A Special Mother is Born: Parents Share How God Called Them to the Extraordinary Vocation of Parenting a Special Needs Child by Leticia Velasquez (2011, WestBow Press, 228 pages, $20.47 paperback or $2.99 e-book)
“The most powerful force on earth,” says Velasquez, is “humility united with suffering.” Her book calls readers to abandon themselves to divine providence and so to unleash more of that force. Mother Agnes Donovan, SV, and Fr. Frank Pavone contribute the foreword and epilogue, respectively.
The introductory meditation alone – on how Mary bore a child like no other, and how Jesus resembles special needs children – is worth the price of the book.
Part I compiles Velasquez’ own story along with those of 30 other special mothers and three special fathers of children with physical anomalies including Down’s syndrome and associated disorders, plus autism and Asperger’s, brain lesions, diabetes, epilepsy, hearing and vision impairments, and Palliser-Killian syndrome. Contact information is included for most of the contributors, who are all pro-life activists in their own right; some are well-known, like Rick Santorum and the late mommy-blogger Barbara Curtis. While Protestant readers will appreciate the book’s reverence for Scripture, some may be uncomfortable with the writers’ emphasis on beloved popes and saints as well as their devotion to the Eucharist.
Besides providing practical information, the accounts aim to inspire spiritually. One mom recalls: “We felt shocked, scared, overwhelmed, fearful, ill equipped, and sad that our dreams for this baby were not going to unfold as we had planned.” With support, though, she and her husband discovered they could indeed thrive. As their conversion deepened, she says, “we stopped asking God to change our son, but instead asked Him to prepare us.” They can no longer imagine life without the blessings of that specific child.
Part II turns to advocacy for the Gospel of Life. The first appendix offers pro-life resources for special parenting, which is very welcome given that mainstream disability organizations are not officially pro-life and may support research into search-and-destroy missions rather than cognitive treatments and potential cures. The second appendix reprints Velasquez’ articles from the (American) National Catholic Register, largely about the legacy of Servant of God Jérôme Lejeune, who discovered the extra chromosone that is responsible for Down’s syndrome.
This book would be a wise purchase or welcome gift for biological or adoptive families of special needs children. It would also be much appreciated by frontline pro-lifers, clergy and lay ministers, volunteers, and health professionals, as well as adolescents or young adults discerning their career paths.
