The Catholic Message Board

I’ve regularly wondered (and searched with little success) how the treatment of those with birth/ developmental disorders changed with the advent of Christianity.

I can conceive of how they’d be treated… as a matter of Christian principle as well as Christians failing to meet that principle.

I read a book (‘Things Fall Apart’) about how in some African tribes twins were viewed as bad luck…. And then left in a forest to die. Imagine a poor child with a noticeable birth defect.

Take Down Syndrome. Some of the most joyful people. What was their fate in a world, or amongst pagans, barbarian tribes, that knew nothing of the God of Christianity.


I remember reading about a priest (I think in England) where he allowed people with Down Syndrome to live and work at his parish. Giving them daily tasks for work as well as giving them the needed affection that others who should have been in their lives failed to give.

My understanding is that the pagan Romans abandoned such children.

My poor understanding of Christianity informs me about I should interact with those with various disabilities. I imagine that the many Christian injunctions on how to treat everyone such existed from the beginning.

HST, I think that even kindness should be moderated. I recall a girl with Downs Syndrome who was overindulged in praise and attention by our parish while a child. As she grew she came to expect that the Mass, for example. was being conducted as a celebratory event for her. When she did not get the attention she had been trained to expect, acting out followed. The result was that she no longer attended Mass ... and other events.