About 50 participants came together for a disability inclusion workshop that was hosted by the CSI St Mary’s Church, Calicut.

Rev Fr Jenson Puthenpurackal, Vicar General of the catholic diocese of Calicut gave the opening greetings and set the tone of the workshop. Rev Jacob Daniel clergy secretary of Diocese of Malabar, also brought greetings. His Grace GeeVarghese Mar Pachomios, Metropolitan of Orthodox Syrian Church graced the closing session and encouraged the gathering.

The participants were a good mix of clergy, lay leaders, and one participant from the Islamic faith. The sharing by the persons with disabilities in the panel made the session on “Nothing about us without us: The Church and Me” a session grounded in their experiences and the intentional listening of the participants made it a truly impactful session.

Participants were drawn from a variety of faith traditions and ecumenical bodies like the CSI, Chaldean Church of the East, Orthodox Church, Catholic Church, Marthoma Church, YMCA, and YWCA.

Thankful for the partnership of Rev Ribin John of NCCI IDEA and Rev TI James, General Secretary of AISSA and our host in the Diocese of Malabar, and Mr Nivin Thomas of CSI SEVA and the diocese of Malabar.