On November 8, Rev. Bill Gaventa gave a lecture in the Heights Room at Boston College entitled, “Hidden in Plain Sight: Spirituality, Disability, and Wholeness.” The lecture was the Boston College School of Theology & Ministry’s 27thAnnual Pyne Memorial Presentation, a series started in 1991 focused on recognizing spirituality as an integral part of care for those suffering with physical and psychological disabilities.
Rev. Gaventa, a Baptist pastor, author, professor, and director of the Summer Institute on Theology and Disability, set out to explore the role of disability in the spiritual realm and the role of spirituality in “permeating the life cycles of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, issues of care, and quality of life.”
“To understand disability, we must first understand spiritually,” Rev. Gaventa started, “and then we go back again–– to understand spirituality, we must first understand disability.”
In caring for the disabled, society and professionals address their care with medical models, as well as scientific and educational models–– but people’s lives don’t always fit into those plans, Rev. Gaventa explained.
A congregation, with proper resources, can be the place to avoid the “fracturing of these worlds” of the care of the spirit as well as of body and mind.
“The quickest path to inclusive support of a person with intellectual and developmental disabilities is from the church, or parish, or synagogue, to find them a job and find a way that they can make a contribution.”
“It’s not just about my vocation to serve [the disabled],” Rev. Gaventa instructed, saying that congregations need to ask them “What do you really want to do, what do you like to do, how can you contribute to the community? What is your vocation?”
Through allowing everyone to discern a vocation, Rev. Gaventa called for church communities to be “orthopedic surgeons of the Body of Christ,” connecting a piece of the body back to the whole–– a “re-membering, or reconnecting of people.”
Rev. Gaventa referenced his own past experience of wrestling with depression and his experience of being in inpatient treatment, through which is realized that society views disability as symptoms rather than an asset–– in both the spiritual and medical worlds, which doesn’t allow the disabled to claim their identity.
“There are 2 narratives for illness,” he explained. “We can fall into a pit, then pulled out by modern medicine as if nothing happened. Or, you can get partway out of the pit–– this is what other people think about disability–– and continue on your new normal on a new journey, with love and purpose in other ways than you did in the past.”
“Many of you in this room are here because you’ve learned how to do that.”
Rev. Gaventa also acknowledged that many people have stories about how faith communities have failed the disabled and their families–– as the “effects of bad religion and bad science” through word of mouth in communities can be devastating. Stories of wounding people, pastors not caring, families being asked to leave churches, and blaming suffering “on not praying enough” are abundant, and he added, “I’m sure you each have your own stories.”
“Though churches are moving toward repairing these situations, many families might feel victimized.”
“We have not paid as much attention to attention and belonging,” he said, proposing again that fostering a sense of belonging in faith communities is the way forward. Addressing the difference between advocates and true friendships, he explained, “You can live in a community but be just as isolated as in an institution. Rights don’t get you relationships and belonging.”
Rev. Gaventa recounts the story of a time he was a pastoral counselor at an institution in Newark, and he made a point of bringing birthday cards to make sure everyone was wished a happy birthday. One time he brought a card to a man who no one had yet acknowledged that it was his birthday, and in response, the man said: “But I don’t have anything to pay you with.”
Rev. Gaventa responded to the story, saying that we “live in a kind of world that we have to earn grace, earn love.” A goal for the faithful should be to celebrate everyone, especially those who don’t often get celebrated.
Through tactile pastoral opportunities like first communions and working with families toward inclusive sacraments, we can celebrate the disabled within churches. And, particularly in end-of-life-care, Rev. Gaventa points out that “professionalism is navigating boundaries,” and we should celebrate and thank these people for what they have taught us, not have them thank us for our service.
“It’s no coincidence that some of the greatest saints had chronic illness,” Rev. Gaventa wrapped up, after giving tables of time to reflect on how they identify themselves, teaching that our “why question” should not be “What happened to you? Why are you this way?” but that for those who identify as survivors the question is “How do I live now?”
He concluded, “Our identity is formed when we find ourselves on the margins–– welcome to our world.”
Previously the Campus News Editor and Catholicism 101 Editor, Olivia dabbles in The Torch’s writing and photography. She is a senior studying theology and applied psychology and human development with a minor in journalism. She is unashamedly passionate about youth ministry, Haiti, all things charismatic, the Oxford comma, and CatholicTV––where she can often be found as an on-camera news reporter or host of the To the Heights podcast.
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