There Are No Winners Here

This is one of those stories where no one comes out looking "good".

LONG PRAIRIE, Minn. – The legal question in the battle between Adam Race and the Church of St. Joseph is not about the rights of an autistic child, church authority or freedom of religion.

The issue, according to Todd County District Court Judge Sally Ireland Robertson, is whether the noises and behaviors 13-year-old Adam Race displayed in church meet the legal definition of harassment.

For those of you who are not aware of the story, 13 year old Adam is autistic. According to parish officials at the Church of St. Joseph, Adam is a threat to fellow parishioners....so much so that the church filed for (and received) a restraining order to keep Adam out of church. According to church officials, Adam struck a child during Mass and bolted from Mass many times - including one time where he got into and managed to start another parishioners car!

Parenting a child like Adam is difficult to say the least. My brother in law is Down Syndrome and Autistic. We love him dearly but at 6 foot tall and 200+ pounds (like Adam) he can not only be a danger to himself, he is a danger to others. He does not mean to be, but when you have such childish impulses trapped in an adults body, it happens. My mother and father in law had their hands full raising him, but they did. However, the day came when (due to advanced age) my mother and father in law could no longer keep control of this dear young man and they made the hard decision to put him in a situation where he would not be a danger to himself and others.

Which leads us back to Adam's story. As much as I know it is going to break Mrs. Race's heart, if she can not control Adam, then she either needs to get assistance or she needs to make the hard decision to put Adam in a situation where he is not a threat to others.

Mrs. Race has a point in that Adam's actions probably do not meet up to the legal definition of "harassment" but he is a disruption to others and Mrs. Race is not doing herself, Adam or her fellow parishioners any favors by continuing to allow Adam's ill behavior to continue unchecked. At some point, the priest needs to step in (as this one did) and take control of a situation that Mrs. Race refused to do. While it is not his place to "discipline" Adam, it was his place to take control of the safety of the people in his "care". Since Mrs. Race refused to step up, the Priest did what he was forced to do. For everyone's sake - especially Adam - I hope that Mrs. Race drops this Quixotic quest and spends her time working with Adam to help him get the self control that is needed to sit in church.