Proud to be Deaf : Saintliness in the Catholic Deaf community in South Africa from 1874-1994

Abstract

This thought-provoking book details the history of Catholic ministry to the Deaf community in South Africa over 120 years. This history provides a backdrop to Deaf people’s emerging understanding of themselves as a people embued with dignity and having their own language and culture. The philosopher Emmanuel Levinas’ understanding of saintliness, which is the ethical pursuit of prioritising one’s neighbour’s needs above those of one’s own, provides a lens through which to, both sympathetically and critically, read this history.The book ends by paying tribute to the Deaf people in the Catholic Church who contributed significantly to raise Deaf people’s awareness of their innate dignity and of sign language as a gift from God. ‘The book inspires newness, boldness, and resilience in ministry to approach the Kingdom of God and encounter the face of Christ crucified (crucified by the forces of phonocentrism and audism). There are many lessons to be learnt that gives voice and appeal to what Ruben Xulu’s image evokes: “Christ was Africa crucified”. In sum, the book pronounces words of blessing to remember and sign “a new journey” together from the heart.’Associate Professor Glenn Morrison, School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Fremantle, Australia. BiographyMark James is a Dominican priest who has worked with Catholic Deaf communities in the Archdiocese of Johannesburg and the Diocese of Manzini, Eswatini for the past 20 years. He is co-ordinator of the Office for Ministry to the Deaf Community under the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC). He is also an honorary lecturer in the History of Christianity, School of Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.