Catherine Mahony/Prof Anne Millard-Daugherty

  1. Miss Catherine Mahony, Coordinator of Community Disability Alliance Hunter, a user-led organisation run for and by people with disability, families and supporters, The Junction, New South Wales, Australia

and Prof Anne Millard-Daugherty, Liberal Arts, Baker University and Director of Music at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia

Was Blind and I Still Can’t See: The impact of the spiritual blindness metaphor on the physically blind

References to blindness occurs overs over 50 times in the Bible, as a punishment, as an opportunity for healing, and as a metaphor.  Perhaps the most striking of the blindness encounters is when Jesus heals the man born blind (John 9:1-12).  Taking place at a pivotal moment in his journey from Galilee, it’s the last story before Jesus enters Jerusalem. For those born blind, the story has a profound impact. What should be a point of identification becomes a point of exclusion.  Blindness, a descriptive and well-used word in the Bible surely belongs to those without sight; and yet it doesn’t. Physical blindness clouds the metaphor, restricting sight and/or insight. Using songs, hymns, and psalms, Catherine and Anne explore the theme of blindness in our liturgies all the while unpacking the impact of physical and metaphorical blindness.