Montréal, Canada
Retreat for Catholic Deaf Priests and Religious
 Every two years, a group called ICDR--International Catholic Deaf Religious, whose members are all sisters, brothers, and priests who are deaf--has a retreat just for religious men and women like themselves. This year the retreat was held in Montréal at the same time as the World Federation of the Deaf gathering. Here Fr. Peter McDonough, from Britain, presides at the closing liturgy. Tom Ryan (left) is a deaf deacon from Louisville. |
 Here two nuns, both of whom are deaf, proclaim the first and second scripture readings for the retreat group. One sister used American Sign Language; the other used Quebec Sign Language. |
 At the end of the liturgy, Fr. Tom Coughlin, the first deaf priest ordained in the United States, celebrated the Sacrament of the Sick for a young man. |
 I dashed over to the retreat just to say hello to a lot of old friends I had not seen for a long time. They invited me to stay for their final meal together, and then I dashed back to downtown Montréal for the formal opening of the WRD Congress. |