A Columban priest ministers to his hearing-impaired students in the classroom and through the sacraments.
By Fr. Richard Pankratz

Our world is not the world of hearing-impaired people. They want to be treated as equals, but in reality, they aren’t the same as those they encounter.

These are lessons learned through my ministry to hearing-impaired students in the Holy Rosary Parish of Agusan here on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

The young people I work with are often discouraged. They cannot communicate verbally and are limited in understanding what’s happening around them.

When they do use the medium of communication with which they are familiar, Sign Language, it is seldom understood by others.

Columban Father Dick Pankratz welcomed the Eucharistic gifts during a Mass celebrated in Sign Language.

Hearing-impaired people often must rely heavily upon others for their basic needs. This situation contributes to low self-esteem and self-confidence. Any hope for self-supporting futures is practically nonexistent.

But what blessings have been mine through my association with the hearing impaired over the last three years of my life! When I knew I was being assigned to the Holy Rosary Parish, I decided to study Sign Language. I knew a school for the hearing impaired had been started by the previous parish priest.

The school’s head teacher wanted in the worst way for the students to receive the sacraments of reconciliation and Holy Communion, so she volunteered to teach me Sign Language—at any hour of the afternoon, free of charge—so I could perform the sacraments for the children. As a result, I now am the only priest in the archdiocese that celebrates the Mass in Sign Language.

Simple Successes
How humbling it is to be with the students in a classroom, sharing in their personal struggles to grasp simple ideas. Their efforts to “try and try again” to master their school lessons have made me re-evaluate my own efforts to grasp difficult concepts.

Then there’s the joy that comes with being there during their successes. How well I remember everyone’s delight when an 8-year old boy named Barry was able to connect the numeral 2 with two balloons drawn on the chalkboard.

His achievement was everyone’s achievement. Oh, if I could appreciate small accomplishments in my daily life as we did on that day!

When I celebrate Mass in Sign Language for the hearing impaired, the servers are so proud they are asked to assist me. I have to ask myself when I last was taken up with such a similar healthy self-pride.

I will always remember how grateful these students are when I simply recognize and affirm their goodness as people of God. When they are told that they are good, big smiles, glowing eyes and grunts of appreciation follow! It’s then that I’m reminded that it takes little to make them happy.

My priestly ministry and personal life would be so much less satisfying if the hearing-impaired students were not a part of them.