Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

288It is a mutuality of relationship that affirms our communal identity. AsWelch cites from an emancipatory perspective in Townes’ ‘In a Blaze of Glory,’it is through confession -- or ‘communal lament’ as Welch describes it -- that “wemove away from ‘those people’ and ‘they’ language and behaviour to ‘we’ and‘us’ and ‘our’ ways of living and believing.” 714Through the language of themism people with disabilities are objectifiedaccording to socially and arbitrarily-constructed norms. 715 Here we refer to thethemism that regards the person with an intellectual disability as an object ofcharity, as an adult yet a child, as a Minda, Retard, or some other demeaningattribution based on the threat to personal perfection posed by those deemedweak. 716 However, through the act of confession, the barriers generated bythemism are dismantled. In confession we discover that we are designed to liveand to be sustained in mutually-enriching community. We discover ourwholeness through realizing the Thou in the one who has become immanent, orclose, to us through confession and repentance.7.2.3.3 Immanence and TranscendenceIn terms of this extended reflection what is being described is anunderstanding of Thou-ness that is located within the everyday routine ofinstitutional life. It is found amidst the flawed yet forgiven and loved mutualrelationship that exists between I and Thou, that is, between the pastoral carer andthe person with an intellectual disability. This raises the issue of where Buber’stranscendent moment is to be discerned, if anywhere, if Thou-ness can now beco-located in the midst of, and not apart from, the It-ness, or flawed nature, ofhuman identity.Amongst the 12 narratives detailed in the previous chapter I proffer oneincident (there may be others) as at least somewhat approximating “the greatshudder, the holding of the breath in the dark, and the preparing silence" 717 thatBuber describes. This is in ‘Blessing’ where there is the story of ailing Jim, closeto death, touching me and saying as I prepare to leave, “Thanks mate.”714 cited in,Welch, A Feminist Ethic of Risk, 36.715 Blair, Daniel. "Christian Theology and Human Disability: A Literature Review." InGraduate Theological Education and the Human Experience of Disability, edited by RobertAnderson, 69-79. (New York: The Haworth Pastoral Press, 2003).716 Moltmann, “Liberate Yourselves”, 113.717 Buber, I and Thou, 119.