The Jubilee year has seen many groups come together to celebrate. Only last weekend it was young people all over the world. Hopefully, people with disabilities, both adults and children, have been able to participate and have found their rightful place in all these groupings. This means participating fully in the life of the church and ministering to others. Information about the Jubilee Mass was initially circulated through St Joseph's Pastoral Centre Newsletter which reaches several other dioceses as well as having an overseas readership.
Consequently word has it that groups of people are coming from many other dioceses.
The theme of the weekend is that of waiting and keeping awake as it is unfolded in the Advent liturgy for the first Sunday of Advent. Too often in the past our church has not been awake when it should have been, to the gifts that people with disabilities bring and have to offer their local parishes, as well as the wider church. Too often people have been the victims of rejection and have not been given the opportunities offered to others. Let us hope that the document Valuing Difference which has been a guiding light for this liturgy will be something that will influence local parish life to a greater extent in 2001. Although there are still stories of injustice many more people with disabilities are now able to participate in church life and those with learning difficulties at the Mass on Saturday will include people who regularly serve on the altar, are Eucharistic Ministers, collectors, singers, musicians or welcomers in their own parishes.