[Faith-talk] just venting about something here
pat gormley
kk3f at msn.com
Mon Aug 3 02:52:34 UTC 2009
Father John I regularly minister the cup at St. Michaels in Frostburg and
have been doing so for nearly 4 years. I am trained to minister either
species and have been a lector in several churches in both the Washington
and Baltimore diocese for over 40 years. 73- pat kk3f
----- Original Message -----
From: "Fr. John Sheehan" <xaviersocietyfortheblind at yahoo.com>
To: "Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion"
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2009 10:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] just venting about something here
I am not blind myself but I work with the blind and I know many priests who
have lost their sight over the years and continue to function perfectly well
as priests. Some have learned to read Braille, some have enough sight to be
able to use very large print, and some have simply memorized the Mass
prayers. Communion? One offers the host and the one receiving communion
takes it in the hand. Most Churches also have Extraordinary Ministers who
can help - I know blind lay people who administer the cup with a sighted
person cuing them when someone approaches. There is a blind priest who
visits us who has written several books since losing his sight, travels the
world alone, conducts retreats and workshops.
As Marc Maurer keeps reminding us, blind people can do pretty much
anything - did you see the newsclip of the car being driven by a blind man?
(As he walked up the vehicle he was calling out "Blind man driving! Blind
man driving!" The key was not that the car could guide itself but the man -
with cues from sensor systems built into the car - was driving it himself,
through a fiarly sophisticated obstacle course.
Hope that helps. People often think a blind person can't do it - what they
mean is they can't do it the way >>I<< do it, or the way it's always been
done. That may be true, but often the blind person does it differently, but
just as effectively. (I'm starting to sound like Marc!)
Fr. John R. Sheehan, SJ
Chairman
Xavier Society for the Blind
154 East 23rd St
New York, NY 10010
(212) 473-7800
Help us raise money for the Xavier Society for the Blind just by searching
the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com -
powered by Yahoo! Free for you - and money for us! Thank you.
________________________________
From: Beth <thebluesisloose at gmail.com>
To: "Faith-talk, for the discussion of faith and religion"
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2009 7:43:19 PM
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] just venting about something here
I'm blind and Catholic, and I usually rely on the someone else going
in order to get holy Communion. People are always willing to lend me
a hand in that respect. I know Linda knew a blind priest, but she
can't nail down the contact info for that guy. Fr. John, I'd like to
ask the same question that RJ asked. How is it that you are able to
be a blind priest? I as a woman can't be concecrated in that manner,
so nunhood is the only option if I were to be so holy as to be called.
This is an interesting thread.
Beth
On 8/2/09, rjs059 at peoplepc.com <rjs059 at peoplepc.com> wrote:
> Fother John, How is it your able to be a blind priest? I have a local
> priest
> in my comunity, who told me it would be impossible for a blind person to
> be
> a roman catholic, because he must be able to see in order to administer
> the
> holy comunion. I believe this priest is mis-guided. He had a blind child
> in
> his parrish, and he didn't know how he'd get him ready for holy comunion.
> While I myself am not catholic, I'd like to know how I might be able to
> deal
> with this type of situation in the future. Please contact me at:
> rjs59 at hot.com
_______________________________________________
Faith-talk mailing list
Faith-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/faith-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Faith-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/faith-talk_nfbnet.org/kk3f%40msn.com
More information about the Faith-Talk
mailing list