Mexican seminarians launch evangelization project for the deaf  

August 26, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 0 Print

Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 26, 2018 / 04:51 am (ACI Prensa).- Two seminarians in Mexico have launched a project on Facebook to offer evangelization and pastoral ministry tools for the deaf.

The initiative is called EvangeLíSaMe (EvangelizeMe) and was created by seminarians Juan Gómez, age 28, and Edwyn Alvarado, age 25, two months ago.

The capitalized letters in the title stand for “Mexican Sign Language,” Gomez told ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish language sister agency. He explained that the goal is to create “an online place for evangelization in Mexican sign language and for the human development of deaf people.”

On the EvangeLíSaMe Facebook page, Gomez and Alvarado share two minute videos each week, offering catechesis or a reflection in Mexican sign language.

They are also putting together a catechesis photo manual “that could be used in parish centers where there are deaf children who want to make their First Communion.”

The seminarians got to know each other through social media, as they both worked in deaf ministry in their respective dioceses.

Gomez has been working in deaf ministry in the Diocese of Irapuato for a year and received training at San Juan de los Lagos in 2013. Alvarado, who is preparing to be a priest in the Missionaries of Saint Charbel order, has been doing work with the deaf for four years.

Gomez said he felt motivated to learn sign language because during his formation period, “they sent me out on mission to a home for people with disabilities, and it was there I got to know about this reality. I saw that [those who were deaf] had many limitations because there were very few people who could communicate with them.”

He said the Facebook initiative originated when the two seminarians “saw the need for sign language interpreters to bring God's message in the different dioceses in Mexico.” In some areas of the country, there are few resources for deaf people seeking to grow deeper in their faith.

With EvangeLíSaMe, they hope to “eliminate the barriers to communication, so more deaf people may know God.” They also hope that people in other Mexican dioceses will join the project.

Alvarado is scheduled to be ordained a priest in 2020 while Gomez has already completed his formation and is awaiting the date for his priestly ordination.

 

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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Ecuadorian bishops lament court’s recognition of same-sex marriage

June 14, 2019 CNA Daily News 0

Quito, Ecuador, Jun 14, 2019 / 06:01 pm (CNA).- The Ecuadorian bishops’ conference expressed Thursday their rejection of the recognition of same-sex marriage by the Constitutional Court, and recalled that a marriage is comprised of one man and one woman.

The Constitutional Court recognized gay marriage June 12 in a 5-4 decision.

The minority opinion stated that “the proper avenue for recognizing marriage equality is the procedure to amend the constitution, which is the competency of the National Assembly.”

The majority opinion judges stated that they based their decision on one by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights and by interpreting Article 67 of the Constitution of Ecuador “in light of the constitutional norms favorable to the equality of persons and which rejects all types of discrimination.”

In a statement published June 13, the bishops pointed out that “the Constitutional Court under no argument is entitled to reform the content of the Constitution of the Republic including the concept  of marriage, defined in its Art. 67 as the union of one man and one woman.”

The prelates also noted that “two judges on the Constitutional Court were morally and legally impeded from participating in processing these cases, as they have been lawyers in cases advancing this cause and advocates of marriage equality before being appointed judges and moreover, they previously publicly expressed their criteria in support of this claim.”

The Ecuadorian bishops recalled that “the definition of marriage, as the union of a man and a woman was approved by the Ecuadorian people through the referendum held in 2008, with 63% of the vote, precisely to protect and strengthen the institution of marriage which is the only one that guarantees the continuance of the human species and its free development, therefore five judges simply cannot go against the sovereign will of Ecuadorians.”

The bishops reaffirmed their commitment to respect for human rights regardless of “age, race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or culture,” and reiterated their desire to “promote marriage between a man and a woman … as the foundation of the family and of society, an institution that must be recognized and guaranteed by the Ecuadorian Government.”

The bishops said that the recognition of marriage and the family is finally a “religious freedom right, recognized by the Secular State of Ecuador.”

In conclusion, the bishops committed to “teaching children and young people that marriage according to the Christian faith is the indissoluble union between a man and a woman and that, as a fruit of that love, children are born for society and the Kingdom of God.”

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