Before I leave Rome for the Thanksgiving holidays, I’d like to wish all of my blog readers and their families and friends, and all of my radio listeners a very happy, holy, safe and extremely memorable Thanksgiving.

I’d also like to remind everyone to tune in to “Vatican Insider” this weekend, and listen to both the news from Rome and a fascinating interview with Fr. Michael Boland, head of Catholic Charities in he archdiocese of Chicago. No Q&A this week but if you have a question you would like me to answer, just send an email to the address at the end of this column. Tune in this weekend, as you do every weekend, to EWTN radio online – or at a station in your area, and listen to the show at 9:30 am Saturday (ET) and 4:30 pm Sunday (ET).

Just one Vatican news story today – and some personal reflections on the topic of the deaf. I have been preparing the regular daily news links for EWTN radio as well as “Vatican Insider” for this week and next weekend, when I will be away.

God bless! Safe travels! Buon appetito! Happy Shopping!

POPE BENEDICT SPEAKS OF PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL DEAFNESS

This morning, the Holy Father received 400 participants in the international conference "Effata! Deaf people in the life of the Church," organized by the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care. Noting that the theme “effata” is “a paradigm of how the Lord works for people with hearing impairment," he referred to Mark’s Gospel where "Jesus takes a deaf man aside and … raises His eyes to heaven and says: 'effata', that is, 'be opened'. In that moment ... the man recovered his hearing, his tongue was loosened and he spoke plainly.”

Pope Benedict’s words were translated into sign language for the 89 deaf people, including one pastor, present at the conference. "Jesus' actions are full of loving attention and express profound compassion for the man before Him," he said. "Jesus expressed real concern, took the man aside from the confusion of the crowds, and made him feel His closeness and understanding through certain highly significant gestures."

The Pope then underscored that Jesus does not only cure physical deafness. "He also indicates the existence of another form of deafness from which humanity must be healed, or rather … be saved. This is the deafness of the spirit which raises ever-higher barriers to the voice of God and of our fellow man, especially the cry for help of the poor and the suffering, and which encloses man in a profound and destructive selfishness."

The Holy Father remarked that, "unfortunately experience has shown that hearing-impaired people do not always meet with ready acceptance, committed solidarity and affectionate communion. The many associations which have come into being to defend and promote their rights are evidence of the existence of an underlying culture marked by prejudice and discrimination."

“Much more numerous,” he pointed out, “are the initiatives prompted by institutions and associations, both ecclesial and civil, that are inspired by authentic and generous solidarity and have improved the living conditions of many deaf people." He recalled how "the first schools for the education and religious formation of these our brothers and sisters came into being in Europe in the 1700s. Since then, charitable initiatives have been multiplying within the Church, ... with the aim of offering the deaf, not only formation, but integral assistance for their complete self-realization.”

Benedict XVI decried “the serious situation in which deaf people still live in developing countries, because of both a lack of appropriate policies and legislation, and because of difficulty of access to basic healthcare. Deafness, indeed, is often the consequence of easily-curable diseases." In this context, he appealed "to political and civil authorities, as well as to international organizations, to offer the support necessary to promote … due respect for the dignity and rights of deaf people, favoring ... their full social integration."

"Dear hearing-impaired brothers and sisters," concluded the Pope, "you are not only recipients of the announcement of the Gospel but, by virtue of your Baptism, also its announcers. Live every day, then, as witnesses of the Lord in the environments in which you live, making Christ and His Gospel known."

(As I read the remarks by Archbishop Zimowski, president of the pontifical council when he presented this international gathering to the Vatican press corps several days ago, and again today as I read the Holy Father’s address to the assembly. I remembered a story my Mom first told us when we were small children. Her Mother, my grandma, had a cousin who was, as they were called then, a deaf mute, and he married a deaf woman and together they raised four perfectly normal children. Mom never ceased to be amazed by them when she visited – and her first memories were when she herself was a child.

She told us she vividly remembers the visits to the home of these cousins. “We would enter the house and hear not a sound and yet when we got to the room in the back of the house, the family room, there was very animated conversation and four or six people would be laughing uproariously at a joke – and yet not a sound was heard! It was really something to see.”

I asked Mom how two people who were both deaf and mute could raise children who were not likewise impaired. “That was always the mystery,” Mom told me. “We never completely understood how this happened but we guessed it had to be contact with other family members, with friends at school, and with people outside who ran stores, etc. The kids would use sign language with their parents and spoke normally with other people.”

Fast forward to two nights ago when Donna Marie Cooper O’Boyle, who has been my houseguest, and I went for a quick meal at La Vittoria restaurant and lo and behold, at the table next to ours were eight of the people attending the Vatican conference. They were having a grand time and enjoying their meal – and not a sound was heard!)

Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com