A campaign for the elimination of architectural barriers in churches and in other church buildings has been promoted in Spain by Frater (Fraternidad cristiana de enfermos y minusválidos de España), a pressure group for the sick and the disabled, which is proposing to reach this objective in the four-year period 2000-2004. “It’s an ambitious objective admit the promoters of the campaign, which was unveiled to the public in Madrid in recent days aimed in particular at the elimination of barriers in churches, parish premises, diocesan libraries, seminaries, and episcopal centres”. A survey in the 44 dioceses in which Frater is present began in August 2001. Its findings showed that 63.5% of religious buildings (some thousand in all were surveyed) are totally inaccessible to the disabled. The title of the campaign will be “A Church for everyone, a Church without barriers”. Apart from the objective of eliminating architectural barriers, the campaign is also aimed at raising the awareness of the ecclesial community (bishops, priests, parish councils, groups, movements, religious communities) on the theme of disability and achieving an effective integration of disabled persons in the various pastoral activities. Patrizia Caiffa
