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Oh, no! The “cry rooms” at St. Joseph Church in Fullerton, Maryland, were filled to capacity! Now the only option was the balcony, where my son Kevin’s exclamations were sure to echo throughout the church.
I resolved to leave and attend a separate Mass if Kevin became too disruptive, but in the meantime, with the help of my husband Paul and our son Eric, I ushered Kevin up the steps.
Kevin, who was nine at the time, is autistic. Because of this neurological disorder, he is in constant motion, often uttering cries of excitement or irritation.
Throughout the Mass, we continually asked Kevin to sit down and be quiet and tried to get him to focus a few seconds on the hymnal or missal. Little did we suspect that an unforgettable moment was approaching.
Kevin had received his first Communion a few years earlier, thanks to the loving instruction of Miss Joanne and Miss Brenda, special educators at St. Stephen’s Church. In spite of the fact that Kevin’s vocabulary consisted of approximately twenty…
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