Virtual Lecture - Archbishop Kurtz

Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz, D.D., Archbishop of Louisville, KY, and the Episcopal Moderator for the National Catholic Partnership on Disability, presents a virtual lecture about the Catholic understanding of disability and how it leads us to a closer union with one another and God during challenging times.

Following the lecture, JD Flynn (Editor-in-Chief of Catholic News Agency) and Dr. Miguel Romero (Assistant Professor of Religious and Theological Studies at Salve Regina University) will engage in a moderated discussion with audience Q&A. This event was cosponsored by the Institute for Human Ecology and the National Catholic Partnership on Disability.

Program Type:

Clergy, Diocese/ Parishes

Questions for Discussion and Reflection

Archbishop Kurtz recalled how the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said that life is not so much a problem to be solved as it is a mystery to be lived. Think of someone you know who embodies or embodied this truth? Perhaps, like St. Elizabeth, it’s a mother facing an unexpected, late-in-life pregnancy. Perhaps, like Archbishop Kurtz’s parents, it’s a couple raising a child with disabilities. What lessons have you learned from that person or that couple? How has their witness helped guide you in life?

In their 1978 Pastoral Statement on Persons with Disabilities, the U.S. Catholic bishops wrote, “Persons with disabilities are not looking for pity. They seek to serve the community and to enjoy their full baptismal rights as members of the Church. . . . There can be no separate Church for persons with disabilities. We are one flock that follows a single shepherd.” What are some obstacles to these “full rights” that you believe the Church has yet to overcome? Think both about the Church as a whole and your own parish experience.

In making a distinction between “serving” a person with disabilities and “lingering” with that person, Archbishop Kurtz cautioned against letting parish programs for persons with disabilities be reduced to checking off action items on a list. “When all is said and done,” he said, “if you want to understand the mystery of someone with a disability, you need to linger with that person.” How can your parish or ministry move closer to a model that values this call to linger?

In the Question & Answer portion of the evening, Archbishop Kurtz spoke about the “reciprocal relationship between our time in prayer and our time in engaging people in service of others.” He said that the priority is, “Where am I going to find Jesus today?” How would you characterize the balance in your life between meeting Christ in your prayer and meeting him in your life of service? Is there a way that you can strike a better balance between the two?