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Ministry for People With Disabilities
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PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILITIES
“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. …Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” I John 4:7, 11-12
Our office seeks to:
- Engage congregations in discovering ways to be hospitable and accessible to all people.
- Create relationships through which people living with disabilities become active church members and leaders.
- Foster increased awareness that people living with disabilities have gifts which they can contribute to the larger church.
We will endeavor to:
- Gather and share innovative resources and identifying best practices
- Collaborate/explore with existing Episcopal networks and ecumenical colleagues trainings/projects on accessibility
- Collaborate with all Episcopal Church Center staff
Together, let us strive to transform the church into a physically and spiritually hospitable and accessible place for all people.
Please feel free to contact me so we can engage on lively conversation as we work together to help the church become a truly inclusive body.
Angeline Cabanban
Associate Program Officer
Evangelism & Congregational Life Center
Phone No.: (212)716-6186; Toll free no.: (800) 334-7626 ext. 6186; Fax: (212)867-7652
Email: acabanban@episcopalchurch.org
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Quotations from Vulnerable Communion: A Theology of Disability and Hospitality by Thomas Reynolds (Brazos Press, 2008):
“Nurturing communities of abundant hospitality is the goal. However, this means more than the courtesy of providing access points for those otherwise unable to enter and find their way. Hospitality involves actively welcoming and befriending the stranger – in this case, a person with disabilities – not as a spectacle, but as someone with inherent value, loved into being by God, created in the image of God, and thus having unique gifts to offer as a human being.”
“There is no differentiation between the healthy and those with disabilities. For every human life has its limitations, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. We are born needy, and we die helpless.”
“Disability is neither a defect nor a social burden. ... Persons with disabilities have distinct voices and, despite perceived losses or deficiencies, possess both the capacity for self-determination and the ability to make important contributions to society."
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