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Rosemarie Tobin, the Albany Diocese's consultant for people with disabilities, is the Diocese's new lay liaison for the Catholic deaf community.

She steps into the shoes of Rev. James Clark, who served as chaplain for the Diocese's Catholic Deaf Ministry for two decades; he passed away last fall.

With the permission of Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, Ms. Tobin will be adding her new duties to her current job. "My background is as a rehabilitation counselor. Part of that was working with deaf people," she noted. "There's a need there and I decided to pursue it.

"This is a big opportunity for evangelization," she told The Evangelist, since many people in the deaf and hard of hearing communities fall away from the Catholic Church because of a lack of interpreted Masses and resources related to the faith.

Ms. Tobin has a vision "of a ministry for deaf and hard of hearing [persons]. They are two different communities and they both have their individual needs.

"The church spaces can be challenging acoustically," she added. "To provide an area where people can see visually, to provide written materials, to provide updated FM systems - those are all things that need to be done."

Ms. Tobin is also updating the Deaf Ministry's website, www.rcda.org/deafministry. It will show an updated list of Mass times for interpreted Masses in the Diocese and be more accessible to those who could benefit from it.

(Contact Ms. Tobin at [email protected] or 518-453-6602.)[[In-content Ad]]

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