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Catholic Vocations and Persons who are Deaf
The January-March 2009 issue of Vocations and Prayer, the Catholic magazine on vocation ministry, features an article on people with hearing impairments pursuing a call to religious or priestly life. Many people have asked me about this and about having other disabilities or impairments. It’s an important issue which vocation ministers and other church leaders need to be aware of and to find ways to support and encourage.
The main article in Vocations and Prayer is “God Created Me a Deaf Person for His Glory: An interview with Fr. Tom Coughlin, OP Miss” by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, IWBS. In the interview, Father Tom tells of being turned down by several seminaries because of his hearing impairment. He eventually was accepted but faced a lot of opposition. He says,
Most people were not prepared to welcome a deaf person. I was all alone but the vocation director … told me “You have to open the door. You have to suffer so others won’t.”
Father Tom, with the encouragement of Father Timothy Radcliffe (former general master of the Dominicans), started a new Dominican community for people who are deaf. The community, called the Dominican Missionaries, has grown to 9 members.
While it’s not easy to pursue a religious vocation when you are deaf, there are resources out there. These are the ones listed in the magazine:
Religious Communities for Women
- Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, Saint Louis Province (interestingly, this community came from France to the US in order to teach persons who are deaf.)
- Sisters of the Lamb of God
Religious Communities for Men
- Dominican Missionaries
- Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales, Toledo-Detroit Province
- Redemptorists, Denver Province
- Redemptorists, Baltimore Province
Diocesan Seminaries
If you know of any religious communities of sisters or nuns that can be a good resource for women who are deaf considering religious life, please let us know!
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{ 12 comments }
Wow. Interesting article. I was not deaf when I entered, but I am now. The challenges of being deaf and being the best member you can be in community can be challenging. Sr. Liza
I think I may have met Fr. Tom. The name is familiar, and if he’s the person I’m thinking of, he’s one hell of a guy. Of course I haven’t met many Dominicans who haven’t lived up to that description.
Janet,
The headline leaped out at me today as I spent thirty years in ministry to deaf children and their families. When I visited St. Louis I stayed at St Joseph’s school for the deaf and was immensely impressed. In San Francisco I visited a centre for Catholic Ministry for deaf people and I think that is where Fr Coughlin started his new community. We had several women in our congregation who were ex-pupils of the two schools for which we were responsible in Australia but they did not stay. It was a very lonely experience for them.
However it could well be different in the future as more and more of our pupils have cochlear implants at a very young age and acquire language and speech more effectively.
It has been for me very fulfilling and wondrous ministry for me. The bishops in Australia who asked for our sisters knew of the work we did in Dublin and the first sister to come to this apostolate came in the early 1870s.
It was great of Timothy to encourage Fr Tom, but so like him.
Joan
Thank you so much for these links. I’ve been having a lot of trouble finding Orders that accept deaf women. I need a little assistance, however. I was able to contact the St. Joseph Sisters, but not the Sisters of the Lamb of God. Their website has no contact information and their vocation page is misdirected. How should I contact them?
Thank you, Sister. God bless you.
Dear Mina, Hello! Here’s some info I found …
email: audrey (AT) sistersofthelambofgod (DOT) org
Sisters of the Lamb of God
2400 Marr Street
El Paso, TX, 79903
The Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet have a wonderful legacy of work with deaf people. At one of the CSJ colleges in St. Paul, MN, (St. Catherine) there is a strong and growing program in American Sign lanaguage and Interpreting and the claseses are taught totally in the lanaguage by both deaf and hearing teachers.
Thank you, Sr. Julie! I appreciate this really so much. *smiles*
I am here at our house in Phoenix, AZ. I just got back from a week long national Assembly for all Salvatorians, Lay, Priest, Brothers, and Sisters…I am the first one to arrive home and will continue my journey back up to my rural area. Before my departure, I threw some dinner in for the Sisters this morning for when they arrive this afternoon. As I wait for the casarole to cool down and be ready to put in the fridge, I thought I would jot some notes on this topic.
I lost my hearing very suddently. This of course caused emotional and physical upheaval along with some soul searching. As I slipped into my silent world, I had to learn to let go of things I was used to doing on a daily basis. Talking on the phone, listening for when others came home, being attentive to sounds in the convent and making sure everyone was safe…all of this gradually fell by the wayside.
I also had to learn to let go of things I loved, such as music and listening to the beauty of night sounds, like crickets, frogs and owls. Losing the ability to sing, play my guitar and recorder at Mass was a big part of the dark night of the soul. Music was my deepest expression, prayer and my gift to God. My spiritual director said to me once, “perhaps God is shifting you to use other un-explored gifts?”
Conversations became increasingly difficult as well. Conversation is a core piece of community living. Instead of the usual sharing and growing in love with others, people became frustrated with me and at times concerned and saddened. As my Sisters became puzzled and saddened, so did I.
I was not prepared for this change in my life and had so few tools at hand. Since I was not born deaf, I did not know or had any need to learn sign language, others around me did not use sign language either. I found I was a terrible lip reader as well. I learned that you can only really understand 10-15% of lip reading anyway. It works for some, but not for everyone. So the only tools I had were my hearing aids and some other contraptions I could plug into my hearing aids to make conversations a bit more easier, especially in group situations. I have to give a ton of credit to my audiologist who was so patient with me. She truly took time to show me technologies and strategies I could use to help with conversation.
The doctors came to a point where they were sure I was going to be deaf soon. So they took the hard step to let me know they were at the end of the road and would no longer be able to help me. But…they stated that cochlear implants would probably be a good option for me. My case would have to be transfered over to a specialized hospital where they had a hearing loss and speech clinic.
A glimmer of hope returned. I thought to myself, would that not be incredible miracle from my loving God if I could hear again? Work was done to transfer me over to the specialized clinic. I was beginning to have high concerns about my job and how long I would be able to continue to do my work before all sound was out of my reach. The clinic began all their test and compared them to the ones already done. They promised not to leave me deaf for long and yes, cochlear implants appeared to be a good option. I hung on to that hope as if I were hanging from a rocky cliff with one pinky.
Cochlear implants at that time were done one at a time. I have had both implants done now. My hearing is back. Perhaps not the same hearing I had years before. But I can engage in conversation with ease now, handle phones on my own, I can hear my friends, the crickets, frogs, owls and other critters. My ability to hear music has not returned yet. But I wait and practice patiently. In the mean time I practice the art of carving in clay.
Yes, community and conversation can be a challenge and testy at times, but it is a gift which we must treasure each day….
Being independent and able to help others is also a joy and life giving in community. For a while I had to grow in humility and allow others to help me. But now that I am back on my feet, I am now able to give more support to others in community.
I suppose with any limitation, it is important to find your gifts and strengths that you can offer in community and be the best gift you can be to God and others….
The Cincinnati Sisters of Charity began a community of deaf sisters under their auspices early in the 20th century. [Sisters of the Pious Union of Our Lady of Good Council] I think that, eventually, the community dissolved, but I think I remember hearing from a Cinci Charity friend that the remaining sisters were incorporated into the Charity congregation. Anyway, this might be another group that someone could explore. Also, there is a community of contemplatives who accept sisters who are disabled, called the Sisters of Jesus Crucified.
Could any you tell me if a young woman can be turned away just for being disabled? Even if she is in conciling or help from the state.
Sr. Julie,
Thank you for using my article on Fr. Tom for your blog about religious vocations. Fr. Tom comes to Corpus Christi to sign the Mass for the Deaf Community here. Good luck with your blog and God bless.
Sr. Lou Ella
Thank you, Sister Lou Ella! Blessings.