This week is Deaf Awareness Week; a time to focus on the Deaf Community and their presence in our parishes.

Shell Roca, Head of Caritas Westminster Deaf Service, writes, “the community has a great deal to offer our parishes. Our parishes need to be accessible and welcoming to the Deaf Community.”

One such gift is British Sign Language. A seminarian at Allen Hall says, “Learning BSL has helped me to appreciate the beauty of communication. Learning to communicate with those in the Deaf Community in their own language has helped me broaden my theological and philosophical understanding of my faith.”

This year of preparation for the Holy Year in 2025 has been designated a Year of Prayer, with a special focus on the Our Father.

Why not take the time to learn the Our Father in BSL this year, using the video above, and enhance your own prayer?

If you can already pray the Lord’s Prayer in BSL, this might be a good time to teach other people in your parish or church organisation so that more of us can pray it together.

For more information about Caritas Westminster Deaf Service visit: https://caritaswestminster.org.uk/deafservice/