Getting the message across
The Sacred Heart Church in Trier is unique in Germany as the only parish for deaf people.
THE congregation is singing, but strangely, the church remains silent. Whether it’s during the Hallelujah or the Gloria, the faithful in the pews do nothing but nimbly move their hands and arms as they are singing in sign language: Visible, but not audible.
All of the 20 or so men and women who have come to the Sacred Heart Church in Trier for the service are deaf. They belong to a unique parish: the only one in Germany for deaf people.
Only the voice of the priest Ralf Schmitz can be heard during the mass: While signing he also manages to sing, speak and pray as the parish’s only hearing person.
“There is an equivalent, completely different visual language here that characterises our congregation,” he says. And this language establishes “its own culture and its own spirituality”.
Even without the traditional accompaniment of an organ or a choir, the service is undeniably festive. Candles burn on the altar, which is decorated with autumn leaves, as the sign language cantor steps out before the congregation in her robe. With her hands, her facial expressions and her lips, she expressively recites a song. At the refrain, the faithful join in silently.
“With sign language, I can be in touch with God just as well with many emotions,” says the 67-yearold Beate Reichertz.
Reichertz, who hails from Saarburg originally and who became deaf due to childhood meningitis, has been active in the parish for years.
“It gives me a lot of joy to be able to sign,” she says, according to Father Schmitz, who translates.
Daniel Beinhoff, a 41-year-old who is deaf and wears cochlear implants on both ears, tells me he recently became a full-time employee of the parish. “I’m very happy here,” he adds.
Trier’s deaf parish was founded at the end of 2000 by Trier’s bishop at the time, Hermann Josef Spital, following the reorganisation of local pastoral care for the disabled, recalls Father Schmitz. After a trip with a group of deaf people to congregations in Chicago, the idea for a congregation of their own was born.
“They were our midwives, so to speak.”
The US is “much further ahead” in its provisions for the deaf, says Father Schmitz, who began learning sign language in 1997.
In other dioceses, according to Father Schmitz, pastoral care for the deaf is affiliated with pastoral care centres. There are also sign language masses, but no parish council or independent administration of financial resources.
In view of structural reforms, this is not without its problems: there is a danger that pastoral care for the disabled will be cut more and more. Today, there are just five pastors nationwide who know sign language.
“When I started, there were maybe 10 of us.”
It is difficult to say exactly how many deaf Catholics live in the diocese of Trier, says Father Schmitz. On average, one in 1,000 people is deaf in the traditional sense. With almost 1.3 million Catholics, that would mean there should be around 1,300 deaf people diocesewide.
The demographic change due to ageing also affects the parish.
“We had a choir for a long time. Now it only performs at special events,” says Father Schmitz. In addition, there is a lack of young people – due mainly to changes in inclusive education at regular schools.
“A common culture is no longer emerging,” Father Schmitz adds.
On the other hand, new initiatives are being developed to fill the vacuum. A website called “Deaf and Catholic” has been created by the diocese and the pandemic has also given a real boost to offerings made for the deaf community.
Beinhoff, who until recently worked as an educator in a daycare centre in the town of Bad Kreuznach, would like to see more congregations like the one in Trier. He also says that he hopes to see ever-greater inclusivity in the Catholic church.
At Easter, for example, there is an inclusive service at Trier’s Herz-jesu Church to which hearing people are invited to sign the Hallelujah alongside the deaf congregation. For Beinhoff, this is a positive development that could eventually be implemented elsewhere across the country. – dpa