AmericanPapist Comments
No offense to dad, but I really don't see that his article offers anything of substance to this topic. Not that Fr MacNamera response was the greatest ...
Rebo- My understanding from reading his post is that Dr. Peters wrote the article to refute Fr. McNamara's erroneous answers to questions concerning deaf catholics; Personally, I think Dr. Peters succeeded.
In addition to the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis's parish with a regular deaf ministry, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Northeast Minneapolis, there are at least 11 parishes that regularly have "signing" at some of their Masses.
http://www.olmcmpls.org/deaf.htm
There is an order, following the Dominican tradition, of priests and brothers dedicated to ministry to the Hearing Impaired, the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate
To show that it isn't just Minneapolis: A quick check of the campus ministry website at Gallaudet University in DC reveals a quick list of about 15 Parishes in the Washington Archdiocese that provide Mass in sign language or with an interpreter present, including Gallaudet's own on-campus Masses. (Gallaudet is the national university for the deaf and hearing-impaired.) Didn't take much to find this out. I suspect Fr. M simply responded without doing a little homework first.
On the question of religious life and holy orders: Pope John Paul II ordained Father Peter McDonagh, who had been deaf from birth, to the priesthood when he visited Britain in 1982. I remember hearing this at the time from a Passionist priest, Father Ignatius, whose ministry was to deaf Catholics. The story, with a photo of Father Ignatius signing the Pope's homily for the candidate, can be seen at the BBC website.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_ne...and/
4295465.stm
there is indeed an official text for the mass using sign language, approved by the bishops conference of england and wales using BSL (british sign language). it may be used by an interpreter or a 'trained' priest. the only requirement i can remember is that if a priest is using it, he must also speak aloud the words as well as using sign. my memory is that the prayers are very much simplified reflecting the limited vocabulary of sign language. i think there is still a posting on the liturgy section of the website.
Commenting by HaloScan
