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Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate: support for deaf Catholics
09-08-2008
Hayward (Agenzia Fides) The first religious community to work directly in an apostolate for the deaf began in the United States on August 27, 2006. The founder is Father Thomas Coughlin, who has been working for thirty years with the deaf in the Dioceses of Honolulu, Denver, and San Francisco. Father Coughlin's story, that of a priest born deaf, began in 1977 when he was ordained as a priest in the Trinitarian Order. At that time, sign-language was not so often used in liturgical celebrations and Bishop Joseph Ferrario who was perhaps the only bishop in the United States at the time skilled in American Sign Language. The Bishop asked Father Coughlin to come to his Diocese of Honolulu in 1987, where carried out a ministry for the deaf.
Sts. Peter and Paul Parish he celebrated the Mass in sign language and created a ministry to the deaf. At that time, he expressed his determination to start an order of priests who are deaf for the deaf, however he ran into many difficulties in doing so. At the time, few if any seminaries and religious orders welcomed deaf candidates.
He left Hawaii in the early 1990s to follow his dream in Denver, where he was encouraged by the Dominicans to form a new branch in the Dominican Order designed specifically for the deaf candidates and apostolate.
Father Coughlin understood that deaf priests could play an important role in helping other Catholics with this handicap, especially in terms of translating the Mass into sign language. Interested in his work, then-Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco invited him to come in 2002 to carry out his apostolate in Saint Benedict Parish. In 2004, the Association was recognized by the Church as a Private Association of Faithful for the apostolate with the deaf.
In August 2006, five men, Fr. Thomas Coughlin among them made their vows as Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate. Their objective, according to the founder, is: "preach the Gospel to the deaf with sign language and give them a chance to complete seminary studies in their mother tongue, i.e. sign language." The community follows the Rule of St. Augustine and is not yet officially affiliated to the Dominicans, although this is a future goal. The Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate currently reside in All Saints Parish in Hayward (California). The other four Brothers are from Cameroon, Burundi, and the United States.
