A campaign to fully involve people with disabilities in Catholic Church activities has been started by the Dublin Diocesan Jubilee Committee.
Its booklet, It's My Church, Too, urges priests to involve people with disabilities in all aspects of parish life, from altar serving to becoming a eucharistic minister.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Desmond Connell, yesterday said negative attitudes towards disability should be opposed and he claimed they could lead to abortion or euthanasia. He said all parish facilities should be made more accessible.
The booklet recommends reserved spaces in church car-parks for people with disabilities and ramps and level-access facilities for wheelchairs.
Father Joe Jones, director of the National Chaplaincy for Deaf People, said he hoped other dioceses would take such initiatives. "That's our next step, to go nationwide," he said.
Father Jones said the Catholic Church was getting better at involving people with disabilities. The loop system, for hearing-aid users to tune in to the sound system, was not expensive and was in some Dublin churches already.
The booklet asks if the parish encourages people with disabilities to join the choir, be an usher or be involved in any other parish role. "Is it open to every person to be a minister of the word? If not, why not?"
It suggests lighting churches sufficiently, making available copies of sermons for those with hearing impairments, and having sign-language interpreters at ceremonies.
