Oblate Father Mike Depcik, OSFS, one of nine deaf priests in the United States, will be in New Albany this month for a one-day retreat with the theme “God’s Future Saints.”
The retreat, which will include a meal, will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 23 in the Church of the Resurrection’s ministry center, 6300 E. Dublin-Granville Road, and will conclude with the sacrament of reconciliation from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. and Mass at 5 p.m.
The retreat will be of particular interest to deaf people, interpreters for the deaf and hearing people who are fluent in sign language, but all are invited. The Mass and two talks by Father Depcik will be in American Sign Language (ASL), with a voice interpreter for hearing people.
Registration is required. Go to www.cotrna.org to register. For more information, contact Kathy Hodges at signhodges@gmail.com or (614) 296-2994, voice or text.
“My talks will be about how God wants a relationship with us and how our goal is to be with God now and forever. This is what being a saint means. We achieve a healthy relationship with God, and ultimately sainthood, through regular prayer and meeting God in the sacraments,” Father Depcik said through an interpreter in a phone call from Detroit, where he is director of deaf ministry for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Father Depcik, 52, has been in Detroit for the past 12 years and is based at St. John’s Deaf Center in suburban Eastpointe, which opened in 1974 and offers a variety of services for the deaf, including Masses, Eucharistic Adoration, senior citizen programs, religious instruction and counseling.
He also celebrates one Sunday Mass for the deaf on Detroit’s east side and one on the west side and conducts workshops and retreats throughout the nation. In addition, he has a video blog titled “Fr. MD’s Kitchen Table” posted at www.frmd.org. He also celebrates a Mass that is livestreamed every Sunday at noon on www.facebook.com/deafmass.
Father Depcik’s parents, three brothers and one sister also are deaf and live in the Chicago area. They attended elementary and high school at St. Rita School for the Deaf in Cincinnati, which also was their mother’s alma mater.
Father Depcik went on to college at Gallaudet University in Washington, the nation’s only college specializing in educating the deaf, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and history and a master’s degree in mental health counseling.
“I describe myself as a ‘born-again Catholic,’” he said. “I was raised Catholic, and when I was 17, I lived for a year in Australia as an exchange student with a host family who were evangelical Christians. Their faith inspired me, to the point that when I went to Gallaudet, I was determined to join a different denomination.
“While attending an orientation week for new students, there was an event with many booths run by various on-campus organizations to help the new students become familiar with them. I saw a booth run by Baptists and walked straight to them. But in the corner of my eye, I saw someone waving to get my attention. I turned around and realized that person was a Catholic priest.
“He introduced himself, and after we talked for a few minutes, he asked, ‘Are you Catholic?’ I wasn’t sure how to answer, so I simply said, ‘Yes, I am.’ He then invited me to attend an on-campus Mass the following Sunday.
“When I was 21, I read about the Blessed Mother’s appearances at Medjugorje, and that changed my life. It started me thinking that God might be calling me to be a priest.” He said a significant influence in his life at this time was Father Jerry Trancone, the Catholic chaplain at Gallaudet.
“While I was a student, I had a summer job as a counselor at Camp Mark Seven in Old Forge, New York, which was established by Father Tom Coughlin, who was ordained as the first Deaf priest in the United States in 1977. I was seeking his advice on how I should pursue becoming a priest. I knew I would face many barriers and challenges, for many seminaries would not accept a Deaf man,” he said.
“At the camp, I befriended Father Ken McKenna, OSFS, another priest working there who belonged to the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales. He invited me to consider becoming an Oblate because he was recently appointed as their new director of novices.”
Father Depcik completed his studies for the priesthood at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan and was ordained as an Oblate priest on June 24, 2000. Before coming to Detroit, he ministered to the deaf in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan and the Archdiocese of Chicago.
He lives in an Oblate house in Detroit where all the other residents are hearing, though some have learned sign language so they can communicate better with him. “To join religious life meant I had to give up my deaf world” and lose some of the sense of community he had with other deaf people, who could most readily understand his situation, he said.
Asked about ways the hearing might misunderstand the deaf, Father Depcik said, “It’s not misunderstanding as much as it is lack of knowledge about the deaf. For instance, it’s not uncommon to hear bishops saying there are no, or few, deaf Catholics in their dioceses. They’re just unaware of the situation.
“I often say the Church is deaf to deaf people. By that, I mean the deaf are hard to recognize because they are invisible. Unlike someone in a wheelchair or a blind person, for instance, their disability is relatively invisible.
“About 30 million people in America have some form of hearing loss. About 3 million have a severe loss, and about 300,000 are culturally deaf, meaning they use ASL, interact with other ASL users, often marry each other, attend churches for the deaf and organize events for their own benefit.
“The deaf do not speak the same language as Church leaders because they have never heard it,” Father Depcik said. “In addition, there are few deaf priests, many dioceses have no budget for deaf ministry and those that do are cutting back.
“This lack of access is why 97 percent of deaf people don’t go to church at all, and why some deaf Catholics have joined denominations such as the Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses and others who seem to have effective deaf ministries.
“That can be discouraging, but many deaf Catholics remain faithful to the Church, and I’m dedicated to continuing through my priesthood to help them stay strong in their faith.”