Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
February 28, 2001
Retired seniors impact Church
Seniors not retiring from service, ministry
Tom Rowan is helping promote vocations as vice president of the Serra Club in Washington, D.C. Across the state line in Rockville, Md., Norma Langley heads her parish's program for adults preparing to be received into the Catholic faith. A continent away in Santa Barbara, Calif., Tom Lyons is engaged in prison ministry.
All three are retired and finding in the Catholic Church excellent opportunities to use their new-found leisure time on meaningful activity.
For Langley, retirement has meant she and her husband, Roger, are discovering the church as a community and the Bible as the source of her religion.
``We were pew Catholics before'' retirement, not getting involved in parish life beyond Mass, Langley said. ``We didn't make it part of our social life before. Now we're making up for the lack.''
The Langleys are coordinators of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program at St. Mary Church in Rockville.
Retirement means ``you're no longer on a dead run in your life,'' she said. ``You begin to look at spiritual things.''
Their ``hunger for information about the Bible'' lead them to deeper involvement in church life, said Norma Langley, who retired in 1997 after 20 years as a feature writer at the News America news service.
It started with attending lectures. The trail eventually brought them to a two-year, two-day-a-week Education for Parish Service study program, run by Trinity College in Washington, D.C., that provides academic and pastoral training to those seeking parish leadership roles.
Now, coordination of the RCIA program is a full-time job lasting from October through May, she said.
Lyons is finding that in retirement the church in Santa Barbara is providing outlets for his life-long social activism and commitment to social justice causes.
For 32 years, he worked for Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops' overseas aid agency, in numerous countries in Latin America and the Middle East.
He began prison ministry in Santa Barbara in 1993, shortly after retiring.
``I'm a criminal lawyer,'' said Lyons when asked why he chose the diocesan prison ministry program. Prior to joining CRS, Lyons was a public defender in Oakland, Calif. Besides visiting prisoners in the county jail and seeking better conditions for them, Lyons writes articles and letters to the editor opposing capital punishment.
The former CRS employee is also involved with street people through the diocesan Catholic Charities agency.
``I do interviews and give out slips for clothing. We have food pantries and provide hot lunches,'' he said.
Social justice issues ``are a passion I feel,'' he explained, and his way of avoiding ``the sin of not speaking out.''
He added, though, that it is difficult to jump cold into social activism at retirement if you have not been involved previously.
Rowan, former editor of the Catholic Standard, Washington archdiocesan newspaper, finds that retirement freed him to become a member of Catholic groups he was reluctant to join before, fearing conflict of interest.
He cited the Serra Club, which promotes vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It tried to recruit him during his editing years.
``I was a little apprehensive. Maybe they figured if I was a member or officer they could get preferential treatment in the paper. It was a potential conflict I didn't want to get involved with,'' he said.
Rowan retired in 1991 after 30 years as editor of the Catholic Standard. He joined the Serra Club in 1993. One of his tasks as vice president is to judge the annual archdiocesan essay contest in which sixth graders are asked to write about the influence priests and women religious have had on their lives. The former editor also puts his journalistic talents to work for the John Carroll Society, condensing speeches given to the organization over its 50-year existence for incorporation into the society's official history. Retired Catholics should start with their parish when looking for church groups to fill their new free time, Rowan advised, adding that the diocesan newspaper and the diocesan directory are other sources for potential outlets for service. ``Read the newspaper. Find out what diocesan organizations are doing and if their activities are compatible with what you want to do,'' he said.
