Enrichment program due to his American Sign Language training.

The prayer below is included for that propose.

Litany in Honor St. Francis de Sales, Patron of the Deaf

For the Church, that we may find more ways to include the deaf as well as all those who are life-challenged,

St. Francis de Sales pray for us.

For the Church, that we may learn how to empower those with life-challenges,
St. Francis, pray for us.

For an increase of religious vocations for and from those who have life-challenges.
St. Francis, pray for us.

Heather Walker, thank you for your help in making this blog piece possible. If you know a deaf Catholic who could benefit from the services provided by the Office of Ministry and Life Enrichment, contact Celia Mendez at (361) 884-0651.