• Expanding Where Early Christianity Once Flourished
    The Watchtower—2005 | June 15

    • The Deaf “Hear” the Good News

      There are more than 90,000 deaf people in Italy. In the mid-1970’s, the Witnesses began to give attention to teaching Bible truth to them. Initially, some deaf Witnesses taught Italian Sign Language (ISL) to fellow ministers who were willing to assist in that field. Then more and more deaf people started to show interest in the Bible. Today, more than 1,400 who use ISL are attending Christian meetings. Fifteen congregations and 52 groups hold meetings in ISL.

      At first, preaching to deaf people depended mainly on the initiative of individual Witnesses. But in 1978, the Italy branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses began to organize conventions for the deaf. In May of that year, it was announced that at the forthcoming international convention in Milan, there would be sessions for the deaf. The first circuit assembly for the deaf was held at the Assembly Hall in Milan in February 1979.

      The branch office has since paid close attention to the spiritual nourishment of deaf ones by encouraging a growing number of evangelizers to improve in their skill with this language. Since 1995, special pioneers (full-time evangelizers) have been sent to some groups to train deaf Witnesses in the ministry and to organize Christian meetings. Three Assembly Halls are equipped with state-of-the-art video systems to improve program viewing. And videocassettes of Christian publications are available to provide spiritual food to deaf people.

      Observers have noticed that the Witnesses care well for the spiritual needs of deaf people. P@role & Segni, a magazine published by the Italian Deaf Society, quoted from a letter sent by a Catholic monsignor: “Being deaf is awkward in the sense that the deaf person needs constant attention. For example, he arrives at the church alone without any difficulty, but he needs the aid of an interpreter to follow everything that is being read, declared, or sung during the services.” The magazine added that the prelate “reckons that unfortunately, the church is not yet prepared to deal with the disability, and he points out that many deaf people are better cared for in Kingdom Halls of Jehovah’s Witnesses than in the parish church.”