After being denied confirmation due to a physical disability at the age of 15, a devout Catholic shares her inspiring journey of perseverance and faith, calling for a stronger commitment from the Catholic Church to embrace and include individuals with disabilities.
In a compelling article for the Jesuit magazine America, Margaret Ann Mary Moore recounts her struggle to receive confirmation—a sacrament that strengthens the commitment made at baptism—because parishes were unprepared to accommodate her cerebral palsy.
Published November 22, the article offers practical advice aimed at fostering a more inclusive and welcoming environment for individuals with disabilities seeking to participate fully in the sacraments.
Titled “Despite Discrimination Because of my Disability, I Found Grace in my Confirmation Journey,” the article starts out by suggesting that parishes ought to offer classes in accessible spaces.
“Although my family loved our parish, the basement where its confirmation classes meet is not wheelchair accessible,” Moore writes, explaining that she was able to make her first holy Communion on time only because her family carried her, along with her 400-pound wheelchair, downstairs to religious education class.
“Parishes that hope to welcome students of various abilities might consider meeting in more accessible settings and, wherever possible, updating their structures to accommodate people with different mobility needs,” advises Moore, a books editor and marketing coordinator at Woodhall Press, an independent publishing house.
Calling for a flexible attitude on the part of parishes, Moore goes on to recount that despite her physical limitations, she did not have cognitive impairments and was, in fact, an honors student in high school who regularly attended religious education at her parish.
“[A]s a high school sophomore I was fully prepared to begin my confirmation classes,” Moore writes, pointing out that the coordinator at her parish ignored this reality and placed her in a seventh-grade classroom, insisting that the sophomore classroom was inaccessible.
Urging educators to foster clear communication with students’ families, Moore writes that her parish coordinator “agreed to allow my participation in the upcoming confirmation activities but failed to attend properly to the practical details.”
That aspect was highlighted by the fact that although Moore and her family attended the Mass “where we were to be called by name to be blessed as candidates for confirmation,” her “name was never called.”
Still, Moore recalls holding onto the hope that it was a mistake she could fix by catching the coordinator’s eye. But when their eyes finally met, the coordinator paused—only to end the ceremony.
Such moments cut deeply, reflects Moore, who is the author of Bold, Brave, and Breathless: Reveling in Childhood’s Splendiferous Glories While Facing Disability and Loss, a lively and uplifting book published in 2023. The weight of their mutual gaze, paired with continued exclusion, “felt like a boulder crushing my chest,” Moore writes, adding that she had trouble breathing as she struggled to “swallow the lump in my throat.” Moore was eventually granted confirmation in 2016. “I beamed at loved ones as my sponsor placed his hand on my shoulder while I was anointed,” she recalls, concluding: “Immense positive energy ignited within me. Nothing could bar my way or extinguish my delight.”
Photo credits: Woman Sitting on Black Wheelchair by Marcus Aurelius via Pexels. Pexels licence.