By Jennifer Barton, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - WARWICK — How does one teach the truths of the Faith to a child who may not be able to speak, much less comprehend the inscrutable mysteries of the Supreme Being – as if any one person truly can? Yet the pews of Catholic churches contain more than a mere handful of people with autism, both children and adults. Since the discovery of this neurological spectrum disorder, the numbers of children diagnosed with autism has skyrocketed to the point that now one in 36 live each day with it. (PHOTO COURTESY SHARON MOITOSO)
St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain and when he was fourteen or so, he was captured by Irish pirates during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. At the time, Ireland was a land of Druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God and wrote his memoir, The Confession. In The Confession, he wrote...