When ashes were too much for my son on Ash Wednesday 2017, here’s what I learned about being creative and flexible in celebrating special rituals and liturgical seasons as Catholics. Maybe you’ll find some of the ideas helpful for yourself or your family, or, if you’re a parish ministry leader, perhaps this will give you…
For Parents of and Individuals with Disabilities
Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Message and Disability Communities
Today (Dec. 12) is the Feast of the Virgen de Guadalupe, Patroness of México and the Americas. Rather than provide an in-depth analysis of her story or the symbolism of her image on St. Juan Diego’s tilma (thought there are a few links below to start your further reading that I grabbed real quickly for…
Popes, Bishops, & Laity Speak About Disability Integration in the Church
You may have noticed I’ve been a little inconsistent with my posts the last several weeks. I’ve been pushing hard to finish my master’s thesis on ecclesial integration of the autism community and have finally finished a 75-page draft for my reading team. To celebrate, I want to share with you a portion of my…
“Amazing Things Happen” With Awareness
The first step to autism inclusion is autism awareness, understanding, and acceptance. What is autism and how might it affect parishioners and those who we are trying to reach out to and welcome into our parishes? The classic analogy is that autism is like having a different operating system. Some brains are like PC’s running…
Imperfection, God, & Disability
Recently, I saw this image of a pretty gross looking ear of corn and a beautiful, nearly perfect-looking ear of corn. The caption on the deformed corn said, “How I see myself” and then the caption on the delicious-looking ear of corn read, “How Jesus sees me”. The point of the image is that we…
Take Your Children to Mass – A Complementary Message
Imagine that you spent your morning expending herculean energy to try and convince your kiddo to get dressed, brush their teeth, put on their shoes, and walk out the door to school without them tantruming or having a meltdown. Imagine it was only mildly successful, so it’s 8:30am and you’re already stressed and a little…
