Blind Jesuit who worked in NZ makes contemplation resource

Legally blind Jesuit priest Fr Justin Glyn, who worked and studied in Aotearoa New Zealand before ordination, worked with another Ignatian religious, Sr Mary O’Shannessy FCJ, to design the contemplation resource. The intention was to provide a more inclusive approach to those with a wide variety of disabilities, especially sensory and cognitive.

Most people, like St Ignatius of Loyola did himself, overwhelmingly use the sense of sight to encourage people to immerse themselves in the relevant texts, it was noted.

“Sr Mary O’Shannessy and I, both legally blind Ignatian religious who have found that we have had to adapt this method of prayer in order to make it our own, propose a more inclusive approach,” Fr Glyn said. 

“We hope to make this ancient method of prayer more open to everyone because imaginations, like people, tend to be different. Still, we are particularly keen, because of our own experiences, in particular, to make it accessible to people with a variety of disabilities (especially sensory and cognitive).” 

The contemplations are titled We Walk By Faith: Accessible Spiritual Contemplation for All, and are hosted by Catholic Religious Australia.

The work consists of two parts – a relatively short set of contemplations running through the Synoptic Gospels, designed especially for those with intellectual and potentially other impairments and/or those with less time at their disposal, and a longer set of contemplations on the Synoptics.

Both sections progress sequentially through the narrative passages of the three Synoptic Gospels. Each contemplation includes an accessible and gentle introduction to the Gospel scene, as well as a set of guiding questions that support the person praying – either individually or with the help of a spiritual director.  

Work by Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia (JISA) has seen the inclusion of bite-sized podcasts accompanied by original artwork by Loreto Sister Susan Daily.

Fr Glyn is general counsel of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Australia, acting as both a civil and canon lawyer. He is also a tutor of law and Russian at Newman College and has written on disability in the Church as well as assisting in the promotion of disability theology within the Catholic Church, especially as a consultor to the Congregation for Laity, Family and Life.

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The pod farther (Jesuits Australia)

Blind faith (Jesuits Australia)