The inspirational stories of saints, including St Teresa of Calcutta and St Maximilian Kolbe, have been translated into Australian Sign Language (Auslan) in a new video series produced in Sydney. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
The Ephpheta Centre, the Archdiocese of Sydney’s Catholic Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people, launched the YouTube series last month.
Members of the community tell the five-minute life story of a saint in Auslan and follow with a short prayer to the featured saint, with the story of St Joseph the Worker kicking off the series last month.
Community manager Liz McDowell said the initiative had received a great response and is thought to be the first resource of its kind anywhere. The idea came from a weekly Zoom Friday prayer group during last year’s lockdown.
“Our deaf community were so interested in learning more about the saints and there are very few (if any) resources available in Auslan,” Ms McDowell said.
Faith formation assistant Brett Beath, chaplain Fr Michael Lanzon, managers of the community David Parker and Ms McDowell create the short histories and prayers.
These are signed by members of the Ephpheta team, uploaded to YouTube and shared on the centre’s Facebook page and website.
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Games, stories and saints keep deaf community connected (By Marilyn Rodrigues, The Catholic Weekly)
