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Creating a safe place for people with disabilities

St. Paul’s “All Soles” team "Walks Now for Autism Speaks."
By: 
Joan Frey

On three consecutive Sundays, September 22, 29 and October 6, St. Paul’s Church in Chatham sponsored a series of films, sermons and discussion on how our faith can help us remove the isolation and stigma that children and adults of all ages with disability encounter in the community, and oftentimes, sadly, in the church.

A highlight was the “Walk Now for Autism Speaks” event in Morris Plains on Oct. 5, at which St. Paul’s “All Soles” team of more than 50 parishioners and friends joined the larger community in raising awareness of autism.

The Rev. Mary Davis, rector of St. Paul’s said, “By participating in this event, we proclaimed to the greater community that St. Paul’s is a safe place for people with disability.”

Praying with Lior, a film by Illana Trachtman, began the Disability and Faith series and initiated a discussion on how our community of faith inspires and supports our prayers, and how we know God more fully by connecting with those who are different than ourselves. That week’s sermon, by Davis, reflected on prophets in our midst and her family’s experience with autism.

Next, the movie Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter by Deborah Hoffman, allowed us to focus on disability associated with aging.

On the series’ last Sunday, Dr. Cheryl Notari, a clinical psychologist and adjunct professor at Montclair State University, preached about faith and mental illness, followed by a group discussion.

In her sermon, Notari said, “Everyday… with each and every person who comes to me for help, I have an opportunity to meet God. I have seen the face of God in the woman with schizophrenia… in the man with bipolar disorder…and in the boy with autism.” She concluded with these words: “In loving, being with, and accepting, those with mental illness for who they are, we can, in faith, see God.”

That week, sitting in the back pew, listening to Notari’s sermon was a woman who had not been to St. Paul’s in more than 30 years. When welcomed by the rector at the Peace, she said that she was there because of her family’s decades-long struggle with mental illness. Davis commented, “This was a powerful experience for me, affirming our sense that we, at St. Paul’s, are called to be a safe place for people dealing with disability of all kinds.”

Davis also noted that at this time, 15% of St. Paul’s parishioners are affected in some way by autism. “I believe we are a faith community which responds to disability with inclusion and compassion,” she said, “and yet we also recognize this is only half of the equation. The other half is widening our circle, standing with others, sharing our vulnerabilities, and living in the world knowing that those with disabilities have inherent value, loved into being and created in the image of God.”

Joan Frey is a member of St. Paul's in Chatham.