Miss-Delectable

Opening the 'ears' of the deaf - NJ.com

Newark's biggest advocate for the deaf died in September at age 84, three days after St. John's Roman Catholic Church held its first weekly signed Mass.

But two clergy members have carried on Monsignor John Hourihan's labor of love in the church on Mulberry Street, and now, nine months after Hourihan's death, the ministry is thriving.

Each Sunday, Deacon Thomas Smith, head of the Archdiocese of Newark Pastoral Ministry with the Deaf, and the Rev. Pedro Bismarck Chau hold a signed Mass, the only one of its kind in Hudson, Bergen, Essex and Union counties, Smith said. The services, they said, fulfills a the need of Catholics in the deaf community.

"Every time I celebrate Mass, it's the fulfillment of the scriptures, that the deaf will hear," Chau said.

Smith and Chau's ministry also help deaf parishioners attend to practical matters -- like finding a job or understanding an insurance policy -- as well as spiritual ones.

The ministry is funded by the Newark archdiocese and by Father John's Foundation for the Handicapped and the Poor, a small organization Hourihan started in 1998. It doles out about $50,000 a year in grants to charities and service organizations, mostly in New Jersey.

At the Mass, Smith and Chau convey scripture, prayers, communion and the homily through sign language. They work separately and in tandem, signing side-by-side for about 40 congregants.

The service is silent, with no additional interpreters. Smith said deaf parishioners often feel uncomfortable at Masses conducted with an interpreter below the pulpit or on the side because they must sit in front of the church to interpret the service. The interpreters have their own problem of trying to keep up with the priest's pace.

Parishioners Gloria and Alfred Noll of Wood-Ridge said a signed Mass was a long time coming.

"To tell you the truth, it was really a joy for us because we deaf people always looked forward to a church where there is a signed Mass," the couple wrote in an e-mail.

"There are not many churches in New Jersey where a priest" knows sign language, they said.

Phelim and Kathy Corcoran of Succasunna said the signed service is a powerful part of their faith.

"It's great," they wrote in an e-mail. "We feel closer to God."

While faith may come readily for many of the parishioners, satisfying work does not. That is why Smith, a certified social worker, helps deaf parishioners strengthen their résumés and choose a desirable vocation.

Traditionally, he said, deaf people have limited their professional goals.

"We're trying to break that paradigm," he said.

Smith said while some members of the deaf community who seek him out for help finding a job or a home happen to be Catholic, it is not a prerequisite for him to help out.

"I don't ask them if they're Catholic," he said. "I don't think Jesus would."

The idea for the deaf ministry began with Hourihan, who met many deaf students at Gallaudet University, the nation's largest college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, while he attended nearby Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Once ordained, Hourihan went out of his way to welcome deaf worshippers. He learned sign language, co-edited a book called "Catechesis for the Hearing Impaired" and was appointed to conferences and committees on issues in the deaf community by presidents John F. Kennedy and Jimmy Carter. For a time, he served as president of the International Catholic Conference on Religious Education of the Deaf.

While there was great interest in starting a weekly signed Mass in northern New Jersey, the largest hurdle was finding a clergy member who knew how to sign. Smith resolved that issue by teaching courses in sign language to aspiring priests at Seton Hall University.

Of the eight seminarians who started classes with Smith, Chau was the only one left after two years of instruction. Chau, a native of Nicaragua, said he was prompted to learn sign language so he could better communicate with his sister, who is deaf.

He was ordained in May 2008 and swiftly filled the ministry's missing link. With a shortage of priests, Chau must devote most of his time to a church in Garfield, Our Lady of Mount Virgin.

Smith said many who come to the weekly signed Masses remember Hourihan for the role he played in their lives. Some say his spirit lingers at the Masses.

On a recent Sunday, Smith said rainwater had formed what appeared to be a stain in the shape of the letter H on the ceiling over the altar. Worshippers were moved.

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