[Faith-Talk] Trying To Help A New Prospective NFB Member Who Is Catholic

[Kane Brolin]

Greetings.  This is my first-ever message to the Faith-talk list.

I recently enjoyed a lengthy conversation with an 81-year-young lady
who happens to be grandmother to my son's best friend.  While I am a
dedicated Christian, I am not Roman Catholic; but Mary is very
Catholic.  While pitching NFB-NEWSLINE® as a source for information
that she could draw from to get a wide variety of information now that
she has effectively lost her eyesight for reading purposes, Mary
pointed out that nearly all of what she reads is Catholic in nature.
A quick search of NEWSLINE®-enabled publications does not seem to
identify anything in easily accessible format, such as the leading 20
most popular publications aimed at American Catholic cconsumers of the
printed word. https://blog.feedspot.com/catholic_magazines/

I reside near the city of South Bend, which in a de facto sense serves
as home to The University of Notre Dame.  But Notre Dame does not seem
to have an active outreach to the blind in particular; and Mary seems
to self-identify as a sympathizer of the Jesuits, and Notre Dame is
not linked in any way, shape, or form to tghe the Jesuit monastic
order.

Mary spoke to me at length about being inspired by Father Robert
Spitzer, a Jesuit priest and philosopher who used to be president of
Gonzaga University who is about 70 years old today and who has
publicly spoken of his eyesight loss.  But from the blog dedicated to
this topic, it certainly does not appear that Fr. Spitzer is touting
alternative techniques to blindness; instead, there seems to be a lot
of discussion about the nature of his eyesight loss and in the hope
that stem cell implantation will correct it.  So this does not help re
my outreach on behalf of the Federation.
https://blog.magiscenter.com/blog/latest-news-on-fr-spitzers-vision

So I do not really know where to direct Mary so she can find a
spiritual home among Federationists who are also serious about keeping
up with social teaching and matters of faith and practice uniquely
aimed toward the Catholic blind.

BTW, Mary has acquired an iPhone but has little confidence yet in how
to use this with VoiceOver.  She seems to have a very sharp mind, but
has not yet embraced technology, and she does not read Braille.  Her
eyesight has been compromised for decades by macular degeneration, but
only now is she open to dealing with this rationally and
self-identifying as blind without shame.  She would have much more
incentive to up her game technologically if we could help her to
embrace technology in a way that plugs her into relationships with
blind Catholics who have a healthy perspective toward blindness.

Thank you in advance for any help you might provide that leads to
Mary's devotion to and
self-identification with the Federation family as uniquely expressed
in a Catholic setting.

Kind regards,

Kane Brolin
President, Michiana Chapter
National Federation of the Blind of Indiana
(574)386-8868 (mobile)