A spirit of deep reflection and hope marked the Idol Talk? In the Image of the Disabled God conference held at the Melbourne campus of Australian Catholic University (ACU) on 22–23 May. The conference—the first of its kind in Australia—brought together theologians, pastoral practitioners, theologians, activists interpreters, representatives of intentional communities and others to reconsider how the Catholic Church engages with people living with disability.
Hosted by ACU’s Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry and the Society of Jesus’ Loyola Institute, the conference—which drew its provocative title from theologian Nancy Eiesland’s influential book The Disabled God—asked profound questions about personhood, community and the presence of God in the lives of disabled people.
In his opening keynote, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli delivered a powerful meditation on what it means to say that human lives are created, not made. Drawing on the recent Vatican declaration Dignitas Infinita, the Archbishop challenged the Church to reframe how it understands those living with profound impairments.
‘The profoundly impaired are simply graced humans, creatures in God’s image,’ he said. ‘Theirs is a graced humanity, not determined by an achievement of their own. They do not participate in the life of the crucified Christ because they are with him in his suffering … Their lives are not graced because of anything they have achieved.’
One’s humanity—one’s “being human”—is not determined via an invitation into the club of human beings.’
Quoting St Augustine, Archbishop Comensoli acknowledged the longstanding theological struggle to make sense of disability, noting that language often falls short. Faced with the question ‘Are such people, people?’, the Church affirms that ‘All human beings—no matter the condition of their nature—are made by God, who creates only good things.’
The question, the Archbishop said, is not whether someone becomes human through their capacities or social recognition, but whether we are willing to recognise the humanity already present: ‘One’s humanity—one’s “being human”—is not determined via an invitation into the club of human beings.’
Speakers came from across the Church and broader community.
In his keynote, one of the conference’s organisers, blind Jesuit priest, theologian and lawyer Fr Justin Glyn SJ, drew on recent Church documents to argue for a Church which moves beyond ‘inclusion’ to take seriously the limitedness of all the Church’s members and allow us all to cooperate as the body of Christ.
Delivering a keynote address on the second day of the conference, Professor Daniel Horan OFM, a theologian from St Mary’s College in Indiana, USA, called for a rethinking of the human person. Drawing on the 13th-century theologian-philosopher Duns Scotus’ concept of haecceitas—the unrepeatable ‘thisness’ of each person—he challenged assumptions that treat disabled lives as deviations from a norm, arguing that an emphasis on human particularity ‘locates the dignity and value of people with disabilities precisely within the context of their respective differences’.
Vittorio Scelzo, from the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, argued that the Church must speak of disability not merely in secular terms like rights and access but within its own theological language of dignity and communion if it is to avoid being sidelined at a time when many governments are abandoning the language of rights and moving rapidly towards authoritarianism.
Other sessions explored practical and pastoral realities: from interpreting the liturgy and navigating the NDIS to ageing and dementia, and reimagining community through friendship and vulnerability. Each of these contributions grounded the theological discussion in the lived experience of disabled people.
Theologian Sandie Cornish (who chaired Study Group 2 of the Synod of Bishops) and Louise Gosbell, Research Manager of the Australian College of Theology, listened attentively to all the conference sessions and, at the end of each day, reflected on what was being heard.
What made the conference stand out was not only the diversity of perspectives, but the way it centred the voices of disabled people themselves—voices often marginalised in Church discourse.
In one panel session featuring members of the L’Arche Australia community, panellist Rose, who has Down Syndrome, shared the story of how a visit to the National Gallery of Victoria and her curiosity about artworks depicting Jesus led her to become a Christian and eventually to find a home in the L’Arche community. While acknowledging that it can be ‘really difficult at times to be part of a community’, she said that sharing life together with others ‘really, really helps me to just … feel safe and warm inside the heart’.
Nowhere is there a hint of Christ needing to be a particular kind of human or possessing a certain set of capacities. Christ did not save us on the cross because he was good at suffering … The same applies to each and every human being.
A recurring insight throughout the conference was that the presence of people with disability is not a problem to be solved or a group to be accommodated but a gift to the Church.
As Archbishop Comensoli reminded listeners, ‘Jesus Christ took on our human flesh; he lived our human life; and he died of being human. Nowhere is there a hint of Christ needing to be a particular kind of human or possessing a certain set of capacities. Christ did not save us on the cross because he was good at suffering … The same applies to each and every human being.’
The conference brought together a broad range of voices from Church, academia and community—an important achievement in itself—but organisers and participants alike acknowledged that this was just the beginning. As the organisers said after the conference, ‘We hope to continue the work of deepening these connections and growing a Church which both fosters the belonging of its disabled members and takes up its prophetic role to speak more broadly against exclusion.’
At its heart, Idol Talk? In the Image of the Disabled God was a call to deeper conversion—a call to see one another as God sees us: wholly human, wholly graced and wholly beloved.
Banner image: Attendees at the Idol Talk? conference on disability theology at ACU Melbourne. (Photo by Martin Scharnke, courtesy of ACU.)
