‘Inclusive Sunday’ observed at St. Vincent Pallotti Church, Bangalore

‘Inclusive Sunday’ observed at St. Vincent Pallotti Church, Bangalore

• Today at the Mass, I felt like a Christian – a Pediatrician’s response after the mass.

Continuing with the initiative of the Archbishop of Bangalore Dr. Peter Machado to reach out to the differently-abled people in the Archdiocese of Bangalore a very special mass called “inclusive Sunday” was this time held at St. Vincent Pallotti Church, Banaswadi, Bengaluru. The Archdiocesan Commission for the Differently Abled in association with the Pallotti congregation and the parishioners had a special mass at 8:00 AM on Sunday, November 24, 2019.

Setting a precedent in the Catholic Church it was a first of its kind when the important parts of the mass were translated in sign language by Mrs Roopa Samson, the choir was by children who are visually challenged from the Jyoti Seva School for the Blind, Bengaluru, and a visually challenged person Ms Ruby who did the first reading using Braille, and the prayer of the faithful was by several differently-abled children. All of the above in the same mass has not happened before.

Click here to read: ‘Inclusion Awareness Day’ celebrated at Ascension Church, Bengaluru

A clear message reverberated across the pews in the church when Fr. George Kannanthanam preached the sermon to convey the message that the Catholic Church stands in solidarity with the persons with disabilities and offers them the same dignity and rights enjoyed by all. The differently-abled should have the same opportunities and conveniences that the normal people have in the Church and society and that it is our responsibility to provide the same opportunities and conveniences to the differently-abled people in our society, he said. He also reminded the congregation that as members of the Church all of us must first be grateful to God for our abilities and we take most things for granted such as each morning we open our eyes and are able to see, and hear the sounds around us, we are able to get up and move around. Unless we appreciate our gifts of abilities, we will not be able to recognise and reach out to the differently-abled.

It must be mentioned that the Archdiocese of Bangalore is the only diocese in the entire country that has started a Commission for the differently-abled to recognize the challenges faced by the people with disability and the Church has a special role to play. What is happening in the Catholic Church today is beautiful because Pope Francis is a great ambassador of the differently-abled people and conveying the message that reaching out to the differently-abled is a special call. This is relevant in the sense that awareness about the challenges of the differently-abled will elicit respect and not pity from the abled people, promote equality and not discrimination.

There are more than 20 centers in and around Bangalore that are managed by the Christians and religious congregations that work with people with disabilities. You are hereby requested to visit them, contribute to the sustenance of these organizations and volunteer with your time and resources at these places.

The “Inclusive Sunday” is a perennial event that will be held across the parishes in the Archdiocese of Bangalore. We will keep you informed about the next Inclusive Sunday mass at a parish in the Archdiocese of Bangalore.

Other engagement programs for the differently-abled in Bangalore

Engage Disability recently organized a 3-day residential family retreat for the differently-abled persons along with their families from November 22-24, 2019 at Pallana Bhavan, Bangalore. This was a retreat at no cost to the participants and was made possible by GoodSam Foundation, World Vision India, Pro Vision Asia, The Project Vision, and the Commission for the Differently-abled, Archdiocese of Bangalore. This is an annual event which is an inspiration from Joni & Friends, a disability ministry. Around 18 families accounting for about 40 people participated in this retreat. There were about 35 Youth who volunteered from St. Patricks Church Youth Group who stayed with the participants and assisted them through the three days.

Mass for the hearing impaired in Sign Language: A sign language mass is held every second Sunday of the month at 3:00 PM at St. Antony Chapel, St. Patrick Church, Bengaluru.

International Day of Differently-abled 2019

The Guanellians will be observing the International Day of Differently-abled on Saturday the 7th of December 2019 at 9:00 AM at Guanella Preethi Nivas, Geddala Halli, Kothannur, Bengaluru 560077. For more details on this event call Ph: 080-28445501/80989660964/8050772843/9966900973

We acknowledge the invaluable contribution of the following people during the “Inclusive Sunday” mass.

Ms Roopa Samson, a Certified Sign Language Translator, and she can be contacted on 9844760209.

The pictures attached in this article are the courtesy of Mr Cleetus Rebello. Click here to view the album of the Inclusive Sunday Mass November 24, 2019. Cleetus Rebello can be contacted on 9886266652.

Those interested to know more about the activities of the Commission for Differently-abled, Archdiocese of Bangalore may reach out to Estelle D’Souza, Commission Member.
Email- estelle.souza@gmail.com, Mob:+916364678629