Accessibility and Accommodations
Barb Kelly, Parish Advocate at St. Mary Star of the Sea, Fort Monroe, serving as a lector.The churches in the Diocese of Richmond, strive to welcome all members of the community and to provide opportunities for ALL to fully participation in our parishes. This often requires special accommodations.
We Walk By Faith, a guide for a new journey in parish life in the Diocese of Richmond, provides the impetus for new ideas and great conversation. Including and accommodating individuals with disabilities is recognized in the guide's four categories of Word, Worship, Community, and Service.
Read We Walk By Faith, with highlighted sections that relate to our mission. (PDF; 13.7 MB, this is a very large file.)
Accessibility and Accommodation Resources
Parishes have facilities that are handicapped accessible. Select the Parishes Listing and click on a particular church to view its accessibility areas.
New Roman Missal, Third Edition, Adaptations for People with Disabilities
For large fonts (24, 34, 44) click the following link,
http://www.ncpd.org/order/romanmissal
For study guides and an audio CD, click on
http://www.fdlc.org/roman_missal.htm and an audio CD.
For Braille resources, pew cards in both Braille and large print (24 point) describing the changes in the wording of the Mass, contact kathleen@xaiversocietyfortheblind.org In addition the Xavier Society for the Blind will have Paul Turner's Understanding the Revised Mass Texts available in its library in Braille, large print and audio CD. http://www.xaviersocietyfortheblind.org/index.php
For New Roman Missal Sign Language Interpreter Training from the Archdiocese of Washington, click on http://www.adw.org/service/newromanmissal_interpretertraining.asp
Sign Language Interpreters
For a directory of Qualified Interpreters go to the Virginia Dept. for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing web site. In addition the Diocese has a list of interpreters who have registered with the diocese. For information, contact the Office for Persons with Disabilities.
Celiac Disease
For information on ordering gluten free hosts for individuals with Celiac disease, visit the Catholic Celiac Society web site.
Assisted Listening Devices
The Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has outreach offices throughout Virginia. These offices have loaner Assisted Listening Devices. Visit the VDDHH web site for more information.
For information on purchasing Assisted Listening Devices for the hearing impaired, contact the Office for Persons with Disabilities.
Braille
For Braille Resources, visit the Xaiver Society for the Blind web site or contact by phone (212) 473-7800.
Do you have a sensory or physical difficulty that makes it
challenging to read normal print materials? Xavier Society for
the Blind provides spiritual and religious materials to those with
visual difficulties, reading disabilities or physical problems
handling print materials.
Among the resources provided are the New Roman Missal and the Holy
Bible on CD, a lending library of books and a range of popular
Catholic magazines which can be sent in various formats or the audio
version downloaded to one's computer and transferred to an MP3
player, iPod or other listening device. This is all for free
to those who qualify for these services.
To apply, please click here.