Forty Six Years Later, a New Pastoral is in the Works

Background

I grew up in the 1970s Diocese of Brooklyn, which saw itself as being at the forefront of the treatment of people with disabilities.  I heard it claimed that the diocese played a behind-the-scenes role in the Pastoral Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops on Persons with Disabilities (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1978).  I was involved in diocesan volunteer programs and employed by the diocese in the early 1980s (cf, Catholic Stand, 9/24/21).

Fast Forward to 2023

In the 1970s and 1980s, I was privileged to frequently encounter people with Down Syndrome, which is associated with cognitive limitations. Since my younger days, I have encountered far fewer in our churches or elsewhere.  In a macabre development, many people choose to “terminate” pregnancies upon learning a child may have Down Syndrome:

How this targeting of a vulnerable population is not considered a covert exercise in eugenics is beyond me,” [Bishop Robert] Barron said. “It has been allowed to fester and grow because people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities have not been given adequate visibility and a voice of their own. The church should be taking responsibility and leadership in regards to this definitively pro-life issue (Crux, 10/16/22).

On June 16, 2023, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved drafting a new pastoral statement on persons with disabilities with which Bishop Barron is involved:

A lot has changed in the last forty-five years, and while great strides have been made in some areas, there is still much to accomplish…

There is an inherent risk in attempting to address disability, and that is to homogenize the community at the upper levels of ability.

To address the lesser impaired misses the mark for those families who are living with profound disability. How does the Church reach out to them to offer support, opportunity for worship, the strength of the sacraments, and relief from the exhaustion they face every day? How do we identify families who have fallen off the parish register because for years it has just been too hard to get to Mass, or who stopped coming because they had an unwelcoming reaction at Mass to a family member who lacks physical or vocal control?…

The threat to prenatal life has never been greater, and the new statement would be incomplete without acknowledging this threat to families and the necessity of making known resources to assist families if a test returns a positive result(A New Pastoral Statement on Persons with Disabilities, Word on Fire, 6/21/202 )

Fast Forward to 2024

Fifteen months after the USCCB approved drafting a new pastoral statement, I called the USCCB to inquire as to its status.  From my September 20 call, I learned that the new pastoral is not yet ready.  It appears to me that the 46th anniversary of the original pastoral will likely pass this November without a new document.

The USCCB is clearly not an organization to be rushed!  I am reminded of my 8/3/24 Catholic365 reflections on the Doctrinal Note on the Moral Limits to Technological Manipulation of the Human Body (USCCB, 3/20/23):

In June 2023, the USCCB voted to incorporate that doctrinal note into its Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.  Looking back in January 2024, I asked:

Why is there any need for the bishops to clarify or vote on a document that simply affirms that ‘Catholic health care services must not perform interventions, whether surgical or chemical, that aim to transform the sexual characteristics of a human body into those of the opposite sex or take part in the development of such procedures’?  This appears to have resulted in needless delay.

In March 2024, paragraphs 55 to 60 of the Vatican’s Dignitas Infinita addressed ‘gender theory’ and so-called ‘sex change.’  Yet, we are still awaiting the USCCB’s update.

Conclusion

Over the years, I have been truly blessed to meet many elderly parents of adults with disabilities which interfere with major life functions, such as employment, self care, and establishing their own families.  These adults have not had interference in their ability to understand God’s love, because their parents have shown it to them so abundantly and so clearly!

I have found variations of this saying, as well as it being attributed to different sources:

After all is said and done, a lot more will be said than done.

To the best of my knowledge, the USCCB, similar national conferences of bishops, and state Catholic conferences do not even get mentioned in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  Personally, I find its slowness on the new Pastoral Statement on Persons with Disabilities and its update the Ethical and Religious Directives to be negligent and inexcusable.  The USCCB is a bureaucracy, and I believe that it has passed its time.

Why do we allow a superfluous level of bureaucracy to interfere, when we have agreed as to what should be done?