On Faith appears the first Sunday of each month.
Inside a small house in Northeast Washington, a dozen or so adults gathered around the long dinner table carefully set with a lace cloth.
From left are: Frank Grim, Brother Joseph O. Carm, Dolores Wilson and Tom Draper, waiting to play the guitar. Some Faith and Light members regularly celebrate Mass.
(Photos Katherine Frey -- The Washington Post)
|
|
The conversation turned on simple phrases as the friends, most in their thirties, shared news about their lives. With a little encouragement from the others, Helen Lewis proudly displayed a packet from the bank where she recently had opened an account -- another step toward independence for Lewis, who works as a clerical assistant at the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
In a bright voice, Colleen Ruppert sang a song she had learned at church. After much applause, everyone joined in another song: "It's love, it's love, it's love that builds community. . . . "
The Washington area residents belong to Faith and Light, a 34-year-old international organization that offers fellowship to developmentally disabled Christians and includes more than 1,600 chapters in 75 countries. In addition to providing such Christians with an outlet for social and religious activities, the organization is part of a growing movement working to integrate disabled worshipers into all aspects of religious life.
Wheelchair ramps, elevators and other physical accommodations at churches are just the beginning of this struggle, activists say. The more difficult goal is to persuade congregations to allow full participation by the disabled after they have crossed the church threshold, through steps that include incorporating special-needs children into religious education classes and encouraging disabled adults to serve as lectors, greeters and ushers during worship services.
"We have a disabled community and a religious community that are like ships passing through the night," said Ginny Thornburgh, director of the religion and disability program for the National Organization on Disability, an advocacy group. "There's no antagonism, but there is little dialogue. We are trying to nurture that dialogue."
Thornburgh, who has a mentally disabled son, has crisscrossed the country visiting churches, mosques and synagogues with her message of inclusiveness. "We talk about people with disabilities having a right to a full life of faith: worship, study, service and leadership," she said.
She does see signs of progress. With her organization's encouragement, more than 2,000 congregations of various faiths have signed pledges to work toward welcoming the disabled. And her group has helped scores of religious communities organize meetings and conferences on the issue.
Among them is McLean Bible Church, which this week will host its sixth annual Accessibility Summit, a conference that is expected to draw scores of local families and representatives from congregations in 26 states. "Our hope is to teach other churches around the country how to build outreach disability ministries," said the summit's director, Teri Hoehn. "Families in their communities need them."
The nondenominational Northern Virginia church began to embrace the cause of serving those with mental and physical disabilities seven years ago, when the parents of a disabled child placed a notice in the church bulletin seeking help with child care for an hour a week so they could attend the worship service. Since then, the church has launched respite programs, added a summer camp and retooled its Sunday school classes so that all disabled children can participate, either in regular classrooms or in a separate program.
At the heart of the inclusion movement is a moral and theological argument that Canadian philosopher Jean Vanier advanced when he co-founded Faith and Light in 1971: Welcoming people with disabilities to a church community not only recognizes their inherent dignity but also brings the rest of the congregation closer to God.
"Every person, even the most handicapped, is called to be a source of grace and peace for the whole community, for the Church and for humanity," Vanier wrote.
Although Faith and Light's roots are in the Catholic Church, the organization is ecumenical. Members meet monthly for fellowship and prayer, and smaller groups get together regularly to socialize and to worship within their own faith traditions. The Washington region has a District-based chapter with more than 100 families, a Potomac chapter with about 75 families and a new third chapter in Southern Maryland.
