In late January, members of the National Catholic Office for the Deaf gathered in Birmingham for their annual conference, also known as a Pastoral Week. This year’s conference was particularly meaningful for Bishop Raica who has served the deaf and hard of hearing Catholic community in some capacity since being ordained a priest in 1978. 

In the bishop’s early days of priestly ministry, he served at the School for the Deaf in Flint, MI, and it was during this time that he became of member of the National Catholic Office for the Deaf (NCOD). According to office’s current president, Minette Sternke, it was by “God’s Providence” that Bishop Raica’s episcopal ordination in 2014 coincided with the retirement of the NCOD’s then episcopal moderator. “With the enthusiastic support from members of NCOD,” stated Sternke, “we invited him to become our episcopal administrator, and he accepted, becoming episcopal moderator in 2015.” For the last ten years, Bishop Raica has devoted his time and counsel to help the office’s members advance ministry to deaf and hard of hearing Catholics. 

During the Pastoral Week in Birmingham, the NCOD focused on the theme “Peace I leave with you.” Bishop Raica gave the keynote address, which he titled, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” focusing on Father James E. Coyle and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as promoters of peace and social justice. Sternke noted that the address challenged those present to “trust in the transformative power of Christ's peace to heal the wounds of our world." 

Other highlights from the group’s time in Birmingham were featured speakers who further expanded on bringing peace to the community, daily Mass, a Sunday Mass at EWTN’s Our Lady of the Angels Chapel, and a tour of the EWTN studios in Irondale. The major highlight not only for the group but also for the greater Catholic community of the Diocese of Birmingham was Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul on Sunday of the Word of God, Jan. 26. The Mass, which featured an American Sign Language interpreter, provided a first-time experience for many Catholics who had never before witnessed such a moving display of faith. 

The group’s time in Birmingham came to a close on Sunday night with a banquet, during which Bishop Raica was presented with a plaque “in gratitude for the many years of pastoral leadership to the deaf and hard of hearing Catholic community.”  

With the NCOD’s mission to “spread God's message through support of deaf and hard of hearing ministry throughout the United States and Canada,” the members not only work to provide catechetical materials and other ministry resources in American Sign Language but also to partner with other organizations to create and provide materials, such as the recent joint project with the Archdiocese of Kansas City to produce a video ASL translation of the entire YouCAT catechism. To learn more about the NCOD or to inquire about deaf and hard of hearing ministry, please visit ncod.org.