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Pope Benedict XVI urged to provide guidelines after Autism Church Ban

Autism Campaigners have urged Pope Benedict XVI to provide guidelines to the Roman Catholic Church on how to deal with children and adults with autism and Asperger's syndrome in the light of the banning of a 13 year old boy with autism, Adam Race from the Church of St.Joseph in Bertha, Minnesota.

The priest had taken a restraining order againt the mother and the teenager. Father Dan Walz stated that it was for the safety of those at the church. The Sheriff of Todd County had threatened to arrest Mrs Race and her son Adam who has severe autism, if they entered the Church of St.Joseph in Bertha and broke the restraining order.

Campaigners are now calling on Pope Bendeict XVI to make a statement on autism - no Pope has ever made a statement on the complex needs of children and adults with autism and Asperger's syndrome. The Pope has been asked to provide guidelines to the Catholic clergy on how to reach out to parents, carers and people with disabilities - including autism after the controversial ban.

There are 60 million people with autism around the world. According to the CDC in 1 150 children in the United States is on the autism spectrum.

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Your comments...

To my knowledge, the Church

A Monette's picture

To my knowledge, the Church has never relased any particular guidelines on any special affliction, save maybe for AIDS, leprosy and homosexuality.

It's a good idea to distinguish between what happened at a local parish, ie a church with a small c, and the general view of the Church, with a big C.

It might be just some small incident we're dealing with that has nothing to do with the Church's overall tolerance and respect for people which such syndromes.

Before talking to the Pope, you should try to have a dialogue with the local diocese, pastor and bishop. Was the local pastor simply disciplining someone who was misbehaving ? The USCCB (American group of bishops) might also have some interesting information points to make.

ban of autistic teen

Carol Race's picture

I agree. The church has no specific document on this subject, except that the church has always taught that accomodations should be made for disabled persons wherever possible. There are also numerous statements about the Eucharistic celebration and the importance of the disabled being there where they represent the fullness of humanity. the Church also teaches that the mass is the source and summit of christisn life and when a child is baptized the parents agree to raise the child in the Catholic faith. So, putting those two ideas together, it follows that parents have an obligation to take their autistic children to Mass, at least on holy days of obligation. Now, if the child is truly dangerous, as some of claimed of my son, then I think very stringent accomodations would need to be made to protect others at Mass, however, the stories purported about my son are either entirely false or are gross exagerations of the truth. I do feel only minimal accomodations are needed, and they have not been offered, let alone implemented at St. Joseph's Church. My entire family is now attending another parish.

NOT ABOUT AUTISM

Anonymous's picture

This is not about AUTISM. It is about a physical threat to others. It is also about disturbances during the MASS. I certainly would not want to be present at a Holy Thursday, Good Friday or any Mass and watch a group of adults wrestle this huge boy to the floor or see him in control of a running vehicle. The pure disrespect Carol Race has shown for her Catholic faith, is very disturbing to me. I think she is very wrong in this instance. I think the entire CHRUCH should be in support of this little parish in Bertha MN.

Subsidiarity

Grace's picture

The Pope - contrary to all the ignorant stereotypes - is not in the business of micromanaging the parishes of the Church. He is not the "boss" of the bishops & priests, but their eldest brother - the hierarchical relationships are both collegial & familial. I have no doubt that he has already been informed of the controversy & will look into the situation to see if there is something that the Church as a whole needs to address, but the Church believes firmly in subsidiarity & this is an issue that the bishop of that diocese will need to look into to determine if the pastor exercised prudential judgment on behalf of parishioners or made an insensitive mistake.

Ms. Race, if that really is you posting, I would love to know the important details that none of the articles I've read so far have mentioned. Did the pastor discuss this situation with you before it reached this level? What effort did each of you make to resolve this before it reached the level of a restraining order? I ask because the news articles seem more interested in latching onto another opportunity to stir up outrage against the Church than revealing the truth of the situation.

I have a son with Tourette's & another son with high-functioning autism - while I have sympathy for you, if my boys were unable to sit reverently & politely during Mass, I can't imagine allowing them to disturb the meditation, contemplation & worship of others.

I am open to correction - recognizing that I do not possess all the facts of this story, but at its essence, this situation does not sound substantially different than my toddler acting out & being a distraction at Mass (Between my toddler & my now preschooler, both very high energy, I have been worshipping from the narthex of our parish & occasionally outside at 90+% of our Masses for the past 5 yrs+). I don't dispute that it is frustrating, but I would not dream of allowing my child to distract & upset others because I wanted to be Mary when my vocation requires me to be Martha?

Whatever the case, I hope that a peaceful, amicable & charitable resolution can be found so that reconciliation & healing might be possible. I will pray for you & all involved.

Proper course of action

sam's picture

The funny thing is, if Jesus had been at that church, he would have just driven the demon out of the boy and he would be fine right now.

Mat17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

The church in question should have resorted to prayer and fasting rather than a restraining order.

Autism and Mass Disturbance

Music Director's picture

I serve as a Music Director in a large Catholic church. Here is my observance.

While the community and our priest are very welcome to families and children, there are children and parents in the church that at least don't care about others in terms of respecting the ambiance and the prayerful atmosphere during the Mass.

I have seen little children being very loud, crying, tearing the hymnals in front of my eyes, and parents not doing anything.

We ask each time the parents not to allow children to be without supervision during the Mass in the hallways. But you see at least 5-10 kinds running around in the hallways. Where are the parents?

My point is that while the church is very welcoming, the parents are and should be obliged to respects 500 other people who came to church, a public place to pray.

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