It is not always easy for Christians who are deaf or hard of hearing to find services and masses that can meet their needs, but some churches find a way to do so.
Our Lady of the Woods Catholic Church in Orland Park provides an American Sign Language interpreter at 5 pm every Saturday: Kathleen Eriksen, translator and leader of the parish’s interfaith development program and lifelong faith formation coordinator. She will also interpret for the 8 a.m. Mass on Christmas Day.
But Eriksen says her work includes more than just audiences.
“In terms of interpreting for deaf and hard of hearing people, it is a service rooted in the present, compassion and relationships. So sign language interpreting extends far beyond the walls of the church,” she said, although it also offers its services at funerals, funerals and sacraments.
She recently translated for an 82-year-old who took a driving test, someone looking into a residential facility and someone who was in the hospital for eye surgery. “You build relationships — not just the interpretation here — you get to know their families,” Eriksen said. “In all these moments, I strive to walk with them, to ensure that they are seen, heard and fully included in the life of the Catholic Church community.”
Eriksen, who began serving at Our Lady of the Woods Church 19 years ago, said she began teaching religious education to the deaf and hard of hearing in Lemont. A parent asked if she could interpret at Our Lady of the Woods because there was no interpreter.
She was originally inspired to learn American Sign Language because of her deaf neighbor. She took classes at a community college and her skills “flourished” thanks to the Rev. Joe Mulcrone and his Deaf community at St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church on Chicago’s North Side.
The Mass is no different from the traditional version. “I translate to make them understand what happens at Mass,” she said. “Deaf and hard of hearing people have the right to receive the same services as hearing people.”
Two deaf adults usually attend the 5 p.m. mass. Deaf parishioner Robert Lenart, who has been attending the service for about eight years, “appreciates his ability to understand the Mass,” he said via Eriksen.
The Deaf Lutheran Ministry of the Chicago Synod has faced some challenges in the past few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a few churches in the area have services, including Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Downers Grove, which offers translated worship services at its traditional 8:30 a.m. service most Sundays. Her pastor, the Rev. Tim Robertson, also provides assistance with hospital visits, funerals, emergency services and other pastoral care, along with an interpreter.
Typically one deaf person attends the in-person Gloria Dei service, but it also provides large screens behind the altar and Wi-Fi assistive devices for worshipers who have hearing difficulties. “We have online worship, so we try to isolate (the interpreter) in a picture-in-picture window, so no matter where they worship, they can also worship with our deaf interpreter,” Robertson explained.
Gloria Day does not provide an interpreter on Christmas Eve because the deaf member typically spends the holiday with family. He added: “We had three or four people who were deaf.” “But for the most part, that character…she loves it and we love her. She can hear a little bit and read lips very well. We’re able, with her beautiful lip-reading ability, to have some dialogue.”
Robertson knows signs like please and thank you, and he helped when three kids on the baseball team whose son was deaf were injured. He also considers his time as an admissions developer in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which has a large deaf community due to a school there. “That church had 30 or 40 (deaf) people for the service, but there is nothing like this here,” he said.
“I have a great passion for those who are not in a faith community, and I remember my friend Jason, who was part of the deaf community in Sioux Falls, telling me that one of the largest groups of unchurched people in our community is the deaf and hard of hearing. At least they will know that the church does that.”
Among the special Masses for people with special needs is an Advent Mass at McDonough Chapel at St. This year it was December 14th. Masses are also held during Lent.
“We do this intentionally during Advent because a lot of our friends and families don’t go to service during Christmas. It’s chaotic, it’s hard to park, and sometimes their families don’t always feel welcome. Some people might make comments or look at them, so they might not feel comfortable,” Cowan shared.
He said that the mass was very popular and about 150 or 200 people participated in it. “For a lot of our families, he might be the only person they attend. Also, after every Mass we have, we have a social gathering. We try to make it as social as possible, especially for our adult friends. They don’t have the opportunity to get out of the house,” especially if they live in a group home. “One of the reasons we have these Masses is to help our friends become more familiar with the liturgy, so they might come to their regular parish Masses.”
Masses are adapted to encourage participation in a sensory-friendly environment with quieter music, such as guitar, and without incense. Participants also prepare the altar, bring flowers to the altar and light candles.
In addition, gestures accompany the readings. “It’s called symbolic movement — not ritual dance — just to help them with the readings and give them a point of focus. A lot of them had ADHD, so the movement is a way to focus and listen,” Cowan explained.
Speeches are kept simple. “We usually have a very short, message-based sermon, so the priest gives a one- or two-sentence message and repeats it a few times until it gets going. … They just want ‘What is Jesus telling us to do?’ repeated and in a very reverent way.”
Special Mass details are available at www.spred-chicago.org or by calling 312-842-1039 or emailing SPRED@archchicago.org.
Cowan often works with Mulcrone, director of the Catholic Office for the Deaf in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The priest leads a Mass for the deaf at 10:30 a.m. every Sunday at St. Francis Borgia as well as a Mass at 4 p.m. the third Sunday of the month (except December) at St. Julie Belliart Catholic Church, 7399 West 159th Street in Tinley Park. He will also lead a Mass at 8pm on Christmas Eve at St Julie’s.
“He is an amazing person and has done amazing things, especially with the deaf community,” Cowan said. “It’s great to collaborate with him…. Our worlds collide a lot, especially in the world of disabilities.”
Deaf Mass began at St. Julie’s about 20 years ago and is held in the church chapel, but the Christmas Eve Mass, which was first offered about 15 years ago, has moved to the sanctuary as it continues to grow.
“The first time we had 15 people. Last year we had about 100 people,” Mulcrone said. “If the deaf can come, we have the entire Christmas Mass. We do it by voice and sign. … It’s great because people bring their hearing relatives in town and you see the deaf and don’t see them the rest of the year. It’s a good celebration.”
One difference from the traditional Christmas Eve Mass is that the deaf give the readings and sing fewer carols, including no chanting of the Glory.
“They’ll do one or two of our signatures and say ‘Silent Night,’” said Mulcrone, who is fluent in sign language. “It’s a really beautiful song. We have people who go with their relatives and their families say, “Why don’t we go?” We start signing at the end of the night and people are crying. Then we have cake and coffee.
Another difference is that the deaf community has a tradition at Christmas of working with the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center to collect new warm clothes for children who have been abused. “We donate to the advocacy center for these children who in most cases cannot return home. This has been a part of our community for years,” he said.
The Rev. Tirso Villaverde of Saint-Juli-Billiart is grateful to Mulcron, who turns 80 this year, and celebrates a Mass for the deaf once a month, as well as a 6pm Sunday Mass and a Christmas Eve Mass, calling it “truly a gift.” “I appreciate that he took the time to do this, especially on a special day like Christmas. It’s an opportunity for the deaf community in the area to be able to celebrate and practice their faith,” he added.
He said the church’s deaf ministry did a good job because “this is one of the few places the Deaf Catholic community can go and serve in a way they can understand.”
Villaverde is also concerned about missed opportunities in other areas.
“I’ve always thought that the Deaf Catholic community is a community that we could lose because most dioceses don’t devote a lot of resources — or none at all — into developing a ministry for deaf Catholics,” Valverde said, adding that his nephew and wife have hearing difficulties and rely on American Sign Language to communicate and understand. “They have told me sometimes that it is difficult for them to be able to participate in Mass when they cannot understand everything that is spoken or sung. I am sure other deaf Catholics feel the same way, and we can lose them to other denominations that provide service in American Sign Language.”
Mulcrone said working with deaf people comes naturally to him, thanks to having deaf grandparents on his mother’s side. “It’s been my world since I was a little kid,” he said. “Christmas is wonderful and wonderful, but I can’t even think about not celebrating Christmas with the deaf. I don’t know what it’s like. I’ve been working with the deaf in the diocese for 48 years, but for me this is Christmas and what it means and to be with these people and to share with these families to give them the opportunity to celebrate the birth of the Lord in their language, in their way.”
Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.