HISTORY OF DCE
The 2015 European Catholic Deaf Gathering was held in Rome, Italy. This event brought together deaf Catholic people from all over Europe to share experiences and work on inclusion within the Catholic Church. Since then, other meetings have been held in different European cities, such as Prague in 2017, Lubliniec in 2019 and Aachen in 2022
ROMA 2009
ROMA 2015
II EUROPEAN CATHOLIC DEAF EN PRAGUE 2017
The second European Deaf Catholic meeting was held in Prague (Czech Republic) on 12 May 2017.
15 the meeting followed the first meeting, held in 2015 in Rome (Italy). The meeting was carefully prepared by the faithful of the Catholic parish for the deaf in Prague, whose pastor is. Stanislav Góra. The head of the parish was pastoral assistant for the deaf Fr. Alena C Voracova, who is a great thanks. The meeting was attended by representatives from 12 countries from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Italy and Ukraine.
One of the plans for the future is to expand the initiative to other countries, because historically meetings such as these had never occurred before. The main objective is to collaborate and discuss the faith of the deaf and the life situations they face directly. I think, because of the importance they have for us, they were loved by God. The first encounter of deaf Catholics in Europe took place in Rome, in 2015. It was organized by me, Luca, in collaboration with a priest, Father Delci. , of the small mission for deaf (referring to Gualandi, a special institute for deaf, which is today in Via Vincenzo Monti, 3). With considerable effort, we have gathered deaf people from several Italian churches and have found and established contacts with deaf people from several European countries. This first encounter in Rome was a really good feeling for us and an opportunity to see how things were going and discuss how deaf people are in the Church. Given the difficult times of today and the crisis of faith, the participation of the deaf has decreased due to the lack of evangelization towards them. There have been some setbacks, paradoxically, not only in Italy but also in European countries. New technologies have made us lose direct contact with the faithful and the fundamental orientation of faith has been lost. That is why the encounter was very desired, with the aim of discussing, helping and exchanging many things. We gathered and gave rise to the new group of deaf Catholics in Europe. Finally we decided to meet every two years, every time in a different country, in shifts.
He said that the first meeting was in Rome, then by raffle we established that the Czech Republic would organize the second meeting in 2017 ..
III EUROPEAN CATHOLIC DEAF IN LUBLINIEC (POLAND) 2019
European Catholic deaf regret the lack of reception in many dioceses
The association is working on a project to spread the Gospel among people with disabilities across Europe.
A moment of the IV Meeting of European Catholic deaf. Ceded photo.
Catholic people with disabilities continue to take steps for their full inclusion in the Catholic Church. After the little reception they had during the Synod Assembly organized by the Spanish Episcopal Conference, to which the Pastoral del Sordo de Barcelona, for example, led to proposals such as "a greater formation of the priests and catechists in sign language "or" a real reception by parish communities ", now the Catholic deaf in Europe have taken a step further and are working on a project to try to overcome all these difficulties that are for Practice your faith on a day to day
The idea "is to assign a new lenguage of signs for all of Europe with which to teach the gospel more appropriate to deaf and deafblind people," explains the laity Valenciano Miguel Ángel García, responsible and representative of the association deaf Catholics of Catholic Europe. "European Catholic deaf need to receive good formation and catechesis to delve into the Word of God, but this is not possible if there are no priests who learn the language of signs," Garcia adds in an interview with Alfa and Omega.
Likewise, the Association aspires that European dioceses be more sensitive to the needs of people with disabilities and can allocate pastoral resources for their spiritual attention. "Today there are many bishops and priests who do not know the reality of deaf people," says Garcia.
At present, the project, which received a push in the IV Meeting of the Deaf European Catholics held in Aachen (Germany) in early September, is aware of the indications, and of approval, of discastery for the laity, the family and life. There he was transferred on the recommendation of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Union.
From the association they hope that the project can count on the green light before its next meeting, which will take place in Bratislava (Slovakia) in 2024. It will be the fifth match after those held in Rome (Italy), in 2015; In Prague (Czech Republic), in 2017, in Lubliniec (Poland), in 2019; and the one held from September 1 to 4, 2022 in Germany.