To mark National BSL Day, we’re sharing a reflection from Brenden Alvares, a seminarian at Allen Hall studying British Sign Language (BSL) with our Caritas Deaf Service, about his experiences spending Holy Week with the Deaf Community this year.
When we join seminary, we quickly learn that getting whisked away into new experiences is part and parcel of a seminarian’s life! My latest venture brought me to the Caritas Deaf Service for Holy Week, where I spent time with the Deaf Community and participated in the liturgies featuring BSL.
These past two years, Allen Hall has arranged for seminarians to study BSL and the Catholic Church’s involvement with the Deaf Community. During our training, we’ve attended Signed Masses, met the community, and grown comfortable with BSL… but Holy Week stepped things up a notch!
During Palm Sunday’s Procession, Jesus’ response to the Pharisees who sought to silence his followers had an almost stand-alone impact on me: ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out’ (Luke 19:40).
Whilst the stones around me didn’t speak, as we processed into the Church, some singing, some signing, and some both, I understood that something prophetic was going on around me.
I realised that when we acclaim Christ, the silences we perceive as Deaf or hearing people form the same witness. Once, Zechariah communicated with signs and used a stone tablet to announce: ‘his name is John’ (Luke 1:63). Now, we use signs to communicate that Christ is Risen – but first, he must endure his Passion.
Although we’re all familiar with the Passion narrative, the signed version draws everyone’s attention to something that is both interactive and immersive: the betrayals of Christ, the murderous intent of his adversaries, and all the aspects of Jesus’ Passion come across in our signing and body language, and I soon learned that Palm Sunday was but a precursor of the Triduum to come.
The Sisters of the Assumption welcomed us to Maria Assumpta Chapel in Kensington for Maundy Thursday, where we commemorated the Last Supper and the events leading up to Good Friday. The mixture of music and silence, with the signing choir and the solemnity at the Altar of Repose, made a lasting impression on me that only grew with my involvement in Good Friday’s Stations of the Cross.
Each station was led by one of the Deaf community, and with everyone’s guidance, I signed the 10th station. In BSL, there’s a role-shift element to signing: at each station you take on a different character, be it the Roman soldiers, Jesus, Veronica, or Simon of Cyrene.
Everyone’s expressions add something personal to the Way of the Cross, and this was also true for the Good Friday liturgy, where the characters in St John’s Passion narrative were split into signing and voiced roles.
My family also attended the Good Friday liturgy and mingled with the congregation after the service; I soon found that I had signed questions coming from all sides, with multiple signed conversations going on around me. Most importantly, I saw for myself the Deaf Community’s kindness and hospitality in welcoming strangers.
Now, everything was set for the Easter Vigil. After the procession with the Paschal Candle, I was up to sign the Exultet – which I’d practised a good few times – and at the end of the Signed Vigil, we finally announced that ‘Christ is truly risen.’
Everyone gathered afterwards for refreshments, and in meeting more of the Deaf Community, I learned that BSL is like any other language; you learn more as you sign with the locals! This Eastertide, I’m grateful for the chance to help minister to a world that I would never have encountered without being willing to learn to sign. Especially in this Jubilee Year of Hope, I have been profoundly moved to meet people who proclaim Christ amidst the silence, and will take these experiences with me as I continue my priestly formation.
Find out more about the Caritas Deaf Service here.
