Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
People and activities in the Cambodian deaf world
Two other friends from the early days of deaf ministry are Bea (L) and Judith, Sisters of Providence who are ministers in Seattle. Here we are at a nearby mall food court for a supper to allow us to catch up.
We flew through Denver to get to Portland from Louisville, and then in Portland it was a 24-mile drive to the hotel where the gathering is being held. On the drive I noticed one sign that we are not in Kentucky: the trees here have no mistletoe while the barren trees around Louisville are full of the dark clumps of the seasonal parasite.
Registration for the gathering started at 4:00 PM and then in the evening we had a welcome reception. I was pleased to meet some of the pastoral workers I first met 50 and 60 years ago.
When I got back to Nazareth Home, one of the staff asked if I knew a deaf man had been admitted. I found out it was John. I first met him 50+ years ago when he was a student at the Kentucky School for the Deaf. He became an active member of our Catholic deaf group and I had the wedding ceremony for him and his wife. It was wonderful for both of us to see each other again.
In the past, American Sign language interpreters were provided for White House press briefings and other events so that U.S. deaf people could understand. The Trump White House ended that practice, saying it “would severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public.”
The White House has a point. Trump has presented an image of one who mocks people with disabilities; routinely verbally abuses and disrespects people; is against inclusion; and flouts and ignores laws that he doesn’t like. Facilitating communications for deaf people could intrude on the negative image that he has created.
The National Association of the Deaf is suing to have sign language interpreting restored at the White House.
When I left Louisville for deaf work in Asia, Fr. Randy Hubbard replaced me in deaf ministry and kept thing going. Now he has been made pastor of the St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral in Bardstown, 50 miles from Louisville. Today some of the Catholic deaf group in Louisville went to visit him.
Afterwards we went to a local restaurant and continued our conversations and comradery.
50+ years ago I used to have my hair cut at the Tri-City Barber College in Louisville. Then I went to Asia for 42 years, and for the last 20+years in Cambodia I had my own barber school, a job training program for deaf youth.
Today I returned to Tri-City after the long absence. It’s in a different location and the staff I knew are no longer there. The same could be said for a lot of my hair: it’s no longer there. But I got a cut from Eli, a delightful young man, eager to please, and he only charged me $7!
This evening three of us retired priests drove south to Bardstown, Kentucky to the St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral where we had dinner with Fr. Randy Hubbard, the pastor there. Randy followed me as the priest with the Catholic deaf ministry in our archdiocese.
Almost fifty years ago, Mass of the Air began broadcasting on Louisville television to allow home-bound people to have at least limited access to Sunday mass. Many volunteers have helped to provide this service, including sign language interpreters and prompters. Above, Nancy Reynolds (L) is signing American Sign Language and Peg Darcy is prompting her to make sure the communications are clear and understandable. Both Nancy and Peg have been part of the Catholic deaf community for more than 40 years, serving our deaf brothers and sisters in many ways.
Today Charlie’s Angels came to Nazareth Home for a visit. These are women who decades ago began working with deaf people, especially in sign language interpreting. Several of them were students in classes I taught at Angela Merici High School. There were five Angels originally but two have returned to heaven.
