Ironic twist led to ministry

When Monica Short took an American Sign Language course with her husband Michael two decades ago, it was strictly for fun.

"We never really thought we'd have much opportunity to actually use what we had learned. We now know that it was God's hand that guided us to learn how to communicate with the deaf," Mrs. Short told The Evangelist.

Today, Mrs. Short not only interprets Masses at 9 a.m. each Sunday for deaf members of the congregation at St. Madeleine Sophie in Guilderland, but she also uses American Sign Language (ASL) daily with her 15-year-old son Danny.

`Mysterious ways'

"People say the Lord works in mysterious ways, and our family's story is proof of this fact," said Mrs. Short, a special education teacher in North Colonie who also teaches an evening course in ASL at Albany High School.

"My husband and I already knew ASL when our second son Danny was born because we'd learned it for fun prior to his birth. In fact, we figured one of the few chances we'd ever have to use it was when we met a deaf couple in our Lamaze class. As it turned out, that woman gave birth to a hearing son, and I gave birth to a deaf son."

Although Danny's deafness wasn't formally diagnosed until he was a year old, American Sign Language was already being "spoken" in his home. Recalls Mrs. Short: "I enjoyed learning ASL so much that I taught the ASL alphabet to Danny's older brother David when he was a toddler. David's 17 now, and he's a wonderful finger speller. He and Danny have never had any trouble communicating."

Blessings

Looking back, Mrs. Short said she's almost certain she would have felt "frightened and overwhelmed" by the diagnosis of Danny's profound deafness had she not learned ASL when she did. The way Mrs. Short looks at it, she and her spouse were blessed with an advantage: They were given a chance to practice using the tools they would need to parent a deaf child prior to his birth.

How Mrs. Short came to be known as the "deaf Mass interpreter" at St. Madeleine Sophie's is another story.

"I'd signed the Mass for Danny in the pew from Day One and never really gave it a second thought," said Mrs. Short. "I guess you could say it was second nature."

As word of her presence spread, however, Mrs. Short was asked to step up to the altar so that other deaf and hearing-impaired members of the congregation might also benefit from her gift.

"We have four to six individuals who sit near the front of the church so they can watch me sign the Mass," said Mrs. Short, adding that church organist Pat Rein recently started taking ASL courses from her.

Looking for disciples

She hopes other parishioners will follow Ms. Rein's example so that they might better communicate one-on-one with the deaf and hearing-impaired individuals who flock to the church on Sunday morning.

Voicing a concern raised by her son Danny, now a grade 9 honors student, Mrs. Short said one of the most frustrating things about being deaf is feeling left out of conversations. She feels encouraged by the fact that some teenagers who take religious education classes with Danny have expressed an interest in learning the ASL alphabet.

Noting that American Sign Language ranks among the top three most used languages in the nation, Mrs. Short hopes more people will consider studying it in the future. Doing so, she stressed, would greatly broaden the horizons of the country's deaf and hearing-impaired population.

The tragedy of the current situation, she said, is that so many deaf people must rely on ASL interpreters to "translate" what they are saying.

Danny, for instance, is said to have "a billion ideas" he'd like to share each week in his religious ed classes, but he's largely dependent upon an ASL interpreter to convey them to his fellow students.

"What Danny would like more than anything in the world," said his mother, "is to be able to communicate more fully with those who are not deaf."

(For more information on American Sign Language Masses and other programs for hearing-impaired individuals in the Albany Diocese, contact Rev. James Clark, chaplain of the Catholic Deaf Ministry at 827-5132. Deaf individuals may prefer to communicate via fax: 827-7873.)

(04-10-97) [[In-content Ad]]