By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
Although Joseph Lucido has long been a steady presence within his parish community — pushed to Mass in his wheelchair week after week by his parents — it was only recently that his family felt a full initiation into the Catholic Church was within reach for the St. Patrick Catholic Church parishioner. This month, Joseph joyfully defied the odds, receiving the sacraments of holy Communion and confirmation at a St. Patrick sensory-friendly Mass on Oct. 11.
At 27 years old, Joseph has leaned on his parents, as well as a few trusted caregivers along the way, to provide the care he needs to live each day with a congenital brain condition.
“The condition of his brain abnormality has left him with a seizure disorder and has left him in a wheelchair, unable to move,” his father, Michael Lucido, explained; and while Joseph can communicate through laughter, smiles, and tears, “he’s unable to communicate as far as verbal communication.”
The St. Patrick parishioner also experiences hearing and vision impairment due to his condition; and his lack of orofacial control necessitates the use of a gastrostomy tube for his sustenance.
The doctors’ appointments, the medications, the bathing and changing and lifting and moving — all of this care, Michael said, can be quite demanding; but God has always provided the grace for the work.
“I think what’s been at the foundation of all of this is our faith and knowing that Joseph is a child of God and truly deserves the dignity of all humans, all people,” he said. “Our Lord and Heavenly Father has provided all the graces to raise him … and we know that our job is to bring Joseph to heaven, and he’s bringing us to heaven at the same time.”
To that end, the Lucidos have faithfully brought Joseph to Mass every Sunday, rolling him to the front of the Communion line for a blessing each week. With the severity of his impairments, however, anything beyond a blessing seemed unattainable for Joseph; two of the three sacraments of initiation — Communion and confirmation — always felt to the family to be well out of his reach.
“We never thought it was an option,” Joseph’s mother, Melanie Lucido, said of the sacraments, “and so we never pursued it.”
New possibilities
The family’s conception of what was possible expanded, however, when St. Patrick began ministering more intentionally to its members with disabilities, including through the parish’s sensory-friendly Mass. With its dimmed lights and gentle music, the sensory-friendly Mass is a celebration of the holy Eucharist that includes accommodations to meet the unique needs of children and adults who experience sensory sensitivities.
“I think it was really the graces of this special needs Mass that really revealed to me and my wife that it was time for Joseph to have the sacraments,” Michael said of the sensory-friendly Mass, which was initiated at St. Patrick last year as part of the Diocese of Dallas’ Community of Disciples initiative. “It was just time to do it at this very special moment.”
The support of Amy Vitek, director of evangelization and faith formation at St. Patrick, also played a role in bringing Joseph to the sacraments, the Lucidos said. Vitek encouraged the family to further explore the possibility that Joseph could be fully initiated into the Church — even though, the director recalled, “everybody told them they couldn’t.”
“If one person is missing that has a disability and is not coming to Mass — because they feel like they’re judged, or they have that stigma of whatever their disability is, and they don’t feel welcomed — we don’t have the full body of Christ here in our parish,” Vitek said. Noting St. Patrick’s efforts over recent years to bring children and adults with “all types of disabilities,” from ADHD to autism to Down syndrome, to the sacraments, she added, “It doesn’t matter if you have disabilities or non-disabilities. Everybody is welcome at St. Patrick’s.”
With the family’s approval, Vitek contacted the Diocese of Dallas to explain Joseph’s condition and to obtain permission for him to receive holy Communion and confirmation at a sensory-friendly Mass. The diocese approved the request.
“The Lucidos were very happy and very excited and brought to tears,” Vitek recalled. “This is something they never thought possible for Joseph that we’ve made possible.”
‘A member of God’s family’
On Oct. 11, during a sensory-friendly Mass at St. Patrick, Joseph received the blood of Christ for the first time — distributed by thumb directly to the inside of his cheek — and was sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of confirmation. His longtime caregiver Leonardo “Willie” Leon served as his confirmation sponsor.
“To have Joseph, at the age of 27, finally be able to receive his (sacraments) … it’s very humbling to us,” Melanie said. “It just shows how welcoming the Church is to everybody.”
“Joseph’s life, by world standards, may not look like he offers a lot,” she continued, “but clearly, in God’s eyes, he is a member of God’s family.”
The celebration of Joseph’s sacraments marked a deeply meaningful moment for the Lucidos — but the impact of the milestone reaches far beyond the family too, according to Katie Groves, associate director for the Diocese of Dallas’ Office for Persons with Disabilities and director of the diocesan Community of Disciples initiative.
“What St. Pat’s has really put on display … is just how possible this is, and just how beautiful this is as well, when we have the full community participating,” Groves said. “We do want to be seeing everybody who can make it to church at church participating in the full community, because we are a communal body.”
Michael expressed a similar sentiment, saying, “This is beyond Joseph and our family. To see the Church welcoming all people — whether it’s people who are marginalized in some way or disabled in some way — this is the Catholic Church.”
Cutline for featured image: Joseph Lucido, center, poses with Father Jude Chukwuma, parochial vicar of St. Patrick Catholic Parish, and the Lucido family after a sensory-friendly Mass at St. Patrick Catholic Church on Oct. 11. Joseph, 27, who has a congenital brain condition, received the sacraments of holy Communion and confirmation during the Mass. (BEN TORRES/Special Contributor)
