A Special Mass in Calgary with the Autistic Priest

“Father, can I tell you a question?” Nervous giggles whisper about the church. It is always a tad risky for a Catholic priest to invite children to sit quietly near the altar during a homily. This particular moment seems more fraught than usual. Rain pounds the roof at St. Patrick’s church in southwest Calgary. The lights in the nave are dimmer than one might expect. The pews are a bit more restless. This is the regular 5 pm mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Shawnessy. Truth told, there is little regular about this mass—and that’s why most of the 200-plus people are there on Sunday, June 22. 

Catholics the world over are accustomed to bringing their individual petitions to mass. But this mass at St. Patrick’s is different. This is a Special Needs Mass. Lest there be any confusion over what that means, this mass is for people whose special needs require medical, mental or psychological support. The pews are mostly populated by families with children whose normal behavior would raise the eyebrows (and sometimes the ire), of other churchgoers. An adult man in the front pew talks, out loud, through the service. When he needs a washroom, a fellow parishioner helps him find his way.

Fr. Matthew Schneider, LC at the Special Needs Mass, St. Patrick's Church, Calgary

For parents like Brenda-Lee Kearney, the mass is delightfully chaotic, yet peaceful. She and her husband Mike have an 11-year-old son with FASD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. They love Jacob and they love their church. But bringing Jacob to mass is difficult and after Kearney approached her parish priest with an idea, the Special Needs Mass began.

The once-monthly, then bi-weekly masses became a regular 5 pm Sunday mass after pastor Fr. Jerome Lavigne moved to St. Pat’s in 2018. And the Kearneys are grateful. With a mission to create a loving, supportive and compassionate community that renews and restores faith and hope to families and children with special needs, the mass shows “God is really at work here in our parish,” says Brenda-Lee Kearney. Parents with special needs children often stay after mass for welcome fellowship. While most participants are from the parish, others attend as word of the mass spreads. “I believe most of us are parenting our kids in a community that doesn’t understand our reality. We are understanding of each other because we are living it.”

That message resonates with Fr. Matthew Schneider. “There is a natural sense of community when we come together to worship. Where possible, it’s nice to be able to add elements that make worship more meaningful to certain groups of people,” says Schneider, who said the Special Needs Mass at St. Pat’s on June 22. 

A former Calgarian now living in Washington, D.C. where he’s working on a Doctorate in Theology, Schneider says one Catholic church in Washington hosts a regular mass that features an interpreter for the deaf. Other masses are conducted in languages other than English. He likes what St. Pat’s has consciously done to accommodate a group of believers often marginalized in the greater society.

In addition to the dimmer lights, the 5 pm Sunday mass features visual “cue cards” that tell parishioners went to sit, kneel or stand. The pictures show the appropriate action along with a simple message such as, “Please kneel for the communion rite.” 

“Typically, we have the same songs at these services. It’s all part of dialing back on the sensory experience. Many of these children benefit from a very calm environment,” explains Kearney. ​

Left to right: Tony Makowski, Breanda-Lee Kearney and Fr. Matthew Schneider.

Fr. Matthew Schneider, LC during the interview with Joy Gregory.

The autistic priest

Fr. Schneider’s appreciation for the Special Needs Mass is more than professional. Diagnosed as autistic three years ago, Schneider went public with his diagnosis on World Autism Day this past April. The diagnosis came after Schneider, then in his mid-30s, reached out to medical professionals for help understanding why one of his first priest assignments was terminated one year into a three-year post.

What he learned helps Schneider make sense of how autism impacts his social interactions. For Schneider, autism manifests as an inability to decipher the social cues most people use to ease interpersonal interaction. “Let me give you an example. When you see someone smile, how do you know if that smile is real? Most people understand that subconsciously. I don’t. I have to really think about it. I have to make decisions about what I think I am seeing.”

Less than three months after going public with his diagnosis, Schneider has more than 50,000 followers on Twitter and Instagram. He writes about the intersection of autism and spirituality and argues for inclusion of what some define as the neurologically-diverse. 

At St. Pat’s, that same approach to inclusion is present in the weekly Special Needs Mass, says Kearney. “This is good for us as parents. It is also good for people like our Jacob. The Mass has given families a place to worship together, a place their children can deepen their personal encounter with Jesus, a place to claim their own faith.”

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The Special Needs Mass is held at St. Patrick's, Calgary every Sunday at 5 pm. Follow Fr. Matthew Schneider, LC, @Autistic Priest

​Written by Joy Gregory for Faithfully
Photography by Karla Subero, St. Patrick's Church