Ministry to the Deaf

Friday, Jul. 01, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — If your “faith tank” is running on empty, then you’re not “Christ fit.”

That was the message Fr. Shawn Carey, director of the Office of the Deaf Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Boston, had for the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s Deaf community during his visit June 25-26.

The diocese brings in a Deaf priest each year for a retreat; this was the second time Fr. Carey has been to Utah.

Although the local Deaf community is small – eight people attended the Saturday workshop – Fr. Carey compared his ministry to the parable of the mustard seed: “It doesn’t matter how small or big; what is important is that you have to plant the seed so that it can grow,” he said in sign language through an interpreter.

During the Saturday session, Fr. Carey brought up the virtues of faith, hope and love. When discussing virtue, he used the sign for power because, he said, if you have love it increases your faith, your power; and possessing the virtues enables a person to defend his or her  faith. 

He showed a video of a Deaf girl who went to World Youth Day; she said that before she went she had felt alone and without support; she didn’t have a job but got sponsors to help her pay for the trip.

Before going she hadn’t felt God’s support, but the trip changed her life and she realized she had to move forward, she said.

The young woman was an example of being “Christ fit,” said Fr. Carey, telling those at the retreat to not be afraid when they experience life’s challenges.

“The church is a house of prayer and all people come together and pray and become Christ fit, pray for those who are sick, who don’t have a job. They are all our brothers and sisters,” he said.

The group also watched a short video on the Sacrament of Reconciliation; Fr. Carey urged them not to be afraid to go to Confession because it would help them fill their faith tank and become Christ fit.

He then offered the opportunity for the sacrament.

Immediately after receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Arthur Valdez joked, “I feel like I have my halo on my head now.” 

Initially, he had been reluctant to take the sacrament; it had been five years since his last confession, but others in the group encouraged him to go, he said through an interpreter, “and now I feel good.”

Valdez typically attends Mass at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center, where an ASL interpreter is available, but he liked having a Deaf priest give the retreat because it let him ask questions, he said.

Also, he said Fr. Carey’s visit was wonderful because “he can explain everything so clearly to us. We understand everything.”

Prior to the retreat, Valdez’s “tank” was almost on empty, but afterward he felt strong in the faith, he said. 

Similarly, Wallace H. Sibson said through an interpreter that at the retreat he learned some ways to answer other people when they discount his faith. “It was good to be here and learn things,” he said.

Having a Deaf priest celebrate Mass, as Fr. Carey did, was wonderful, Sibson added.

He often attends Mass at St. Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, he said. “I go, but I’m just sitting there listening. There’s no interpreter, so it’s hard. It’s really boring when you don’t have an interpreter, to understand what’s happening.” 

In choosing his topics for the retreat – on Sunday he discussed the Year of Mercy – Fr. Carey said through an interpreter that he asked himself what it meant to be responsible in the duties of the faith in the world today, and he realized that many people were not showing themselves as Christ fit.

If people follow Christ and learn from him and imitate him, “then we are holy and will be more fruitful,” Fr. Carey said, adding that he encourages people to discuss their faith more because the world “tells us to be quiet and not talk about our faith, and this is our challenge, to talk about our faith.” 

He emphasized the Sacrament of Confession because “it is my experience that many of the Deaf don’t have enough opportunities to go to the Sacrament of Confession,” he said, and “it is good to have a Deaf priest help them realize that it is safe. ... I need to give them the opportunity that other Catholics have. ... If you don’t offer it enough, and they’re not exposed to it enough, then they’re confused and they don’t understand and they are nervous about it.” 

He hopes that those he ministers to will come to see the Sacrament of Reconciliation itself as a fruit in their lives, he said.

His overall message for the weekend, he said, was “We need to be Christ fit!”