History
The founding of the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate has been largely a labor of love for our founder, Fr. Tom Coughlin. In 1977, Fr. Coughlin was the first deaf priest to be ordained in the United States. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to create opportunities for the deaf community within the Catholic Church.
In 1987, Fr. Tom Coughlin had the opportunity to start what would eventually become the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate when Dora Marie “Dee” DePaoli made an unexpected and extremely generous gift of $50,000 for the purpose of starting a seminary-training program for deaf candidates to the Roman Catholic priesthood in honor of her deceased deaf brother, Arnold DePaul (pictured, right). Arnold DePaul had wanted badly to become a priest in early 1950’s but was denied on the grounds of his hearing disability.
In her search for such a program, Ms. DePaoli came across Monsignor Pat McCahill of the Archdiocese of New York who referred her to Father Tom Coughlin who at that time was trying to set up a seminary program for deaf men. Dora Marie DePaoli and her family wanted so much to honor their beloved deceased brother, Arnold DePaul with a monetary gift for the training of deaf seminarians. She and her family eventually donated $100,000 for the sole purpose of training for deaf seminarians. With this, Father Coughlin created “House of Studies for Deaf Seminarians, Inc.”, a non-profit, tax exempt organization with IRS 501(c)(3) status.
Fr. Coughlin faced many obstacles in this endeavor. Finally, in the winter months of 1996, Cardinal O’Connor (pictured, left) of New York City called Fr. Coughlin, asking to see him in person at his office in New York City. After meeting with Cardinal O’Connor and Bishop O’Brien of St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, Fr. Coughlin received both permission and support to create a seminary training program at St. Joseph’s Seminary for deaf candidates. Fr. Coughlin moved to Yonkers, and continued his quest from the St. Joseph’s Seminary.
With the initial gift of $50,000 from the DePaul Family Foundation, Fr. Coughlin was able to raise additional funds totaling $240,000, including a very generous gift of $53,000 from the Robert and Marie Hansen Family Foundation of Arizona in the spring of 1997. With $240,000 in his pocket, Fr. Coughlin, with Cardinal O’Connor’s blessings, was able to purchase the order’s first home. Cardinal O’Connor dedicated the House of Studies for Deaf Seminarians in loving memory of Arnold DePaul on May 7th, 1998. Dora Marie DePaoli came as a representative of the DePaul Family Foundation and Karen Hansen Withworth represented the Hansen Family Foundation at the dedication ceremony. It was a joyful occasion for all of us.
Between 1997 to 2002, one hearing and nine deaf candidates entered the House of Studies program. Two studied Theology with the assistance of Real Time captioning at St. Joseph’s Seminary. All other students attended undergraduate programs in various colleges and universities. The house was full with deaf seminarians and it was a happy time for all of us. Fr. Coughlin continued to lead the House of Studies as director and continued in his fund-raising efforts to support deaf seminarians.
Unfortunately, in May of 2000, Cardinal O’Connor died of brain cancer and two weeks after the funeral, the rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary abruptly closed the doors to deaf seminarians, asking us to go elsewhere. Facing opposition from both the St. Joseph’s Seminary and the new Cardinal, Fr. Coughlin could not appeal the decision. Father Coughlin and the deaf seminarians were deeply disappointed but did not give up their confidence in the providence of God.
After two years of searching and negotiating with various Bishops, Dioceses, and religious orders across the nation, Archbishop (now Cardinal) Levada of San Francisco invited Father Coughlin and his deaf seminarians to San Francisco. With heavy heart, Fr. Coughlin sold the order’s New York home and prepared the order to move to California, assisted by a donation of a brand new 2002 Toyota Sienna by the Beckley Family of Malvern, Pennsylvania.
New Castello Missionaries house in Trou-du-Nord, Haiti
In the fall of 2002, three of the remaining theology seminarians entered St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California at the invitation of Archbishop Levada of San Francisco. The seminarians continued with their undergraduate studies in San Francisco while Fr. Coughlin worked as a pastor of St. Benedict’s Parish for the Deaf. Three of the four original deaf seminarians who joined the House of Studies program in New York City entered St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California and one entered St. John’s University in Queens, NY. All four of the original candidates eventually went ahead to become diocesan priests: Fr. Min Seo Park for Seoul Archdiocese; Fr. Paul Zirimenya and Fr. Cheret Bazakila for San Francisco Archdiocese; and Matthew Hysell for the Diocese of Edmonton, Canada. Fr. Hysell is the first Deaf priest ordained in Canada.
After a series of negotiations with Cardinal Levada and several other bishops for a period of two years (2002-2004), Father Coughlin was able to receive permission from Bishop Vigneron of Oakland Diocese Church to erect a new religious institute specifically for the deaf apostolate in the Roman Catholic Church. The Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate was formally erected as a Private Association of the Faithful with juridical personality on May 14th, 2004. Shortly thereafter, the new community relocated across the bay to Hayward.
In the summer of 2005, under the leadership of Fr. Coughlin as the novice director of the Dominican Missionaries, five new novices entered the novitiate. On August 27th, 2006, four novices and Fr. Coughlin made their first profession of vows at Dominican St. Albert’s Priory in front of Bishop Allen Vigneron of Oakland Diocese. Over 150 people were in attendance for this special and unique vow ceremony of the world’s first religious order founded by and for the deaf and hearing vocations for the deaf apostolate. The first founding members of the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf Apostolate (pictured, left to right) are:
Due to high cost of living in the Bay Area, the Dominican Missionaries, with Bishop Vigneron’s blessings, relocated to the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas. With the accumulated funds realizing from sales of the house in Yonkers and with three bequests from deceased Father Hartman of St. Joseph’s Seminary, Ann Rooney of New York, and Genieve Lipinski (pictured, right) of Sacramento, California, the community was able to purchase a new home in San Antonio.
With the move, Fr. Coughlin assumed a new position as Director of Deaf Apostolate for the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Fr. Coughlin currently works as Prior General of the congregation as well as novice director while continuing to raise funds to support the community. Seminarians now attend Oblate School of Theology, Our Lady of the Lake University, Texas State University in San Marcos, and San Antonio community college. We have also had several welcome additions to our order.
“While serving in Texas, we sent our seminarians to the Aquinas Institute of Theology seminary in St. Louis in 2010 as three seminaries in Texas and Louisiana would not accept deaf seminarians on account of their hearing disabilities. The Chicago Dominicans were very kind to accept deaf seminarians into their Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. Father Joseph Thermadom was the first deaf candidate who later obtained M.Div. degree and became a first deaf ordained priest in India few years later. We purchased a vacated convent in the metro St. Louis area and several of our seminarians resided in this beautiful convent. Many attended the Aquinas Institute of Theology and completed their studies. In 2017, we were invited by the Archdiocese of Hartford to take over the Deaf Apostolate and several of us relocated to a beautiful vacant convent in Hartford area and served a very large Catholic deaf community. Later, in 2020, Deacon Tom Smith, a retired Pastoral Worker for the Deaf in the Archdiocese of Newark along with the Director of Deaf Apostolate, Bishop Bismarck Chau, invited Father Tom Coughlin to assist with the Deaf ministry in the Archdiocese of Newark at the vacated Old St. John’s Church in downtown Newark near the famed Newark Penn Station. Few months later, several of the seminarians moved in with Father Tom and continued with their studies for the priesthood.
After a series of consultations with the Catholic Church hierarchy in 2020, the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf and Disabled became a new religious congregation in the Diocese of Lexington under the sponsorship of Franciscan bishop, Most Reverend John Stowe, OFM Conv. We renamed our original congregation as CASTELLO (DOMINICAN) MISSIONARIES FOR THE DEAF AND DISABLED APOSTOLATES in honor of St. Margaret di Castello, a severely disabled Dominican nun in Italy. We purchased a large seven-bedroom residence in the Diocese of Lexington and several members relocated to the Diocese of Lexington. Eventually, several of our ordained priests were sent to various posts to do the deaf apostolates: Diocese of Brooklyn, Diocese of Joliet, Diocese of Lexington, Diocese of Ogdensburg and Diocese of Fort Liberte, Haiti. In 2025, the Castello Dominican Missionaries purchased a three-acre property in north Haiti in the Diocese of Fort Liberte to establish a new Castello Missionaries center for the Deaf and Disabled. Three of our Castello Dominican Missionaries community priests in Haiti now serve and manage our newly established ministries for the Deaf and Disabled people in northern Haiti near Cap Haitien. Our religious community has grown in numbers and apostolates. We also provide seminary education programs for our pre-novice candidates overseas in Kenya, Philippines and Nigeria. Hopefully, we will establish a new mission community in Africa to provide ministry to the deaf and disabled people, God willing.”