{"id":7250,"date":"2006-08-08T23:37:26","date_gmt":"2006-08-09T04:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=7250"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:34:05","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:34:05","slug":"5076","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/08\/08\/5076\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Needs Children Need Spiritual Care, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

HARWICH, MA (August 8, 2006) – Kathy O\u2019Donoghue has worked with special needs children as a foster and adoptive parent, as well as a worker in the social services system. Now she wants to help churches care for the spiritual needs of the children and their families.
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\n\u201cI am stunned at how few churches understand the enormity of the task of caring for children with special needs,\u201d says O\u2019Donoghue, a Covenant minister serving as the director of Christian education ministries at Pilgrim Congregational Church. \u201cI think it is a matter of education for a congregation rather than a lack of desire on their part.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo minister to those with disabilities is part of our mission as Christians and as a church,\u201d she continues, \u201csince all children are God\u2019s children, regardless of their cognitive, emotional or behavioral challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donoghue and her colleague Vici Riel-Smith have set up a new website to help family members, churches and others interested in helping people with disabilities. The site, An Tearmann<\/a>, is based on the Gaelic words that mean \u201csacred space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Visitors to the site will find book reviews and links to workshops and conferences, as well as encouragement. Books reviewed on the site include, The Secret Spiritual World of Children and Autism and the God Connection.<\/em><\/p>\n

O\u2019Donoghue also wants to work as a consultant to churches that want to improve their care for those with disabilities. The former director of field education for North Park Theological Seminary hopes to promote \u201cradical hospitality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRadical hospitality is opening ourselves or our homes or our churches to all those who seek to be cared for,\u201d O\u2019Donoghue says. \u201cSometimes we believe we are hospitable, but it is to our friends or those we like or understand or with whom we agree, but we know in the scriptures that Jesus did not spend time with the chosen group, and we should remember that when we are deciding with whom we will associate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Churches, she hopes, will better understand \u201cthat all of us desire to be recognized as a special child of God with gifts and talents different from the other and that all of us\u2014 \u2018abled\u2019 or \u2018disabled\u2019\u2014make up the full body of Christ. Without all our parts, we are less of a body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Congregations that want to help disabled children still may not be reaching many because they focus only on disabilities that are visible, such as those that require wheelchairs. She notes that many people with autism, for example, may seem \u201cnormal\u201d but also have special needs.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Donoghue has worked with people having a variety of disabilities over the last 25 years. She has worked at a school for the blind and a group that helps high-functioning adults in group homes. She also has served as a service coordinator for the Massachussetts Department of Mental Retardation and she started The Home for Little Wanderers, which provides therapeutic foster care.<\/p>\n

Over the years she has cared for 12 children with special needs, adopting two. \u201cChildren with disabilities have a deep spirituality and can express this in their own way when they are nurtured in an environment that assures them they are loved by God exactly as they are,\u201d O\u2019Donoghue says. \u201cThis is the same need we all have.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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HARWICH, MA (August 8, 2006) – Kathy O\u2019Donoghue has worked with special needs children as a foster and adoptive parent, as well as a worker in the social services system. Now she wants to help churches care for the spiritual needs of the children and their families. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSpecial Needs Children Need Spiritual Care, Too - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/08\/08\/5076\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Special Needs Children Need Spiritual Care, Too - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"HARWICH, MA (August 8, 2006) – Kathy O\u2019Donoghue has worked with special needs children as a foster and adoptive parent, as well as a worker in the social services system. 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