Autism Consecrated

Category: The Way of Saint Thorlak

  • Call For Submissions

    Call For Submissions

    Autism Consecrated Resource Library Call for Submissions

    April, 2020: Autism Consecrated is pleased to announce an open call for submissions for publishing on our website’s Resource Area, social media and video channels.

    Our goal is to invite people from across all communities, worldwide, to share their insights, ideas and testimonies in an effort to create a comprehensive resource library accessible by anyone with an internet connection. Whatever your background may be, if you have thoughts toward achieving Autism Consecrated’s vision “to realize autism’s belonging in the Body of Christ,” we would love to share them far and wide! Read on to learn more about the goals of the conference and what we look for in submissions.

    Types of Submissions

    As every person has their own personal communication strengths, so too are we looking for a diverse array of submissions.  The manner in which you communicate best is the one we are looking for.  Audio, visual, video and written submissions are all welcome.

    Who May Submit Presentations

    The short answer is, “anyone!”

    That said, here are some more specific examples of who might be interested in participating.

    Autistic People and their Supporters

    There are few presentations as valuable as those which come from direct, firsthand expertise.  In fact, it would be impossible to build a resource library to address the needs of the autistic community without having its foundation in the autistic community itself!  What are your spiritual needs?  What are the practical challenges to being autistic Christians?  What ways does autism enhance your faith and that of your community?

    Key Players in Faith Communities

    What have you seen that affirms – or, would affirm –  the value of autistic members in our faith communities?  How can we foster such initiatives in our own and in other communities?  How does the perception of the community encourage autistic people to fulfill their potential in the Body of Christ, even when autism at times appears to interfere with this purpose?

    Clergy and Administrators

    What are the successes, as well as the challenges, you have seen in meeting the spiritual needs of the autistic community?  What supports do YOU need in serving the autistic community?

    Scholars, Theologians and Essayists

    How do we reconcile autism’s gifts and challenges with Sacred Scripture, Church Tradition and the theology of disability?  How can we discuss this in ways that include, accept and invite people who may feel unworthy or incapable of participating in worship and community faith activities because of autism?

    What we are looking for

    Diverse topics

    While there will be some overlap expected, we are hoping to get a variety of responses from many perspectives so that our library can truly become a resource for the wide, wide community.

    Practicality and positivity

    Submissions should reflect hope, encouragement and possibility.  While there is a time and a place for addressing grievances, our library is intended to go beyond identifying problems into generating and offering solutions.

    The Gift of your Expertise

    Autism Consecrated is a website, not a business.  While we are glad to have this be a mutually beneficial opportunity for professional exposure, and we are aware that many contributors have legitimate reason to promote their talents, the primary reason for contributing to our library is to offer your particular expertise as a gift to others and other communities.  If promotion is the main thrust of your submission, please consider a more appropriate venue to publicize your work.

    Respectful Language

    “Realizing Autism’s Belonging in the Body of Christ” is the banner under which our website resides.  Although we are Christian in our beliefs, we respect everyone of all abilities, backgrounds and traditions, and we ask that submissions show that same respect to one and all.  We reserve the right to edit or refuse submissions that do not consistently uphold the inherent dignity of every person as a child of God.

    Selection Process

    We will review submissions in the order in which they are received, and strive to notify you of selection status in as short a time frame as circumstances allow.

    Format Details

    Submissions may be in the format which best reflects your communication style, so long as they are generally coherent and able to be accessed by the worldwide online audience.  Length is at your creative discretion.  As a general rule, the more efficiently you convey your key message, the better the chances of reaching your intended audience.

    Questions?

    If you have any questions, please email us at autismconsecrated@gmail.com and we will respond as soon as we are able.

    Ready?  Set?  SUBMIT!  All submissions become the property of Autism Consecrated and must be accompanied by a signed release form in order to be considered. 

    Submit your contribution and signed release form to:

    autismconsecrated@gmail.com

    Thank You!

    -Aimée O’Connell, Co-Founder of Autism Consecrated

  • Do You Want To Build A Library?

    Do You Want To Build A Library?

    by Aimée O’Connell

     

    Once upon a short while ago, the team at Autism Consecrated was assembling a symposium entitled “Autism Through the Eyes of God,” intended to bring together an array of speakers to inspire and challenge those in attendance to flip our view of autism as a disability and see what it might look like in terms of the gifts each autistic person brings to the faith community.  We had just begun to consider location, date and cost when COVID-19 asserted itself as the card holder in all of our affairs, and now we find ourselves looking at an entirely new landscape where public gatherings are concerned.  Not only are conferences being postponed indefinitely, but prospective attendees are facing job cuts, loss of work hours and a necessary reshuffling of priorities across the board.

    While these new operating parameters take precedence among service providers around the world, the topic of autism in our faith communities is just as relevant, if not more so during times of crisis and uncertainty. Moreover, the shift from real interaction to electronic and virtual contacts in the name of public safety only reinforces the spiritual health benefits we lose when we cannot interact in person. Our hope all along was to create a symposium to share our common goals in the same space. Until that can happen… what can we do?

    Do you want to build a library?

    We were already planning to upload the “best of” our live symposia talks to our YouTube channel.  While we wait for that time when we are able to gather and inspire one another in person, why not enkindle and explore ideas without limits, without cost, and without letting this time of quarantine detract from the passion we carry in our hearts for realizing autism’s belonging in the Body of Christ?

    In that spirit, we are opting right now to convert our “Presentations” section to a Clickable Resource Library. In order to build that library, we need content! As such, we are rolling out a Call for Submissions, accompanied by a Release of Information Form, which we will make available in a separate post here and in the Resource Area on the main page of our website.

    Whether you have a submission you would like to contribute or a request for a specific topic to be covered, we need your input!

    We also need our Call for Submissions shared far and wide in order to get this Resource Library off the ground. Please help us get the word out via email and social media. Download the documents here, or request them by email at autismconsecrated@gmail.com.

    Do you want to build a library?  Let’s do this!

     

     

  • Mercy, Unmasked

    Mercy, Unmasked

    Easter has come! Alleluia! No virus can destroy our faith and hope in the Resurrection!

    Can it?

    No, assuredly, not.  There is plenty of evidence to the contrary.  People are clamoring more than ever for a taste of God, and we are doing everything within our creative power to stay connected to our faith communities in any way we can.  Every social media page is filled with encouragement and song, even “COVID-cover” songs to parody the virus that has redefined every aspect of normal existence.

    The liturgical calendar is just getting started with the celebrations, with Easter being (of course) the greatest and highest of our feasting.  But besides giving us fifty days dedicated to proclaiming victory over death, the Church gives us a feast-within-a-feast, Divine Mercy Sunday, which adds dimensions of depth reaching far beyond simple celebration.  Mercy Sunday deepens the Easter celebration to encourage us to realize there is even more: more growth, more life, more realization of what it truly means to have witnessed Christ now proclaimed, denied, condemned, killed, mourned and resurrected.

    What an interesting time to come upon the Feast of Divine Mercy.  Who among us is not eager to pray for mercy?  The world begs for mercy… upon those dying from COVID-19 complications… upon healthcare workers and first responders… upon families who are diligently following every protocol to protect their weak and vulnerable members… upon those whose needs must be set aside to prioritize the response to the pandemic… upon those who are unemployed, or without food, or whose housing and basic necessities are jeopardized by the shutdown of businesses.  The list is overwhelmingly long.

    It is an understatement to say that our coping resources are stretched to their limits, no matter who we are, no matter what we carry in our daily rucksacks of needs, challenges and obligations.

    It is burdensome to imagine adding any more challenge to the mix.  I pray this is explicitly clear to those reading this post: There is nothing in my intended words meant to suggest that any reader is not doing enough, not making the most of what we can with what we have, and not responding with faith and love in the midst of all the rapidly changing mental, spiritual and physical demands.

    In the spirit of building ourselves and each other in faith, then, we have the opportunity to pray for Divine Mercy.

    For the past month and beyond, our civic leaders have done an excellent job communicating what we need to know, and do, to maintain our physical safety.  We have been given clear visuals on how to sanitize our hands and surfaces we touch, where to stand to maintain safe distance, and even a very concise explanation of the statistical models being used to predict the best chance at containing and minimizing the devastation that might result from the worst-case scenarios.  It has taken a few weeks to adjust and adapt, but for the most part, we are functioning as a society within very different physical guidelines, and doing a remarkably good job.

    Now that we have had this time to digest, assimilate and adapt, we can begin considering how these changes might impact our spiritual health and well-being.

    Readers of the Mission of Saint Thorlak will recall several themes on this topic over the past three years.  A brief synopsis might be:

    • Health of the body must first hinge upon, and flow from, attention to health of the soul
    • Health of the soul comes from recognizing and embracing our vulnerability and common human needs
    • Self-preservation is a pattern that shuts others out, eventually shutting out our openness to God
    • Love casts out all fear
    • Mercy is rooted in trust

    The following is an excerpt from “The Divine Mercy Connection,” published by the Mission of Saint Thorlak in February, 2018:

    Numerous teachings on Divine Mercy have been proclaimed by saints and theologians of recent time to counter the despair, fear and littleness we experience with the expanding awareness of evil in our age.  Thousands hear and turn toward God in the comfort of this loving embrace.  Yet, thousands more miss the window, maybe not even knowingly, by practicing the culture’s habits of humanism, relativism and individualism with dysphoria and distrust.  Thousands fortify themselves in self-esteem, self-justification and self-preservation because it is the backbone of individualism.  Such mindsets may be great for self-empowerment, but ultimately, they impede and reject mercy because they do not perceive any use – any need – for it.

    Brokenness [vulnerability] permits mercy to penetrate the shell of self-reliance.  It is through our vulnerability that mercy reaches us. Need is the most fundamental common denominator of humanity.  We are all weak, or broken, or needy in some way.  Being comfortable with weakness will win the battle of spiritual deprivation because need is not a weapon… it is our supply pipeline… our very lifeline.  Without need, life has no purpose.  Even the staunchest individualist can be persuaded to see – and experience – the validity of this argument.

    Need opens doors.

    If we have no place for need, we cannot understand mercy; because, without need, mercy is meaningless.

     

    Revisiting these words seems almost foreign after weeks of learning how to protect ourselves, isolate ourselves, fortify ourselves and reduce vulnerability.

    It is absurd to suggest that we should ignore the safety of ourselves or others, and that is not at all the purpose of this post.  But now that we know how to be physically safe, and as we come up on Divine Mercy Sunday, I wonder if it is an acceptable time to reintroduce vulnerability, on a spiritual level… or, if that word has now become hopelessly associated with something to be shielded, fortified or avoided?

    Let us start by thinking about the masks many are wearing at the urging of health officials.  I am not referring to those treating coronavirus infections on the front lines, whose masks are critically important.  I am referring to the rest of us, whose masks are nonetheless important, but in the sense that they shield us from the potential of being unknowingly exposed to an unseen threat.

    C.S. Lewis posed the question through the voice of Orual: “How can [God] meet us face to face, till we have faces?”

    In similar vein, I ask: How do we pray for mercy unless we are open to what mercy asks of us?

    How do we pray for mercy during a time when physical safety requires shielding ourselves?

    Now that we have learned how to lock down, how do we learn how to open up again?

    If we go deeper, we can begin to ask the harder questions, with sincere honesty and humility: For whom, for what, would we risk exposure?  For whom, for what, will we take off our masks?  What would Divine Mercy compel us to respond?  And what if, after weeks of fear, our hearts are not yet ready?

    May this be a beginning of an authentic, renewal of Mercy, for which we each might pray.