By Kurt Jensen
OSV News
The Xavier Society for the Blind is celebrating 125 years of helping generations of Catholics, either blind or vision-impaired, participate in worship through braille texts, large-type books, and audio books.
Malachy Fallon, executive director of the society, told OSV News in a phone interview that he wants to remind people that his organization — so reliable for so many years that some may take it for granted — is still highly active and producing new products. “We want more people to be aware of it,” he said.
Based in New York City, the society functions with a full-time staff of just six, including a certified braille translator. It runs on an annual budget of $1.5 million, primarily from donations, plus a small endowment.
Fallon, the executive director for eight years, likes to describe the organization as “small, but feisty.” He took it over after a 30-year career in finance at Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, and is the first to lead the organization who is not a Jesuit priest.
The society’s missalettes go to about 700 worshippers a week. It has about 2,500 clients in the United States and 20 other nations, a number that has held steady for several years.
Braille is a tactile code. A cell of braille consists of six raised dots. Louis Braille first developed it in 1824 when he was 15 years old, and it was a success from the start. Born Jan. 4, 1809, Louis was blinded in one eye at age 3. Braille Literacy Month is celebrated in the U.S. in January.
The Xavier Society’s catalog has more than 1,000 braille titles. Products include books on spiritual and religious topics and catechetical textbooks.
The Propers of the Sunday Mass — the Old and New Testament readings, selected prayers, and responses — are available in braille and audio in both English and Spanish. These help blind worshipers serve as lectors.
The society also works with National Braille Press to produce religious education materials.
Since Fallon came on board, the society has included braille ready files, or BRF, which can be read on a multiline refreshable braille devices.
“Refreshable” means the braille display changes continuously as the user moves the cursor around on the screen.
Founded in 1900, the Xavier Society was created by a blind teacher, Margaret Coffey, and a priest, Jesuit Father Joseph Stadelman, as the only Catholic publishing house to make crucial writings available to the blind. All its services are free of charge.
Fallon said the society serves mostly “an older demographic. Just like the demographics of the Church are older.” By 2030, nearly 73 million Americans will be over age 65.
But older patrons with declining sight from macular degeneration or diabetes are usually less likely to learn braille than those who are blind from birth or early childhood, he acknowledged.
“It’s because of the tactile element. As you age, you lose that sensitivity.”
Large-type and audio books are essential for those generations.
Constantly evolving devices, Fallon said, lead to skepticism about braille’s utility. “My experience is that half the people say braille is not needed anymore because new technology is available.”
But braille can accomplish literacy for young readers that recordings do not. “There’s a big difference, for children, between reading a book as opposed to listening to a book,” he said.
“I think the need will always be there.”
Cutline for featured image: Sharlene Kraft of Fresh Meadows, N.Y., who is blind, uses braille as she proclaims the first reading during a Mass marking the feast of St. Lucy, patroness of the blind, at St. Francis Xavier Church in New York City Dec. 13, 2024. The liturgy is hosted annually by the Xavier Society for the Blind. (OSV News photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
