August 26, 2009

Course offers new vision of aging

By Carol Sullivan

A 22-week course grounded in a spiritual vision of growing older is being offered this fall through Most Precious Blood Parish’s Wisdom Center.

The course is led by Marycrest Franciscan Sister Macrina Scott, founder and director of the Wisdom Center. Wisdom Center offers programs in spirituality for the second half of life to elders.

Participants aged 55 and over may attend the Spiritual Eldering course at either Most Precious Blood Parish in Denver or at Queen of Peace Parish in Aurora. 

Former students say the ongoing spiritual impact of the experience can be profound. Carol Eyerman took the course shortly after she retired from teaching at Most Precious Blood School.

“An important insight I received was that now is the time for elders to begin a transformation of self,” Eyerman said. “This transformation process, enabled by the time we now have, can lead to a more spiritual, healthy and positive approach to life and new energy to serve others.”

Focusing on an approach developed by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, author of the book “From Age-ing to Sage-ing,” participants are guided “in harvesting the rich experience of our lives,” according to Sister Scott, who founded Denver’s Catholic Biblical School.

Spiritual eldering, Sister Scott said, helps “make us complete and free to serve our world as wise elders.”

Course graduate Nora Jacquez, a retired attorney, found herself “evolving from a rote learner to someone who really began to understand what it means to have the gift of faith.” 

“My sense of gratitude for my life has become an integral part of me,” Jacquez said. “I believe that this gratitude helps me be more aware and compassionate of others.”

Retired adult educator Fred Eyerman, Carol’s husband, said the course “helped me realize how out of sync our culture’s approach is to aging.”

He added that American culture tends to warehouse seniors or seclude them in specific communities. In our youth-driven society, he said, seniors are often looked at as having little value. When he looks at seniors today, however, Fred Eyerman said he sees “the vast potential for personal and societal growth that will result when we look again at our seniors as the wisdom figures in the community.” 

lasses meet weekly from 9:30-11:30 a.m. Tuesdays starting Sept. 29 at Queen of Peace in Aurora, or Thursdays starting Oct. 1 at MPB. Fee is $220, with a $50 discount for members of the two parishes where the classes are to be held. Scholarships and payment plans are available.

Carol Sullivan, PhD., is a parishioner of Most Precious Blood Church who completed the Spiritual Eldering course.