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

[Linda Mentink]

Hi Kane,

It's so good to hear from you.  I'm not Catholic, either, but you 
might check out Xavier Society for the Blind.

Blessings to you,

Linda

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Kane Brolin via Faith-Talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org
To: faith-talk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 9 Mar 2022 12:04:14 -0500
Subject: [Faith-Talk] Trying To Help A New Prospective NFB Member 
Who IsCatholic

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-NEWSLINE짰 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 NEWSLINE짰-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-visi
on

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)

_______________________________________________
Faith-Talk mailing list
Faith-Talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/faith-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
for Faith-Talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/faith-talk_nfbnet.org/lmentink7
360%40gmail.com