Catholics who have hearing problems find advocate in Waterford native

In fact, he often does so as the Catholic chaplain at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine. He calls the liturgies he leads in sign language "ideal."

"It's nice if you can have a liturgy where you don't have to have a voice," he told The Evangelist. "It changes the whole thing: You feel like you're deaf yourself. You're more expressive in some cases, and you have to really pay attention! With hearing people, you can look around."

Sign of times

While in the Franciscan novitiate in Middleburgh in the late 1960s, Father Robert explained, someone gave him a book on sign language. He was so intrigued that he took formal classes to learn more and eventually joined the International Catholic Deaf Association (ICDA).

"It's not so much the language itself; it's the people -- reaching out to our Catholic deaf who are isolated from the Church," he said.

Called to quiet

In 1970, he went to Pittsburgh to head a religious education program and also got his bachelor's degree in education of the hearing-impaired. He later earned a master's degree in education and went to teach at St. John's School for the Deaf in Milwaukee.

Within a decade, he had also pursued another vocation: In 1980, he was ordained a deacon. It was then that the bishop of the St. Augustine Diocese invited him to work at a parish in Florida with two fellow Conventual Franciscans.

Brother Robert accepted the "very tempting" offer to live in the sun-drenched state, which ironically led to yet another vocation change: After seven years, he answered the call to the priesthood.

Changes in life

Then his order made a decision: They were pulling their friars out of the diocese for other ministries. Father Robert decided to stay and became a diocesan priest.

"It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make," he said. But he made it because he loved his work, particularly sacramental preparation for the approximately 170 Catholic students at the School for the Deaf and Blind.

Languages

The priest said that most people don't realize there are also differences in sign language depending on where people live. He has spent time puzzling out colloquialisms and demonstrated the different signs for "hospital" used in different states.

Attending Mass actually helps deaf students of another culture to learn English words, said Father Robert. "With the kids and the liturgy, I sign pretty straight, because the point is for them to learn English," he noted.

Of course, he must often speak aloud as well, since blind students also attend Mass at the school.

Taking a break

Still, he wasn't leaving his usual work behind: In addition to taking classes and going on retreat on the West Coast, he planned a detour to attend the annual ICDA meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.

"I like to see what's happening in Catholic deaf ministry," he explained.

How to serve

However, he added, interpreted Masses aren't the only way to serve Catholics with hearing impairments.

"Interpreters are out there, but we need to create communities so deaf people don't just have an interpreter, but become lectors, Eucharistic ministers -- so they're not just receiving, they're giving as well," he said. "Our goal is for more and more deaf people to do ministries themselves.

"There's something like 12 priests in the country that are deaf," he added. "That's what I'd like to see with every diocese: that they acknowledge the gifts of deaf people."

(Father Robert is looking for a pastoral worker to help with his ministry at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind. To learn more, call 904-827-2607. For information on ministry to the hearing-impaired in the Albany Diocese, call 283-1162, fax/TDD 286-2808 or email [email protected].)

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