Faith in Deaf culture

Deaf people often have been outsiders in a hearing Church. The message of the Church has not reached Deaf people because the language, symbols, culture of the traditional Church, and the view of Church people on deafness were remote from the culture and daily life experiences of Deaf people. In several countries, new developments are going on. Deaf people are themselves playing the central role, as full participants of all the gifts inherent to baptismal priesthood. Typically hearing views on deafness are left behind, deafness is discovered as a strength, Deaf lay persons build up the Church, Sign Language becomes a sacral language. In this liberating development Deafhood is a locus theologicus, a source of knowledge about God: it is a matter of enculturation and indigenization of Christian faith in Deaf culture. Faith discovers the positive values, the "seeds of the Word" in Deaf culture and thereby enriches the universal Church.