I am an autistic lay Catholic. I have never understood why I always seem to get stuck when I try to pray; thank you for explaining it. I get stuck in Bible study, too. I find I understand the parables and the laws, but not much of the stories. I learned American Sign Language in college, so yes, I learned a second language. I am getting better at it.
Hello. I have asperger (or autism in the first grade) and I'm interested in be a priest, but my over-the-normal-grade anxiety (very especially when I need to socialize) was worrying me. How do you experience the priesthood with autism? Is really a big charge very difficult to endure for an autist? Do you have problems as an autistic priest? (and, if yes, are problems that can be solved?) Almost all the scare I have is considering the possibility of being (or be oblige to be) a parish priest, but, if not (especially considering my inclination for being a professor of theology and philosophy), I will endure it?
I have read that theory of mind deficiencies aren't necessary a good explanation for why autistics can't easily intuit what neurotypicals are thinking... because neurotypicals have difficulty intuiting what autistics are thinking or feeling, too. So the basis for the problem is the difference in brain structures. We can't just project that the other person's mind works just like mine. But I feel that with God this is both a much GREATER "problem" ("my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord"), and yet not a problem at all because the primary fact in prayer is that God knows me and I am loved by Him, and there is a certainty that although I do not now see God clearly as I am seen by God, nevertheless the trajectory of this relationship is to heaven, where we will know Him as He is. I think it would be profoundly wrong if the autistic intellect and will were thought a less fit capacity for God than in the souls of other people. There is no disability for union with God in autistic people.
I also suggest as someone on the spectrum that sensory and overwhelm has something to do with it and it gets worse, as most things do, with anxiety, of which most autistics have some history. My brain picks up on a bunch of discrete facts, little tiny things and they often are conflicting feedback.... I don't have this same difficulty with people who say what they mean. I also find I connect very well with animals and feel very comfortable around them. I sometimes feel my brain short circuits much more easily than others ...it's like a fuse blowing ...lights are too bright, noises too loud, people seem too vacillating and my brain sees the vacillation on their faces all the time and gets overwhelmed sometimes. Not explaining myself well ...
I seem to hear from the holy spirit via my confirmation saint. For some reason, I find it easier to connect with this saint, read about him, and then map it out onto the Gospels. For me, the "holy spirit" is far too abstract, and reading the bible makes me confused and angry sometimes.
I am an autistic lay Catholic. I have never understood why I always seem to get stuck when I try to pray; thank you for explaining it. I get stuck in Bible study, too. I find I understand the parables and the laws, but not much of the stories. I learned American Sign Language in college, so yes, I learned a second language. I am getting better at it.
Alleluia! Fr Matt is back on the RUclips scene!!
Well done, Father!
Hello. I have asperger (or autism in the first grade) and I'm interested in be a priest, but my over-the-normal-grade anxiety (very especially when I need to socialize) was worrying me. How do you experience the priesthood with autism? Is really a big charge very difficult to endure for an autist? Do you have problems as an autistic priest? (and, if yes, are problems that can be solved?) Almost all the scare I have is considering the possibility of being (or be oblige to be) a parish priest, but, if not (especially considering my inclination for being a professor of theology and philosophy), I will endure it?
I am more anxious than normal. I keep thinking I need to make a video on some ideas for discerning a vocation as an autistic.
I have read that theory of mind deficiencies aren't necessary a good explanation for why autistics can't easily intuit what neurotypicals are thinking... because neurotypicals have difficulty intuiting what autistics are thinking or feeling, too. So the basis for the problem is the difference in brain structures. We can't just project that the other person's mind works just like mine. But I feel that with God this is both a much GREATER "problem" ("my ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts, says the Lord"), and yet not a problem at all because the primary fact in prayer is that God knows me and I am loved by Him, and there is a certainty that although I do not now see God clearly as I am seen by God, nevertheless the trajectory of this relationship is to heaven, where we will know Him as He is. I think it would be profoundly wrong if the autistic intellect and will were thought a less fit capacity for God than in the souls of other people. There is no disability for union with God in autistic people.
I also suggest as someone on the spectrum that sensory and overwhelm has something to do with it and it gets worse, as most things do, with anxiety, of which most autistics have some history. My brain picks up on a bunch of discrete facts, little tiny things and they often are conflicting feedback.... I don't have this same difficulty with people who say what they mean. I also find I connect very well with animals and feel very comfortable around them.
I sometimes feel my brain short circuits much more easily than others ...it's like a fuse blowing ...lights are too bright, noises too loud, people seem too vacillating and my brain sees the vacillation on their faces all the time and gets overwhelmed sometimes.
Not explaining myself well ...
0:-) god bless
God bless you father ... gracias
I seem to hear from the holy spirit via my confirmation saint. For some reason, I find it easier to connect with this saint, read about him, and then map it out onto the Gospels. For me, the "holy spirit" is far too abstract, and reading the bible makes me confused and angry sometimes.