Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
January 17, 2001
Pope, bishops promote new vision of elderly's role
Despite limitations, seniors provide vital support to parishes, organizations
When you think of senior citizens in the Catholic Church, do you think of visits to the homebound, nursing homes, perhaps a parish bus trip or a weekly bingo game?
In their 1999 pastoral message, "Blessings of Age," the bishops said one of their primary goals was "to form a fresh perspective, one that sees older persons as active participants in contributing to the church's life and mission and in meeting the spiritual needs of its members."
"Aging demands the attention of the entire church," they said. "How the faith community relates to its older members - recognizing their presence, encouraging their contributions, responding to their needs, and providing appropriate opportunities for spiritual growth - is a sign of the community's spiritual health and maturity."
"The church has two major messages for older people," said Sheila Garcia, assistant director of the U.S. bishops' Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth. "The first is to acknowledge their presence and contributions, not just in the past, but their continued contributions."
Acknowledging the realities and limitations of old age, the church, she said, wants to help seniors to see "even within those limitations, what they can give back."
The bishops' second message is directed to the whole church, she added. "You get older not just as an individual but as part of a community," she said. "The church's role is to help make it possible for the older person to continue to grow spiritually and to serve others."
In "Letter to the Elderly," released in Oct. 1999, Pope John Paul - then himself 79 years old - said old age is "now no longer considered and lived passively as the expectation of a calamity but rather as a promise-filled approach to the goal of full maturity."
"These are years to be lived with a sense of trusting abandonment into the hands of God, our provident and merciful Father," he said. "It is a time to be used creatively for deepening our spiritual life through more fervent prayer and commitment to the service of our brothers and sisters in charity."
In the Diocese of Lansing, Mich., each summer since 1994, more than 100 people aged 50-90 have gathered for Senior Summer Scripture Days, which bring noted Scripture scholars to town to give older persons the benefit of current scholarship on the Bible.
"Seniors were really hungry for serious Scripture study," said Ellen McKay, director of the Bible camp.
An international Catholic organization of older persons called Ascending Life also is making in-roads in the United States. Founded in 1974 as La Vie Montante, the movement stresses spirituality, friendship and service.
"We want to show retired people that there is no such thing as retirement from the Gospel," said Hugh Clear, U.S. director of Ascending Life who is a part of a Miami chapter with more than 250 members, primarily in their 60s to 80s.
The number of older people in the United States will not be decreasing soon. At the beginning of the 21st century, the 33 million Americans over age 65 made up one-eighth of the population. In comparison, older people numbered only 1 in every 25 Americans at the beginning of the 20th century.
The most rapidly growing group is those over 85 years old, whose numbers grew by 274 percent between 1960 and 1994. By 2050, they are expected to comprise 24 percent of older Americans and 5 percent of all Americans.
By 2030, according to projections by the U.S. Bureau of the Census, about one in five Americans will be over 65. As a group, they are better educated, in better health and more affluent than at any other time in U.S. history.
And each one of them has a contribution to make to society, Catholic leaders insist.
"Our first question should not be `How can a parish serve older people?' but instead `How can a parish receive and fully embrace the gifts of older persons?'" the bishops said in "Blessings of Age."
"Older people bring a wealth of spiritual resources, deep faith, skills, experience and, especially after retirement, time in which to offer them," they said. "Far from draining parish resources, older people are themselves a valuable resource." In his letter Pope John Paul said the elderly "help us to see human affairs with greater wisdom, because life's vicissitudes have brought them knowledge and maturity." "To exclude the elderly is in a sense to deny the past, in which the present is firmly rooted, in the name of a modernity without memory," the pope added. "Precisely because of their mature experience, the elderly are able to offer young people precious advice and guidance.
