Come to altar of the Lord -- even on wheels

Nearly three dozen adults and children listened attentively as Amy Kinney of Latham explained what she'd gone through just to sit in the house of God.

When Ms. Kinney began attending her Protestant church, it had no accommodations for her wheelchair. At first, she sat in the aisle, but that was deemed a fire hazard. Sitting in the back of the church, however, made parish leaders uncomfortable.

When she asked parishioners to transfer her from her wheelchair to a pew, those in charge worried that someone might be hurt in lifting her. Finally, Ms. Kinney successfully argued for "pew cuts" -- the removal of sections of pews to enable people who used wheelchairs to sit alongside their fellow parishioners.

Feeling at home

Today, Ms. Kinney concluded, "I feel home. The church is a building. The people are my home. The Lord is my home."

She was among a half-dozen people who recounted their stories at "More Than a Ramp!", a recent ecumenical meeting on ministry with persons with disabilities, sponsored by Catholic Charities Disabilities Services.

The meeting aimed not just at making churches more physically accessible to persons with disabilities, but also at changing attitudes so everyone is welcomed.

Welcome to church

Rev. Denise LeFebvre of Faith United Methodist Church in Schenectady well knows the importance of attitude adjustments. Her brother, Dean, who also attended the meeting, was institutionalized at the age of four and now lives in a Catholic Charities home.

When he attends religious services at her church or others, she explained, he parrots the minister or priest and sings loudly and joyfully.

"I sometimes get embarrassed because he is so participatory," she admitted. "But when I mention it to my congregants, they say, `Oh, don't think of it -- he is such a joy!"

Opening up

That is the kind of attitude parishioners of all faiths need in dealing with those with disabilities, the group agreed. Said Sylvia Sievers, whose teenaged son was born with cysts on his brain: "Church shouldn't be a place where you have to advocate."

However, since many parishes still need lessons on that subject, Rev. Carolyn Smith Goings, coordinator of parish social ministry for Catholic Charities Disabilities Services, proposed the idea of parish advocacy and accessibility programs.

There are five steps to beginning such a program, she explained:

1. Forming an advisory group of "five categories of key people": adults with disabilities, young people with disabilities, parents or family members of persons with disabilities, pastors and parishioners who serve on other relevant committees (for example, worship or long-range planning committees).

2. Developing a working committee and beginning the educational process. Those involved must be sensitized to the needs and gifts of persons with disabilities through dialogue, resource materials and attending meetings of parents' groups.

3. Developing awareness throughout the congregation through bulletins, newsletters, special presentations, web sites and other formats.

4. Drawing up an action plan for church accessibility, transportation to church, sensitivity training and visiting the homes of persons with disabilities to get them involved in the parish community.

5. Developing a long-range plan for the next several years (no more than five), considering architectural and attitudinal changes and "maintaining a teachable spirit."

Painful moments

Aside from discussing these goals, the meeting also provided a forum for families of persons with disabilities to share their pain. A minister who has struggled with manic depression compared himself to Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead, stepping out of his tomb to meet a congregation "that would accept me back with open arms."

Rev. James Clark, pastor of St. Jude's parish in Wynantskill and a widower, has an adult son named Jamie who has Down syndrome. Father Clark remembered that as a child, Jamie was welcomed in his home parish, St. Joseph's in Scotia, simply because the pastor put an arm around his shoulders and included the family in parish activities.

Today, he said, Jamie attends Our Lady of Mercy parish in Colonie and is also made to feel comfortable there.

"People are different, but you don't have to be intimidated by that," Father Clark said. He encouraged parishes to "look at `how are we a welcoming community,'" and gave an example from his own experience: He knows each week that a man in his parish will offer an intention during Mass, but that the man's disability makes it difficult for others to understand him. Father Clark talks to the parishioner before Mass to learn what his intention will be, so he can repeat it later on.

"It's an effort to be welcoming," he said.

(Catholic Charities Disabilities Services can be reached at 783-1111.)

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