Disability Ministry or Modernist Distortion?
The Catholic News Agency portal (December 3, 2025) reports on a panel discussion organized by the National Catholic Partnership on Disability ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The panelists, Sue Do and Kathleen Davis, shared experiences of exclusion and inclusion in parish life, emphasizing advocacy for “accessible spaces,” “adaptive catechesis,” and parish “buddy systems” to foster belonging. The article frames disability ministry through a lens of social accommodation, omitting any reference to the supernatural purpose of suffering or the necessity of sacramental grace.
Naturalism Masquerading as Pastoral Care
The panel’s focus on creating “welcoming, inclusive” spaces reduces the Church’s mission to therapeutic humanism. Quas primas (1925) unequivocally teaches that Christ’s Kingship extends over “all peoples of the whole world”, commanding societies to order themselves according to divine law, not sentimentalized notions of inclusion. Nowhere does the article mention the primacy of sanctifying grace or the duty of persons with disabilities—like all souls—to pursue holiness through the sacraments.
Instead, Kathleen Davis celebrates feeling “valuable” due to a parish buddy system, while Sue Do reduces the Gospel to a “model of inclusion”. This echoes the modernist error condemned in the Syllabus of Errors (1864): “The Church is an enemy of the progress of natural and theological sciences” (Proposition 57). By prioritizing emotional belonging over doctrinal fidelity, the panel promotes the heresy of Americanism—that the Church must adapt to secular ideals of self-worth.
The Omission of Suffering’s Redemptive Value
A glaring silence pervades the article: no reference to the Cross. Traditional Catholic teaching upholds suffering as a participation in Christ’s Passion (Colossians 1:24). Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor (1928) calls suffering “a very special share in the work of redemption”. Yet the panelists discuss disability solely through the prism of social obstacles, ignoring the necessity of penance and the eternal merit of enduring trials in union with Christ.
The term “adaptive catechesis” risks doctrinal corruption. The Lamentabili sane exitu (1907) condemns the idea that “dogmas… are merely modes of explanation and stages in the evolution of Christian consciousness” (Proposition 54). Accommodating teaching methods must never compromise immutable truths, such as the reality of hell or the exclusive salvific role of the Church.
Usurped Authority and Anti-Hierarchical Undertones
Sue Do’s account of confronting a pastor over wheelchair access reveals a deeper disorder: the inversion of ecclesiastical authority. She weaponized resources from the National Catholic Partnership on Disability—a post-conciliar entity—to force a priest’s compliance. This mirrors the condemned proposition in the Syllabus: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Proposition 55). By framing the Church as a democracy where laypeople “educate” clergy, the panel undermines the apostolic hierarchy.
The article’s glowing reference to “Pope Leo XIV” greeting disabled persons is particularly grotesque. As the usurper of Peter’s Chair, his actions carry no spiritual weight. True shepherds like St. Pius X warned that modernists “place the Church under a servitude” (Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 1907) by substituting charity with social engineering.
Conclusion: A Church of Therapeutic Sentiment, Not Salvation
This panel exemplifies the conciliar sect’s betrayal of the Church’s divine mission. By reducing the faithful to “members” needing buddy systems rather than souls requiring redemption, it enacts the very apostasy foretold in 2 Timothy 4:3–4: “For there will be a time when they will not endure sound doctrine… and will turn away their hearing from the truth.” Authentic Catholic ministry to persons with disabilities would emphasize:
- Frequent reception of the sacraments, especially Confession and Eucharist
- Devotion to the Sorrows of Mary and the Stations of the Cross
- Spiritual direction focused on uniting sufferings to Christ’s Sacrifice
Instead, the conciliar sect offers a desacralized parody—a church where feeling included replaces being sanctified.
Source:
Catholics with disabilities reflect ahead of International Day of Persons with Disabilities (catholicnewsagency.com)
Date: 03.12.2025