Mission & History

“We are a single flock under the care of a single shepherd. There can be no separate Church for persons with disabilities.”

In 1978, the US Bishops issued a document, Pastoral Statement of U.S. Catholic Bishops on Persons with Disabilities  Twenty years later, this statement was reaffirmed in the Bishop’s Pastoral Statement, Welcome and Justice for Persons with Disabilities: A Framework of Access and Inclusion.

Recognizing that each person is created in God’s image, the Church is called to value the gifts each person offers the community and advocate for the protection of rights that enable individuals with disabilities to achieve the fullest measure of personal development  These documents challenge the Church to transform its attitude; to see itself as a community of persons – all gifted and limited.   The Bishops call for an understanding love that affirms our common humanity, forming the kind of community that seeks to discover one another’s gifts and serve each other’s needs.

The Bishops recommend Dioceses to establish offices to assist parishes in their efforts to be more inclusive, to advocate with people with disabilities in areas of public policy, to support education and training for pastoral leaders, and to ensure inclusive catechetical programs and accessible liturgical celebrations with those accommodations that enable full participation in the life of the Church.

In 1980, the Archdiocese of Portland established the Office of Special Pastoral Services under the director of Dorothy Coughlin to help actualize the challenge of the US Bishops.   The name was changed to the Office for People with Disabilities, and, to this day, the office has served thousands of people in the Archdiocese of Portland.