ROME – Greater acceptance and recognition of the sense of belonging of people with disabilities in the life of the Church would help prevent abuse and is something all believers should work on, experts at a recent conference on the protection of people with disabilities said.
“What was interesting was that by inviting people who have experience with disability and practice and theology, it opened their eyes,” Ann Masters, who has a doctorate in disability theology and gave a presentation during the conference, told Crux in an interview.
“This has been really great because, frankly, this work is often to the benefit of the boutique,” she said.
The conference, entitled “Safeguarding and Disability”, was organised from June 18th to 21st by the Institute of Anthropology “Human Dignity and Care” of the Pontifical Gregorian University.
The institute, led by German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a former member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, holds an international protection conference every year and this year chose the theme of disability as people with disabilities make up a significant proportion of those who have been or are currently being abused.
Cristina Gangemi, co-director of the Kairos Forum and an expert adviser to the Vatican and other Catholic authorities on disability issues, told Crooks that the conference was significant because it was the first time the Gregorian University had addressed disability issues in such a prominent forum.
Reflecting on why he chose to focus on the topic of disability at this time, Gangemi said that he has worked with various Vatican offices for nearly a decade and that “much of the work we have done during the time of Pope Francis has been to recognize disability not as a special issue but as something that is at the heart of the Church.”
She said one outcome of this awareness-raising was a recent conference on safeguarding and disability, where she and Masters agreed the conference was about “human flourishing” and safeguarding was an extension of that.
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 16 percent of the world’s population lives with a significant disability, and statistics also show that people with disabilities are more likely to experience some form of harassment, discrimination and violence in their lifetime.
Gangemi, who helped organize the conference’s preparatory sessions, said the organizers were “very open and serious about thinking about disability not just in the context of sexual abuse, but in the context of what it means to be a part of the church.”
Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, delivered the keynote address at the conference, saying that in recent years “the international community has made great strides in recognizing the rights of people with disabilities.”
“Unfortunately, this has not yet happened around the world. If this happened everywhere, then more just and compassionate societies could flourish, where belonging is a practice rather than a slogan used in politically correct speeches,” he said.
Parolin said the conference provided an opportunity to “overcome various barriers by coming together to discuss ways to combat abuse, an injustice that affects everyone, disabled and non-disabled,” and stressed the importance of preventing and responding to all abuse, especially that perpetrated by clergy involving disabled people.
In his opening remarks, Zollner said he hoped the discussion would “deepen our understanding of the complex challenges we face and inspire innovative approaches to keep us safe.”
The focus on disability “aims to address significant issues and challenges,” he said.
Speaking about inclusion and the need to overcome certain myths about disabilities, Masters told Crux that “there are no special needs, only human needs, but some needs require more intentional responses,” and that the goal, especially in church life, should always be “full and meaningful participation.”
She said people with disabilities are often seen as an opportunity for sympathy and charity, and because of their disabilities they are often seen as having a “divine innocence” and a special connection to Jesus and his suffering on the cross.
These people are also often seen as less than whole people, or as having received special love from God and therefore less in need of the intimacy of community, she said.
Masters said none of this was true and that “currently many people with disabilities are not adequately supported to thrive and reach their full potential.”
He said inclusion is key not only to making the church better, but also to staying safe. “If we’re actually helping humanity thrive, it’s a way to enrich the body of Christ as a whole and increase not just the safety of people with disabilities, but the safety of everyone,” he said.
To that end, during his presentation, Masters screened the music video for “Spaces,” a song by James Ian that celebrates the achievements of people diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Ian himself has SMA and works with others in Hollywood with the same diagnosis to bring attention to the disability community.
Highlighting the importance of appropriate and effective communication when interacting with people with disabilities, Mike Harris, an expert in special educational needs and social communication, lamented that “the status quo means many of us, many of our people, are unable to have a voice”.
Teaching and learning how to interact with people who lack verbal communication skills is particularly important in conservation, he said, telling Crooks that often “they have no voice, they just don’t have the ability to express themselves, to describe what happened, to identify where, when, who did it, and all the things that that brings in a conservation situation, and they can’t understand that.”
Harris said he offered tips on practical techniques that can be implemented in everyday life, such as multimodal communication.
“Communication, when you think about what it enables, what it facilitates, what it brings to life, it’s not just about protecting it,” he said, adding that communication is rather about thriving.
When asked about the Vatican’s definition of “vulnerable” and how it is treated in canon law, given the debate about classifying disabled people as “vulnerable,” both Masters and Gangemi said they are not canon lawyers, but that it is important that people are seen and valued despite any limitations.
“I have always resisted singling out all people who live with differences, disabilities, physical, intellectual, different ways of being, as being characterized or defined by certain features of their lives, including their vulnerability,” Gangemi said.
Gangemi said that for him, vulnerability “is the ability to be hurt. Every person is capable of vulnerability in their existence, but it cannot characterize our lives. Human existence cannot be reduced, in essence, to certain features of life.”
“Today, in order to protect people living with disabilities, we need to be able to say that we must protect the vulnerable,” she said, adding that the Church’s stance must be to protect people with disabilities not because they are vulnerable, but because of their “intrinsic dignity and essence.”
The church must say, “This person is valuable and therefore we must protect him or her, and because he or she is valuable we must protect his or her vulnerability,” she said.
“I know the difficulty and the challenge of trying to define and characterize people and find a theology that fits them, rather than first valuing them and understanding that their vulnerabilities are part of their worth. That’s the way I see it,” she said.
Asked about the ongoing synod and efforts to give a voice to marginalized groups in the Church and whether there was enough representation of people with disabilities, Gangemi said the Vatican, and in particular Sister Veronica Donatello, adviser to the Department of Communications and the Department for the Laity, Family and Life, had done a lot in recent years.
But she said based on her participation in the conference, while there is awareness of the problem in various countries in Asia and Africa, there is a “gap in awareness” of the issue in Europe, except in Italy, where “a lot of work is being done.”
According to Masters, prejudice against people with disabilities still exists, and “listening with empathy is one of the practices expected of the Synod community if we are to live rightly.”
“Listening to them and seeing them as a person rather than a diagnosis and as a problem that needs to be solved is really key to identifying that,” she said.
He said the conference would provide an important networking opportunity for disability professionals, enable participants to learn more about disability itself and promote “true inclusion”.
“I hope that maybe this will be a growing public opinion that might help us move beyond the focus of boutique churches,” she said, “What we know is that there is a lot of beautiful theology in our churches that is being practiced in very imperfect ways.”
Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen