Bishop-elect Chau on sharing the Word of God with the Deaf Community

According to the National Catholic Office for the Deaf, there are approximately 5.4 million Deaf and hard-of-hearing Catholics in the United States. In terms of the sacramental life of the Church, however, the Deaf Community mostly feels ignored. The NCOD estimates that 96% of Deaf Catholics do not attend church because of a lack of sign language services.

“This is an area that the Catholic Church really needs to get better at,” Bishop-elect Pedro Bismark Chau told Jersey Catholic.

A painful realization

The bishop-elect, who currently serves as a chaplain for the Archdiocese of Newark’s Ministry with the Deaf, was motivated to become involved because of his Deaf sister, Ana Maria.

“Before I entered the seminary, when we were living in Brooklyn, this Baptist group would come pick my sister up and take her to their church,” the bishop-elect recalled. “I felt jealous that they were helping her, so I invited her to come to my home parish in Linden, where I sang in the choir. So, she came with me, and I would try to interpret, but I was not as fluent in Sign Language as I am now. I wasn’t doing a good job, honestly, and realized I wasn’t being fair to her.”

Ana Maria went back to her Baptist community; when she eventually moved to Pennsylvania, she received even more help from another Baptist church there. “That’s when I realized that we in the Catholic Church needed to have this same kind of ministry,” Bishop-elect Chau said.

Celebrating Mass in Sign Language

Later, when he entered the seminary, Bismarck was delighted to learn that two deacons were offering an American Sign Language course. “By this time, I had already taken classes, but I also needed to learn the liturgical language so that I could say Mass in Sign Language. That was what we focused on.”

Initially, 12 seminarians joined the course, but only Bismarck Chau persisted.

“I have been celebrating Mass in American Sign Language since 2008,” he told Jersey Catholic. Every fourth Sunday, bishop-elect Chau says Mass in ASL at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. There is a social gathering afterwards.

Accurately conveying liturgical terms and the meaning of Scripture in ASL can be challenging at times. “Sign Language is very contextual,” Bishop-elect Chau said. “Not every word has a sign, so you have to spell the word out or sign the context of what you are communicating.” The experience of praying with one’s whole self can also be physically tiring. “Sometimes after signing Mass, I have a pain in my back!” he said with a laugh.

The joys of Ministry with the Deaf

Currently, the bishop-elect is the only priest in the Archdiocese who knows American Sign Language, though there are also ASL interpreters who assist at the cathedral and four other parishes.

Bishop-elect Chau said he would like to encourage more priests to learn American Sign Language, and that he hopes to make the growth of the Ministry with the Deaf one of the focuses of his episcopate.

“Celebrating Mass in Sign Language is such a great blessing,” Bishop-elect Chau said. “It gives me a lot of joy, because what I could not give my sister, and what she could not receive from the Church, I can now share with other Deaf people. They are receiving God’s word, and I can preach to them about the Catholic faith and keep them with us.”

To learn more about the Archdiocese of Newark’s Ministry with the Deaf, including a list of signed and interpreted Masses in the Archdiocese, click HERE.

Featured image: Bishop-elect Pedro Bismarck Chau has celebrated Masses in American Sign Language since 2008. (Photo by Archdiocese of Newark)