Co-responsibility as well as inclusion

The first video of the series #TheChurchIsOurHome, which revolves around the theme of participation of persons with disabilities in the life of the Church, was posted today on the social channels of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life; the General Secretariat of the Synod; and Vatican News.

The stories told by the video’s five protagonists - Enrique Alarcon Garcia, President of Frater Spain; Luz Elena Beacamonte Zamora of DCYIA; Giulia Cirillo of the Community of Sant'Egidio; Claire-Marie Rougier, a French consecrated laywoman; and Fr. Justin Glyn, S.I. - draw on their experience as people with disabilities. They talk about the fact of not being able to access the Sacraments, what occurred during the pandemic, and the habit of creating separate groups... all to explain the need to take a different path and build more welcoming communities.

It is not only a matter of fostering the ability to access places and material for the faithful with disabilities, but also to make it possible for them to fully participate and foster their co-responsibility.

The Synod on Synodality - in part due to the special listening session organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life - is proving to be an opportune moment for becoming aware of this reality and embarking on an alternative path. “The Synod," wrote the Holy Father in his Message for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, "by its invitation to journey together and to listen to one another, can help us understand how in the Church – also with regard to the disabled – there can be no us and them, but a single us, with Jesus Christ at the centre, where each person brings his or her own gifts and limitations”. 

In order to understand how to pursue this path in ordinary pastoral ministry, an online meeting will be held today between the Dicastery and those responsible for the pastoral care of people with disabilities of a number of bishops' conferences around the world.