Church to take disability-friendly measures

Building ramps outside churches is not the only way in which the Maltese Church wants to help persons with a disability to become part of the community.

Indeed, blind people should be encouraged to read epistles from Braille scripts during Mass, deaf people should be able to tell their sins to confessors in the sign language they understand while structures should be in place to assist parents whose newborn suffers from a disability, according to a document published by the Maltese Archdiocese yesterday.

"Every action which improves access to persons with disability would be an exercise in further building the Church," said Fr Martin Micallef - who spearheaded the 50-page pamphlet inspired by the Diocesan Synod - during a press conference at the Curia in Floriana.

Besides making proposals on ensuring access to persons with a disability in parishes, catechism classes and the sacraments, as well as in Church homes and schools, the document prepared by the Pastoral Commission for Persons with a Disability says that contact with disabled individuals and their families needs to be established through a commission specially set up in each parish.

Such parish commissions, which should ideally include disabled persons themselves, members of their families or professional carers, would find ways to create awareness within the community, encourage the participation in the liturgy of persons with a disability and seek to support families - through human or other means - depending on the persons' special needs.

When it comes to catechism and the preparation of disabled children for First Holy Communion and Confirmation, this should happen together with other children in premises which are accessible. When it comes to the actual catechism classes, parishes should seek to assist people with a disability through resources such as interpreters who would help deaf persons follow classes and, for example, Braille script and recorded material for the blind.

Everyone, including the disabled, should participate together in the sacraments, so there should be no kind of exclusion of people with a disability from Mass and other sacraments such as Christening and Confirmation.

The document also takes account of the increasing social sensitivity of the subject as it calls on priests to use politically correct metaphors during homilies as certain expressions may unintentionally offend disabled people or members of their families.

Since having a disability is not an impairment for a person to get married, and persons with disability do get married in the Church, the document states that the Cana marriage preparation courses should not only be open to couples with a disability but persons with a disability should also be encouraged to run courses.

The Church recalled that a disability is not an impairment for priestly ordination, even if candidates who want to go in for the priesthood need to have the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional and psychological capabilities required by the ministry.

On Church residences, the document said the focus should be on creating an environment similar to a family.