How does the Catholic Church reach out to high functioning adults with cognitive handicaps?
Here in Ann Arbor is “Bill’s Group” – “Bill’s Men’s Group is Building Strong Men with Character” and is hosted at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in order to develop further services for persons with cognitive disabilities or developmental disabilities.
Bill’s group is currently (2022-08-20) a fellowship of approximately 10 men with developmental handicaps that qualify as “high functioning.” “High functioning” means that they can live independently with some help from others. We include ages from 18 up. Most of us are Roman Catholic. Here is a little bit about it:
In Bill’s group we recognize that the things that make each of us unique also includes the things that we don’t like about each other. This forms the basis of learning to love one another. One of our regular activities is to talk about the weekly homily. This helps us to fix the homily in memory as well as to understand how to apply this to our lives. We also pray together at the end of the day on Zoom. Of course we love to do things just to have fun.
We choose to follow Christ even though we couldn’t always say what that means in the big picture. Since following Christ encompasses so much, we accept that we must challenge each other to continue to improve our lives. We choose to live chaste lives. We will achieve this through a continuous, permanent conversion which, advances gradually as we incorporate all that God commands of us and as we respond to his overwhelming love.” See FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO para 9
If you would like to learn more about Bills group, contact Scott <justice@stfrancisa2.org> (Read more…)
Volunteer job description for Bill’s Group – The job includes:
- attending Bill’s group (Mondays) regularly.
- Willingness to learn about developmental and mental handicaps.
- Get to know the guys and observe how they interact.
- Meet with Bill (or other leader) for training and discussion periodically.
- Drive some of the guys home after the meeting-as needed.
Are you interested in serving as a volunteer to support this outreach effort called Bill’s Group, to encourage high functioning adults with cognitive handicaps? Contact: Bill Razgunas <told.you.i.learned.alot@gmail.com>
This webpage article on “Bill’s Group” was first printed on page #8 of the 2022-08-28th EDITION of the St. Francis Parish bulletin Forum as the 34th article in a series called, “Why do I pray these prayers at church?”
written by Bill Razgunas. (Read more of Bill’s articles here.)
“Bill’s Group” meets on Mondays ordinarily @ 7pm at St. Francis Parish Rectory House (near 2215 Winchell Dr. & 2150 Frieze Ave.). https://www.stfrancisa2.com/bills-group/
An audio recording of “Empowering Your Child with Autism to Thrive!” The Presentation on Autism and Faith in May 2023 by Ron Sandison, author and motivational speaker, at St. Francis PAC.