A Roman Catholic priest, Rev. Daniel Walz has banned a 13 year old boy with autism from his church in Minnesota, on the grounds of disruptive behaviour. According to news reports the priest was worried that the boy’s behavior was “disruptive and dangerous,” according to court documents. The Catholic priest had filed a restraining order preventing the boy with autism from entering the Church of St.Joseph in Bertha, Minnesota.
Carol Race, the mother of the autistic boy, named Adam, found out about the restraining order when she tried to attend mass at the Church of St. Joseph, where she usually went on Sundays. Todd County Sheriff Pete Mikkelson appeared in her driveway to warn her she would be taken into police custody if she and her son entered St. Joseph.
Carol Race of Bertha, Minnesota in the United States, refuted the claims made by the priest and stated that Adam may be noisy at times, but they usually sit in the back of the church and try to stay quiet. She also said that the restraining order amounts to outright discrimination.
Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder affecting over 60 million people around the World. According to the CDC 1 in 150 children in the United States is on the autism spectrum.
The United Nations General Assembly in New York recently launched the first ever World Autism Awareness Day on 2nd April. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a message on World Autism Awareness Day - he paid tribute to the courage of children with autism and their families, who strive every day “to confront the disability with a powerful combination of determination, creativity and hope.”
In his message marking the World Autism Awareness Day, Mr. Ban Ki-moon stressed the need to build enabling environments for children with disabilities so they can prosper as future members of their communities, citizens of their countries and as fully-fledged members of the global community.
Campaigners are calling on Pope Benedict XVI to make a statement on autism and to provide instructions to the church on how to reach out to children and adults with disabilities - including autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
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24 users commented in " Minnesota Priest Bans Boy with Autism from Church "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackSorry, but I worked with the institutionalized violent retarded when I was raising my kids. The public’s view is of a sweet kid who is a little noisy…alas, that may not be the case.
They can put you in the hospital…indeed, some of our staff were badly injured. One (of our better behaved kids) once got mad and threw the piano over…another got into the laundry and picked up a washmachine and threw it at one of the staff, luckily missing him.
Think a bad behaviored two year old who is six foot and 200 plus pounds.
There is no need for the family to bring him to church, since he obviously doesn’t understand what is going on…
It seems to be disruptive to the others. Lets not forget the rights of the others as well who attend the Church.
Nancy and Rich are quite ignorant as to how a child in the Autism Spectrum Disorder is expect to behave in public (church). Ms Reyes work with the “institutionalized violent retareded” is totally different than Autism. Autism is not mental retardation! There are brilliant Ausperger children, that just do not know how to interact in public. The only way they learn this social interaction is to go out in public. We are the parents of a 7 year old boy in the Spectrum and have consistently attended church and as many social events as possible with him. He has been able to overcome his mannerisms and is not a bother to anyone and is enrolled in the CCD program. Rich seems to be corncerned for others, I am sure that others can find a service at their church wich caters to the easily distracted.
Most importantly this priest should be chastised by his superiors for preventing anyone, especially this child, from entering the house of GOD which is open to all. I am sure GOD is not Happy! Shame on both of you, head to the confessional!
I admit not knowing about autism but just from reading the facts of this post it is my opinion that this child was distracting to the other members of the Church.
Any other person regardless of disability or not should not distract the others to the point of the priest getting a restraining order.
Aurelio & Amelia have an autistic child but must consider that there is varying degrees of it’s severity. The child in question may have a more severe challenges.
I hope a compromise would help the child maybe before or after the religious gathering, if not, this paticular Church is not the place of true compasion.
The challenge may be that peoplewill have difficulty learning God’s teaching if others distract them?
I don’t have “confessionals” in my religion.
It would have been helpful to know exactly what the boy did that was disruptive and dangerous. We have a member of our congregation who has a child with autism and she can be noisy, but has never posed a danger. When she gets particularly vocal, Mom takes her out so she doesn’t disrupt the service.
Unless Adam was actually causing some kind of physical harm, I think this priest stepped over the line. However, as I said, it would help to have all the facts.
First of all, most autistic kids are retarded. A lot of the “autism” epidemic is that these kids are now labled autism. There are indeed high functioning autistics, but this kid doesn’t seem to be one of them: High functioning autistics can talk…and the KARE website says he is “severely autistic”.
Two: His behavior “Walz claims Adam has urinated and spat in church and that his behaviour presents a danger to other parishioners.” according to CTV. The StarTribune says: “An affidavit alleges Adam struck a child during mass, fought efforts to restrain him, pulled an adolescent girl to his lap and revved the engine of someone else’s car.”
The “Revving the engine” sound innocuous, but again when I worked with the retarded, one problem was that our “high functioning” autistics would get into cars and rev engines (note: When it is cold, i.e. below zero, often people leave their engines running, go inside and stay warm until the engine is warmed up)…and once my patient managed to put one of the cars into gear and hit two other cars. If it had been ten minutes later, he would have killed those getting on the bus to be schooled to class.
Three: The “child” weighs 225 pounds according to the StarTribune.
Is the term “retarted” still used?
I thought it was “mentally challenged”.
I can not believe the level of ignorance when reading these comments. First of all a large number of our children have been diagnosed with Autism. This is not something that is diagnosed in order to have a label and not all children with autism are Retarded. (For future reference the term is Mentally Challenged). Whether a person is low or high functioning it is still Autism. People with Autism think differently .I think that before people judge they need to understand and research.We have come a long way from leaving people with a disability at home where no one can see them. However from reading these comments it makes me wonder. Remember people read and maybe interact with someone with Autism they might surprise you…
Although it may seem as though Fr. Dan Walz is, as the media states it, “BANNING” this teenager from church, the whole story, from both sides, has not been revealed. If you read Minnesota newspapers, and if you hear from eye witnesses, you will realize that this particular individual, who suffers very unfortunately from autism was a risk to many peoples safety at that church. In fact, a “risk” was not even a factor after several attempts to safely make it possible for this child to attend mass. The boy, although not intentionally, physically injured someone.
Fr. Walz did not wake up one day and decide, “I think I will ban this autistic child today.” After he did everything in his power to make the facility available to him, while maintaining safety for parishoners, he had to, in the end, enforce restrictions due to a breach of safety.
It is a very unfortunate situation, but this case IS NOT a case against autistic children as it so falsely has been presented by the media. It centers around a hard decision in order to provide a safe environment for parishioners.
Know the facts before accusing a very caring indivdual as Fr. Walz is. I am sorry that this family has to endure this as well. It isn’t easy for either parties. But sometimes decisions are made for the betterment of a majority not necessarily to “ban” somebody.
I have to correct one of my statements. I have not heard anything from “eye witnesses” I have heard by word of mouth. This is strictly my opinion based on what I have heard from the news and others.
I am a member of Fr. Dans parish, and the Minnesota woman is correct. I feel bad for the child but he has hurt people. He is built like a man and he is extremly strong. Please pray for him but also please pray for Fr. Dan he is a awesome man, and a great priest. I am proud to attend his church.
I also attend Fr. Dan’s Parish but i’m in the Henning church. My friend who goes to the Bertha church told me that the kid would urinate, grab women inappropriately and start fights during mass. I think any sane person would want to ban this person from the church. But, you have to keep in mind that Fr. Dan is not banning him from religion. He has to have private masses with him and other options besides public mass. The family turned him down all of the time. I personally feel bad for father dan. Most people are to ignorant to look at the other side of the story.
LOCUSTS REIGN ON YOUR PARADE
oh geez i need to start proofreading. sorry for the bad grammar folks.
I have read most of this junk and as an parent that works with Autisum I have to say that you people need to educate yourselves the parents of this child are doing something that most of us could not handle on a good day. Rising a speical child is a life that we do not ask for but we are given. It is thankless and never ending. If there were more people that had compassion in this world you would realize that educating yourself and helping would be a far better way to handle this situation. It takes a village to raise a child where is this childs village? It is funny how we can throw stones but we can not help. I usualy find myself is shock with the ignorance that people have.
Harts4u has some good comments, however, this IS NOT a battle against autism. All of your statements are very accurate with regard to some of us not even being able to comprehend what these parents endure on a day to day basis. I would be the first to admit that I don’t know what it is like. HOWEVER, the media has chosen to cut out the efforts that the church in Bertha have tried to make, in order to adjust and make accomodations to enable this child to thrive amongst the parishioners. NOTHING was BANNED from him. The village has made leaping efforts for long periods of time, that you were not even made aware of.
One of the first steps on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states that safety is of priority importance. Therefore, safety that becomes breached, must be considered on more restrictive grounds before a community can move on. This is unfortunate, no doubt, but the real issue…SAFETY…not Autism…needs to be kept in focus. Even if this child didn’t suffer from autism, safety would still be the focus, and measures would still need to be taken to keep the parish community safe. Everything you type regarding the struggle of autism, I certainly believe to be true.
I truly do have empathy for what this family has to go through, and I also believe I have a lot to learn from the families that are challenged by autism. In this particular situation, I am just trying to be an advocate for the WHOLE story and its TRUE focus.
Harts4u, I am not ignorant or uncompassionate.
“First of all, most autistic kids are retarded”
No wonder people have the wrong idea of what Autism is. Autism is a SOCIAL DISORDER, and some people can be mentally challenged as well as having Autism, but the two are not the same.
I am the mom of a 7 year old boy with Aspergers and he is the smartest kid I know, awkward socially, yes, but SMART.
I would like to shed some light on what the diagnosis of autism really is according to the DSM. I have worked in the field of autism for many years. Lets remember to use “person-first language.” People who have autism or any other disability is a person first and foremost. Autism does not define the person!Autism is actually a neurological disorder that affects communication skills, social interactions, and restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Autism is a spectrum disorder ranging in severity, cognitive abilities, skills, and deficits. Not all children with autism also receive the diagnosis of MR only a percentage of people receive a co-morbid diagnoses. Children and adults with autism often suffer from “mind blindness” as well, meaning they may not be aware of other people’s perpectives, intentions, or communication attempts.
What ever happened to this: But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” He may be a six footer a 200lb. person but he is still a child, especially in God’s eyes. If he is such a good parish priest as you say, why not talk to the parent privately and personally, and inform her of the fear of the parishoners, the safety of others. Why issue a restraining order? Why deny the child to come to his Father’s house? Why give the family a feeling of hostility, betrayal and denial? Sanctuary, where is this? Why not offer private spritual guidance to the family? This is not a godlike action. One reason why a lot of sheeps are fleeing the flock, the religion, the trust in church. In Christ’s time, people shunned the lepers, the beggars, the troubled, the outcast of society, but he welcomed them with open arms and encouraged them to come to his Church. What happened to Christ’s example of his love, of his teachings? There are more humane and loving way to have done this. How can one representative of Christ do such act? How can one believe in such person? How can one lead such a flock?
You are right in quoting the scripture, unfortunately it doesn’t apply to this case. The things that you say should have been done…were done. The restraining order was not issued immediately as you may been misled to believe from this article. Great measures were taken prior to issuing the order. I keep coming back to this…the issiue is safety…not oppression against the less fortunate and challenged. What about the elderly person who received a black eye? This is one example. There were other issues. This behavior, after more than one incident, should not be tolerated no matter who is doing it. The mother was confronted to discuss options and compromise. She didn’t agree to consider the safety and wellbeing of both the parishioners and her son, for that matter. Compromising, or perhaps discussing options is a better way to phrase it, would have allowed this child to continue to attend. Noone is being oppressed or shunned.
Hi,
Does anyone have an email address for the St Joseph’s Church?
I cannot seem to find one on the internet.
And as a mother with an autistic son, to the people who are less than understanding in regards to these disabled children, I hope one day you will have your own autistic child. I hope you one day experience the same intolerance, injustice, and ignorance that people fling at you.
And I also hope thatexperience the same joy I have when I hug my sweet little angel every day. They are the most pure people in the world and I’m sorry that not every one can understand that.
It would definitely be helpful to have a list of exactly what steps were taking in what order to deal with this situation, and how the family responded to the steps or solutions offered. I do not doubt that the priest tried every way in which HE thought was correct to solve the problem, but I would love to be able to decide that for myself. Did he consult the Bishop of the diocese and what did he have to say? What are the Church guidelines in connection to a situation such as this? I do think that the priest has the final word in a lot of these situations where there are no guidelines, which sets him, and the parish, up for criticism. I can see both sides of this, but moreso the side of the family as I have a child on the Autism Spectrum. And boy, let me tell you, the comments using the phrase ‘retarded’ would set anyone who knows anyone with ANY disability into a tizzy. For the people who don’t know any better, it is like using the word ‘n—-r’ for a black person. Get with it. The mentally disabled, the Catholic Church, as well as the homeschooling community are those left in our society where people feel free to discriminate against, or speak against without fear. Why is that?
You know, come to think of it, all of my children have grabbed other parishoners, urinated in church and made loud sounds during mass at one point or another. OK, maybe they were two years old at the time, but just because this boy is bigger and older, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think of him as a two-year-old mentally, and give him the benefit of the doubt. People in our society really need to get some lessons in tolerance in regard to the mentally challenged. Does this parish, along with numerous others in our country, need to build a cry room? (Just a little side note: I have much wanted to get a restraining order against those elderly parishoners who sit in the cry room along with my children giving them mean and condescending looks, as the cry room should be reserved for those who might be disturbing others in church):-)
My brother has severe Autism, and he frequently hits people hard enough to bruise them and bites them hard enough to draw blood, as well as picking up electrical appliances and electronic devices and hurling them hard enough to break them. If this boy really is injuring people to such a degree that were he not disabled one could charge him with assault, then I think that he should be kept away from crowds.
If the child truly is violent, then of course, the safety of other church-goers must be addressed.
My question is why he had to get a restraining order. Couldn’t he speak with the parents and work something out?
Sooooo glad I left the Catholic Church. Ask yourself what would Jesus do and you can bet your bottom dollar “get a restraining order” would NOT be the answer.
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