By David Karas | Correspondent

Kathy Basilotto is one of 10 siblings – six of whom were born deaf. So, growing up, she was able to observe first-hand the difficulties faced by the deaf community.

Those challenges included following along, and feeling included, during Sunday Masses, she said.

“When there is a communication issue, when you are not getting that information in your native language, it is going to be extremely hard,” Basilotto said, referencing the difficulties that deaf Catholics have in comprehending the Gospel messages and following along during Church services. “They miss out on that aspect of their religion. And then what happens is – people don’t go to Church.”

Raised as a Catholic and fluent in American Sign Language since her childhood, Basilotto wanted to find a way to help connect members of the deaf community with the Church. So in 1997, she volunteered to begin offering live interpretations of one Sunday Mass each week in Epiphany Parish, Brick, a service she continues to provide to the present day.

Basilotto is one of a handful of interpreters who volunteer their time in parishes across the Diocese of Trenton to help ensure inclusion for parishioners who are deaf and hard of hearing. While the structure might vary slightly by parish, in most cases an interpreter will stand in the front or back of a Church, providing live American Sign Language interpreting of the Mass – including everything from the prayers to Scripture readings, hymns to homilies.

And for Basilotto, the motivation is clear and simple – helping the deaf to take part in the Mass.

“It allows them to participate,” she said. “When everybody says the Our Father, they are signing it right along with them. They are able to engage in the music; it lets them be a part of the Mass and be a part of what everybody else is doing.”

They are also able to walk away from a weekend Mass with something that could be lost in translation if not for an interpreter.

“They are leaving with a better understanding of the Gospels,” she said.

Jim McMahon, business administrator for Epiphany Parish, said that Basilotto’s efforts have helped to include a subset of the parish population in active celebration of weekly Mass.

“They become very active parishioners,” he said of the deaf community in the Brick parish. “It is something that we should not only continue, but help grow. It is an asset to the parish.”

Frank Masiello, a member of St. John Parish, Lakehurst, has volunteered his time interpreting during services for some 21 years, and he is currently one of four in the parish who participate in the ministry.

He said the Ocean County parish has a small handful of families who are deaf and rely upon the interpreting, and that the efforts of the small team enable those parishioners to be active members of the community, even passing along jokes or comments made during a homily.

“Even if the priest says something humorous, it gets across to them,” he said.

Like Basilotto and Masiello, Pat Langon believes strongly in the importance of inclusion in parish communities. Fittingly, she was happy to step up to serve as a liaison to the deaf community for St. Raphael-Holy Angels Parish, Hamilton.

During a recent interview, Langon recounted being fascinated by the signing of Franciscan Sister Marilyn Sands, who previously provided interpreting for the parish, as well as the impact it had on parishioners.

“What I learned most about our deaf community…was that they were so grateful for anything you would do to try to communicate.”

She noted that some had become fluent in lip reading as well, further easing personal communication.

Presently, one Mass each weekend is interpreted in the Hamilton parish.

But on the diocesan level, Langon said, the ministry is small, and those involved in interpreting are few and far between.

“Adult Catholics who are deaf have really been left out in the cold, but they get together in other ways and other places,” she said. “They are a very social group of people.”

She said that the cost of hiring interpreters can be prohibitive for parishes, and added her hopes that more would step forward to volunteer their services to parish communities.

“I think it is important because every person has the need and the right to be fully involved, and to be fully involved you have to be able to communicate with people,” she said. “We still should be making an effort to make that happen whenever possible.”

Basilotto said that it is important that those who interpret during Masses have training both in ASL and in religious interpreting – to ensure the messages being shared are not lost or misinterpreted.

While she has most of the hymns down pat after 17 years of weekend Masses, she said she continues to practice interpreting the readings in advance of Sunday mornings.

The service she performs in Epiphany Parish, she says, is extremely rewarding – not only in delivering messages of faith to those who are deaf and hard of hearing, but also in drawing awareness among their fellow parishioners.

“It helps the hearing parishioners realize that deaf people are just like we are,” she said. “I think it is a win-win for everybody.”