This story was discussed on "Seize the day" on The Catholic Channel on Sirius this morning. It was also on news channels such as FOXnews and CNN.13-year-old Adam Race and his family did not go to mass at the Church of St. Joseph this morning like they usually do.
The Todd County Sheriff told Adam's mom if she did take him to St. Joseph's, she would be arrested.
St. Joseph's, a Catholic church in Bertha, Minnesota, has filed a temporary restraining order against Adam. In a statement, Father Dan Walz said he filed the petition as a last resort out of "...a growing concern for the safety of parishioners..."
Adam is severely autistic, according to his mother. He is home-schooled, and has attended St. Joseph's his whole life.
Adam is more than six feet tall and weighs more than 235 pounds. In court documents, Fr. Walz said Adam's growing size makes it harder for his parents to manage his behavior during mass.
Fr. Walz said Adam struck a child, bolts unexpectedly from church nearly knocking people down, including elderly people. He said Adam also spits and urinates during church.
Adam's mother, Carol, said those allegations are either exaggerated or false. She said Adam is not angry or violent. She said he has never spit in church, and that on rare occasions, he has been incontinent.
story here
I did alot of thinking about this, and here's my two cents: This is obviously a tough situation for all involved. No one wants to tell someone they can't come to Mass. However, in the discussion I heard this morning, they said the parents sometimes had to sit on him to restrain him in Church. They tried the cry room, but apparently he grabbbed a little girl in there. This young man is 6 ft. and 235 lbs., so he could easily hurt a kid that was much smaller.
I think the Parish has done what they had to. In a Parish I went to in New Jersey when I lived there, there was a disabled young man who used to occassionally yell out and curse at people around him in Mass and it was very distracting to the entire congregation.
Adam also jumped in someone's car and started it up once. He could have run over people.
I think that one possible solution would be that a Priest or one of the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion could stop at their house and bring Communion so they would be able to receive.
Your thoughts?
6 comments:
This isn't a kid just making a few noises.
According to the AP story, “Adam struck a child during mass, nearly knocks elderly parishioners over…, spits and sometimes urinates in church and fights when he is being restrained. He also… assaulted a girl by pulling her onto his lap and….There were people… who could have been injured or killed…”
Adam’s parents call his banning from the church “discriminatory”. You bet it is. There’s such a thing as RATIONAL discrimination.
Of course, “Some disability advocates are getting behind the Races,” which just goes to show that there’s no end to Political Correctness, to hell with public safety and common sense.
We’re not talking about general discrimination against all handicapped or autistic people here, but just a particular individual with dangerously disruptive behavior.
Does Adam even know he's in a church or does he want to be there? Is the church setting helpful to him or is it causing sensory overload? It seems his parents are more set on making a political point.
Some people have cited God’s love of everyone. But what would Jesus have actually done in this situation? He probably would have affected a miracle cure of Adam by “driving out his demons.”
Unless this church can affect such a miracle cure, is it unreasonable to ask Adam’s parents to accommodate everyone else’s rights to public safety and undisrupted worship?
I'm very torn about this issue. I feel for these parents. I have an autistic child. My fear is that stories like this one will paint all autistic children as loud, dangerous, and undesirable people to have in Mass. Before the birth of my son, I always believed that I could handle anything except a disabled child. What did God give me? A disabled child. I firmly believe that God gave me my son to teach me true love and devotion. It's easy to love others during the good times, but hard to love them when the going gets tough. My son's disruptions are usually talking and making the occasional odd sound. Still, people stare. It's horrid and terrible to endure, especially in the ONE PLACE we should be shown love and understanding...the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I pray that my son will be welcome despite his "odd" behavior. I have seen other children in church with disabilities, but autism seems to be on the receiving end of more judgmentalism than any other because these children look "normal" to outsiders and appear to be rude rather than disabled. I just ask others to try to understand and please stop staring. We are ALL created in God's image.
My foster kids were still small and relatively cute when they would act out in ways that still make me cringe when I think about them. And we were new to the parish, which didn't help.
In this situation, those parents NEED those graces. They NEED to be in church and experience the support of their parish. I'd suggest that the parishioners form a rotating schedule of people who would be willing to sit with Adam at home, so the parents can go to Mass unmolested.
Most parishes are great about bringing meals to a shut-in, or Eucharist to the sick. This would be one more work of mercy that will make the angels sing.
Our Lord was the Lamb, but He was also the Lion of Judah and He spoke out when He encountered injustice and cruelty. So I am going to speak out on this topic.
For those of you who have sat in judgment of this boy and this family without having walked in their shoes, or any disabled person's shoes, perhaps you can pray for them, this priest, this parish, and for the Catholic Church. Perhaps when you have a severely autistic child of your own, you can put your judgments on this situation to work in your own lives.
Yes, Ms. Saxton, there is much this priest and parish could have done to help this family, I am certain.
Would Jesus have made this into a criminal matter as this priest and diocese has done by filing a criminal restraining order against this child and his family?
Please look up the therapeutic need for deep pressure for some autistic people (why his family would sit on him, and why he pulled the girl onto his lap).
The family and the church needed to work together.
If 1 in 10 people are disabled according to recent census data, why don't we see more persons with special needs at Mass? THIS story is a good example as to why. They are home instead of sitting at our Lord's Table of Plenty because the "closed" sign has been hung out on our church doors to those society ropes off as "other".
The reason that you do not see more autistic people in Church is that we are, overall, woefully ignornant and intolerant about the disorder.
PDD is a spectrum of related disorders, with autism at the extreme end. You have most likely seen it in a Catholic school or Confirmation class in the form of Asperger's syndrome - the kid who doesn't seem to be able to pick up on social cues and that everyone treats like garbage. What people don't understand is that the inability to process verbal and facial cues is neurological, we rely on part of our brain to help with that. So, the assumption is that the disability equates to lack of emotional depth. In reality, those with the disorder know that they are being rejected and belittled, yet everyone is surprised when they exercise the golden rule and treat others badly in return.
I cannot say how disruptive this situation was, but I would strongly suspect that just being himself, just being different, was as large a factor as the behaviors themselves. Of course, this is precisely the same sort of thinking that Jesus rebelled against in ministering to societies outcasts.
Though, to be fair, lack of understanding contributes. For example, I would bet good money that the sitting had to do with providing tactile pressure, not restraint. Sensory integration, processing our senses, requires specific portions of our brain to be properly developed. That is why the boy sometimes has trouble with continence. So do many of the elderly in my parish, should they be driven away?
This is only a 'tough' situation if we adopt the model of faith endorsed by the Pharisee's. Read Matthew 25, this parish has no room for the boy, he is welcomed at the parish a town over. When both bodies are called before the Son of Man, what criteria will they be judged?
These are societies weakest members. We are directly instructed to serve them. If it is 'impractical' to accomodate them in the practice of our faith, that faith is, inherently, no longer Christian. Let's face it, all the ritual is meaningless if we specifically reject Christ's direct instructions.
I think that all should be welcome in God's house and that perhaps some members of the parish (other teenagers) could step up to keep Adam in line. Though I recognize that people can be dangerous and unpredictable, these are the people that we must reach out to.
I have been banned from my parish for a history (30 years ago) of suicidal behavior and a fear that I might do something to myself or another, despite statements from my mental health team that I am not a danger. Obviously, I am being banned because of the diagnosis, not any action. This is not the direction that we need to be going.
There is room for all of us at the table. You don't have to sit next to me, but I will be at the table.
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