Last month, Pope Francis came to Canada and expressed regret for the Roman Catholic Church’s part in running notoriously abusive residential schools for Indigenous children, which operated between 1880 and 1996. “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples,” the pope said. Canada’s own government has previously Read more
“I agree online church is an intriguing idea to include families and individuals affected by disability,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “But I don’t think it can work.” I spoke those words in 2009, in a casual conversation with other inclusive ministry leaders about what it might look like for churches to be Read more
A few months ago I attended Mass in the inner city of Chicago. Before the service, I went to the bathroom. Standing at the sink was a middle-aged man with Down syndrome. When he saw me, he cupped his hands, filled them with water, splashed me several times, let out a giant laugh and ran Read more
BEIJING, China — As soon as the first sisters moved onto the church grounds in a rural region outside of Beijing, the babies started showing up on the doorstep. They were babies with severe disabilities, abandoned at a few months old, with no trace of the family who left them behind. China’s one-child policy was not Read more
Pope Francis will wash the feet of 12 disabled and elderly people when he celebrates Mass on Holy Thursday evening, the Vatican has announced. This will be at the Father Carlo Gnocchi Foundation’s Our Lady of Providence Centre, a rehabilitation and care centre on the outskirts of Rome for people with disabilities and the elderly. Read more
German historian Götz Aly is an expert on euthanasia during the Nazi era. In a SPIEGEL interview, he discusses why many accepted the murder of the handicapped and mentally ill, and how his own daughter has shaped his views on how the disabled should be treated today. Some 200,000 people who were mentally ill or Read more
Churches in Britain are organising celebrations and activities in the runup to the London Paralympic Games, which take place after the Olympics, but critics are also wondering whether churches will be inspired to improve their own facilities for the disabled, reports Ecumenical News International. The Paralympics — sports competitions for athletes with a range of Read more
Children with disabilities now have access to vocational education at the Marist Champagnat Institute. A statement from the Australian High Commission said the Suva-based secondary school was the only one in Fiji that specialised in teaching vocational and mainstream curriculum to children with disabilities. “The Marist Champagnat Institute is different from other special education schools Read more