[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] Trying To Help A New Prospective NFB Member Who Is Catholic

[Kane Brolin]

Greetings.  This is my first-ever message to the Ohio Communities Of
Faith list, but I highly respect a lot of folks--Dr. Carolyn Peters
and Dr. Evette Simmons-Reed, for example--who likely contribute to and
watch this 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; 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 used to read is Catholic in
nature.  But 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
consumers of the
printed word. https://blog.feedspot.com/catholic_magazines/

I reside near the city of South Bend, Indiana, 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
clearly self-identifies as a sympathizer of the Jesuits, whereas Notre
Dame is not linked in any way, shape, or form to 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.  Dr. Spitzer is about 70 years old today, and he
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 medical nature of his eyesight loss, aimed at
the hope
that stem cell implantation will correct it.  So from my cursory
reading of this, Fr. Spitzer does not help re my outreach on behalf of
the Federation.
https://blog.magiscenter.com/blog/latest-news-on-fr-spitzers-vision

, 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 alternative techniques toward using technology
nonvisually, 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, too.
But I do not really know where to direct Mary so she can find a
spiritual home among serious Federationists who are also serious about
remaining steadfast with social teaching and matters of faith and
practice uniquely meaningful to the Catholic blind.

Thank you in advance for any help you might provide.

Kind regards,

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