All Children are gifts from God, but their
packages open at different times
Larry & Jackie Keough
All Children are Gifts from God
• Catholic Social Teaching is based on recognizing the innate dignity of
every human person made in the image and likeness of God
• Society as a whole must respect, defend and promote the dignity of every
human person, at every moment in every condition of that person’s life/
Evangelium Vitae/Pope John Paul II
• Our defense of life and rejection of the culture of death require that we
acknowledge the dignity and positive contributions of our brothers and
sisters with disabilities. Defense of the right to life implies the defense of
all other rights that enable individuals with disabilities to achieve the
fullest measure of personal development of which they are capable. These
include the rights to equal opportunity in education, employment, in
housing and health care/Excerpt from a statement of the U.S. Catholic
Bishops
All Children are Gifts from God
• Archbishop Thomas Wenski: “We must recommit ourselves with others of
good will to build a world where human life is always loved and
defended… Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is
necessary.”
• Bishop Gerald Barbarito/Diocese of Palm Beach: “God’s Special Friends,
Our Treasures” -- Our special friends respond with true gratitude and a
sincerity that the world is often unable to emulate. Although we can teach
them, they teach us much more in God’s special ways.”
All Children are Gifts from God
• The secular world tells us that special needs children are a burden.
• But these precious gifts from God are a blessing.
•In the next few minutes, we will share our
personal experiences how our daughter,
Mary Kate, became the bond through her
unconditional love that kept our family
together.
•We’ll also summarize how other
special need children were a blessing
to their families.
All Children are Gifts from God
• Mary Kate, like so many children with Down Syndrome, is transparent -“what you see is what you get”;
• There are no pretenses;
• Mary Kate brings people together in her own way;
• The moment of peace at mass is an event for Mary Kate, but people can’t
help but smile and positively respond to her love and caring spirit;
• Other stories -- Mary Kate, FAMU basketball team and the Buddy Walk;
• Knowing intuitively when she should come forward;
• “I will never forget you, Mary Kate,” said classmate Owen Kubalak.
All Children are Gifts from God
• A few weeks ago our daughter, Mary Kate, verbalized a poem to her
special aide that serves as a reminder that many special needs
children are motivated to love and be loved.
• Her poem is entitled “I am”
All Children are Gifts from God
I am a sister.
I wonder about my mom. I hear my sister’s IPOD.
I want mustard sandwiches.
I am a sister.
I pretend when I play games.
I feel happy.
I touch my mom’s toes.
I worry about my dad
I cry when I miss my dad
I am a sister
I understand math
I say maybe no
I dream about getting married
I try to make myself a ham and cheese sandwich with mayonnaise
I hope my brother plays football
I am a sister
All Children are Gifts from God
• A couple of years ago there was a story in the Florida Catholic
Newspaper about a young man, Chuckie McEwen, who has Down
Syndrome. He was described by his parents as the “glue” that holds
their family together.
• Former NFL quarterback Jim Kelly and his wife, Jill, in a recently
published book, entitled “Without a Word,” describes the unspoken
love of their son, Hunter, who changed everything.
• Though Hunter’s illness, Krabbe, prevented him from ever speaking
a word, his will and unconditional love spoke volumes to his family
and all who knew him.
All Children are Gifts from God
• And in time the light of Hunter’s silence, all too brief life,
shone into the darkened corners of Jim and Jill’s lives,
leading them to authentic faith, a restored relationship and
an establishment of a foundation that is reaching other
families with terminally ill children from around the world.
• As many of you know, Miami’s own Dan Marino and his
wife, Claire, have a son, Michael, who was diagnosed with
autism, but is living a normal life. Other than placing him in
early intervention at a young age, they treated Michael no
differently than their other children.
All Children are Gifts from God
• Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Tim Page’s new memoir, “Parallel Play,”
looks at how Asperger Syndrome was an asset to his success.
• Page is able to race the path between what he now knows as Asperger’s
and music criticism.
• “The music somehow evoked a world in which I felt at home, as opposed
to the real world, which I did not feel at home in…I had things that I cold
get obsessive about, or at least close enough to normal life that I managed
to be ok with them.”
• But there are so many stories beyond the Kelly’s, Marino’s and Page’s that
underscore why God brings special needs children to us and the
inestimable worth and value that they have.
All Children are Gifts from God
• Educators make a noble effort to provide academic resources to offset the
disability for special needs children to achieve academically.
• But often the disability, though it can hamper learning, is part of the make
up of the whole person to be uniquely a special blessing.
• As parents, we want our special need children to learn, but be the
quintessential loving children they are.
All Children are Gifts from God
• There is a reason why God gives special need children to certain parents.
He knows in his infinite wisdom that they will muster the strength, faith
and love to meet challenges as their children’s advocate.
• Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
• Advocating on behalf of your child is not a choice, but an obligation that is
particularly so for parents of special needs children.
• “In the family, which is a community of persons, special attention must be
devoted to the children by developing a profound esteem for their
personal dignity and a great respect and generous concern for their rights.
This is true for every child, but it becomes all the more urgent the smaller
the child and the more he or she is in need of everything, when sick,
suffering or handicapped.” Excerpt from the Compendium of the Social
doctrine of the Church
All Children are Gifts from God
• A mother of a special need child crystallizes her outlook when interacting
with teachers and other professionals in a poem entitled –
“You don’t have to like me, but I wish you would”
Professionals come and go, some all too soon
Even if your stay with us is short, please join us in advocacy
Reaching for dreams and celebrations of life
You have her for a short time. I have her for life
You don’t have to like me, but I wish you would
We are better together and can impact her
All Children are Gifts from God
• It can be a cruel world. Sometimes children can be particularly cruel in
their verbal castigation and alienation of others who may be different.
• Let’s remember that as parents, each and everyone of us, regardless of
our children’s gifts and needs, has an obligation to model behavior for our
children to reach out to those who may be vulnerable.
• We can make a difference, one child at a time.
All Children are Gifts from God
•
For those of you who recently became parents of special needs children or those
of you who will in the future, please remember the prophetic words of Pope John
Paul II:
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“Do not be afraid.” Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and
accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with
Christ’s power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be
afraid. Open wide the doors of Christ . . . Do not be afraid. Christ knows “what is
in man.” He alone knows it. So often today man does not know what is within him,
in the depts. Of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of
his life on earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask
you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He
alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life.
_Pope John Paul II , Mass of Installation
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There is solace in Jesus’ outreach to all boys and girls when he stated:
“Let the children come to me.”
“Do Not Be Afraid”