Monsignor Vito Buonanno and Dee Steel pose before the Lego model of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, June 24, 2025. / Credit: Paris Apodaca/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 27, 2025 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is offering specialized guided tours for deaf and blind visitors, giving immersive and sensory experiences to make the sacred site more accessible.

The Deaf and Blind Tour Initiative, which began holding tours in April, includes American Sign Language (ASL)-interpreted guides for those who are deaf and tactile stations for those who are blind, allowing participants to engage with statues, mosaics, and sacred art through touch and sight. 

These tours mark the first of their kind in the U.S., Monsignor Vito Buonanno, the director of pilgrimages for the shrine, told CNA.

The project idea was created by volunteer docent Marilyn Lasecki, ASL interpreter Katy Betker, and with the support of Monsignor Walter Rossi, the rector of the shrine.

Inspired by Vatican accessibility

The root of the idea took shape in 2021 when Lasecki decided to launch the project in honor of her late father, Leonard, who worked with deaf people when he was alive. In her research, she discovered that the Vatican Museums are recognized for their accommodations for deaf and blind visitors. Motivated by that model, the basilica’s staff began planning their own adaptation.

In March, Dee Steel, the director of the basilica’s Office of Visitor Services, traveled to Rome and met with the Vatican’s tour director to study their tactile systems firsthand.

“Both the Deaf and Blind communities are greatly underserved by museums and church communities,” Lasecki told CNA. “The Vatican Museums are at the top of the list for welcoming both the deaf and the blind, with specialized tours.” 

For deaf visitors, volunteer docents work alongside Betker to guide groups through the church. To improve accessibility, Betker helped adapt the docents’ scripts to better suit ASL grammar.

“There is not a word-for-word translation. It’s because they are two very different languages,” Betker said. Tour guides “have to not only change [the] word order around [but also] change a lot of the way that they speak and with their script for the tours.”

She also advised docents on subtle adjustments that enhance communication, like waiting for a deaf participant to finish observing a site before continuing with spoken commentary.

Steel recounted one docent’s realization during a tour: “When somebody is signing what you say, you have to make sure the people are looking at the signer.”

During one of the first tours, Father Michael Depcik — a deaf priest and chaplain from the Archdiocese of Baltimore — concelebrated Mass at the basilica. Depcik emphasized that having direct communication in ASL allowed deaf Catholics to fully experience the liturgy.

“Usually, they would go through an interpreter, but it’s not the same,” the priest told CNA. “The Deaf are finally able to connect directly for the full immersion into the experience with these assets.”

He also highlighted the importance of the sensory experience. “The Deaf are very visual,” he said. 

When asked about smells like incense, Depcik told CNA: “It’s like music for the eyes — the smells and the art, it’s all a very important part of the experience of the Deaf.”

The basilica also created tactile experiences for blind visitors with the help of Father Mike Joly, a blind priest from St. Joan of Arc Parish in Yorktown, Virginia. 

The tour for the blind features 15 hands-on stations, including the Founder’s Chapel, the Our Mother of Africa statue, and the Our Lady of Pompei Chapel.

This tour starts with a scale model of the basilica built from over 10,000 Lego bricks by artist John Davisson. It will be on display on the crypt level to help visitors visualize the structure’s layout and the scale of the building. 

Buonanno described Joly’s visit to the Founder’s Chapel. Staff removed ropes so he could explore the marble sarcophagus of Bishop Thomas Shahan by touch.

“[Joly] realized — he was blind at 7 years old, so he had seven years of seeing — but he never knew the feel of a miter, that it’s two sides,” Buonanno said.

In the Our Mother of Africa chapel, there are faces of the four Evangelists that people can touch as well as the statue of the Blessed Mother and the Christ Child. 

Joly helped staff reinterpret sacred artwork. “We always thought of Jesus as pointing toward another piece of artwork, but [Joly] felt the finger and said, ‘Jesus is giving a blessing,” Steel recalled.

“[Joly] saw more with his hands than we saw with our eyes,” Steel commented.

The priest “taught us things… that is the beautiful interaction with this,” Buonanno added. 

With the tours now underway, the basilica hopes to raise awareness and expand participation.

The facility wants to “expand [the initiative], make it more known,” Buonanno said. “It’s just so that more people can know that it exists.”