| Richard Kush is a prominent Catholic deaf leader in the United States. He is a former president of the International Catholic Deaf Association. Here he leads a prayer to open the morning session. |
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| A view across the Synod Hall which was just about the perfect size for our group. On the far wall are the booths for the voice interpreters who provided simultaneous spoken translation in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. This was in addition to the 12 sign language interpreters. |
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| On the way to the Clementine Hall, Charlie Dittmeier and Harry Stocks posed for a photograph. Harry built the Technical Training Center for the Deaf in Bangalore, India which was Charlie's first experience in working outside the United States. |
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| There are many buildings in Vatican City which most people never see unless they climb to the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica and can look down over the entire miniscule nation. |
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| There are tens of thousands of figures painted on the walls and ceilings of Vatican City. These five figures are on the wall of the Clementine Hall. Are they representations of saints? of virtues? of biblical characters? of generic figures? Probably someone knows. |
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| The little white point in the middle of the picture is Pope Benedict XVI, dressed iin white and sitting in a white chair. The cardinal prefect of the Ponticial Council for Health Care introduced us and then the pope gave a short talk. |
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| Fr. Cyril Axelrod leaving the audience with the pope, accompanied by two interpreters for deaf-blind persons. Such interpreting is a highly skilled profession. |
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| Charlie took the Roman subway home for lunch and took this photo as the train emerge from the ground and went across a bridge over the Tiber River before returning underground. The Rome subway is called the Metrolinea. |
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| There are two fountains in St. Peter's Square and both are being refurbished this week. About ten years ago, Charlie baptized a young deaf man from Hong Kong in this fountain. He had finished his preparation program shortly before a pilgrimage to Rome, so it was decided to baptize him in Rome. |
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| In the afternoon session Cyril Axelrod told some of his story as a deaf priest who eventually became blind also. One interpreter sits with him while the other sits in the audience with a microphone to watch his signs and voice Cyril's message for the hearing audience and sign language interpreters. |
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| A picture of the synod hall during the afternoon break. |
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| This is the other, matching fountain in St. Peter's Square lit up as we passed by after the evening session ended. |
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