Aging conference unpacks challenges, gifts of old age

Pope Francis greets some elderly people as he arrives at the headquarters of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Sept. 1, 2023. The pope recently announced the theme for World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly 2024: “Do not cast me off in my old age,” a passage from Psalm 71. (OSV News photo)

HOUSTON — Among the many messages and presentations at a recent two-day conference on aging, Monsignor Chester Borski stood tall to echo Pope Francis’ understanding of the importance of listening to the elderly and meeting their spiritual needs.

The Office of Aging Ministry held the conference from Jan. 26 to 27. It drew together ministry and catechetical leaders, as well as families and loved ones of elderly people living in the Archdiocese.

Monsignor Borski shared a personal story about his own mother, who experienced a fall and her subsequent health issues that led to her needing care in a nursing home. The experience drew him deeper into the experience of the elderly and brought to light what the pope has emphasized in his recent catechesis shared in 2022 on the spirituality of old age that expressed the need to value and cherish the elderly.

Monsignor Borski also mentioned the need for the elderly to have meaningful lives, loving relationships, continued learning and growth, gratitude and forgiveness, and preparation for dying and death.

“One of the functions of aging is to become comfortable with who we are instead of mourning who we’re not,” Monsignor Borski said.

Before his retirement in 2018, he said he realized that “one of the beautiful experiences I’ve had personally, not just when I retired, but towards the end of my life, is to recognize my experience of God is sacred and special.”

Only by reaching decades of life experience, did he understand that there were events in his life that astounded him, of how God seemed so close and spoke so clearly to him.

“To treasure your own experience and to know that God has been part of your life and to speak out of that experience is one of the gifts that the elderly can offer to our community,” he said. “Lifelong learning makes a huge difference in the quality of life for the individual and for the community and how they can contribute to the life of the community. In our older years, learning and growth have the possibility to be expansive. Not so much getting new facts, but learning to deal with diversity, learning to integrate what we have experienced in life.”

That learning is what Christine Dunn, former director of religious education at St. Laurence Parish in Sugar Land, is focused on.

“We are [part of the] Church, from the cradle to the grave,” she said. “With a framework of lifelong learning, we need to remember that. There’s a lot of generational divide happening in our larger culture. It’s important for us to understand young people and middle-aged people and old people and realize that we all need each other.”
No matter their age, everyone is called to be a part of, and involved in, a parish where they feel welcomed and loved, she said.

That welcoming can start at Sunday Mass, and doesn’t have to be a grand gesture or exhaustive effort: simply saying hi to someone nearby after Mass, a greeting to recognize them and thank them for being there.

“We see them week after week, but we don’t know their name,” she said, also noting the need to greet or welcome someone who may seem new to the parish or Mass.
“I think people have a deep need for a sense of belonging and to tap into that and just be inviting and encouraging. There’s a place for everybody,” she said.

Throughout her ministry, she recognizes the same need in everyone, especially older Catholics.

“What still keeps me motivated and excited about my ministry is when people see God working in their life and they can articulate that. The more that they see it, the more they look for it,” she said.

To learn more about the Office of Aging Ministry, visit www.archgh.org/aging or call 713-741-8712.

Vatican announces theme for World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has chosen a line from Psalm 71 - “Do not cast me off in my old age” — as the theme for the 2024 celebration of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

In a note announcing the theme for the day, which will be celebrated July 28, the Vatican said the choice was “meant to call attention to the fact that, sadly, loneliness is the bitter lot in life of many elderly persons, so often the victims of the throwaway culture.”

Pope Francis celebrated the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021 and decreed that it be observed each year on the Sunday closest to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents.

As the Catholic Church prepares for the Holy Year 2025, Pope Francis has asked Catholics to focus on prayer, which is why he chose the prayer of an elderly person from the Psalms for the theme, the Vatican said in a statement released Feb. 15.

“By cherishing the charisms of grandparents and the elderly, and the contribution they make to the life of the Church, the World Day seeks to support the efforts of every ecclesial community to forge bonds between the generations and to combat loneliness,” the statement said.

Kevin Cardinal Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, said the theme is a reminder “that, unfortunately, loneliness is a widespread reality, which afflicts many elderly people, often victims of the throwaway culture and considered a burden to society.”

Families and parishes, he said, “are called to be at the forefront in promoting a culture of encounter, to create spaces for sharing, listening, to offer support and affection: thus, the love of Gospel becomes concrete.”

“Our communities, with their tenderness and affectionate attention that does not forget its most fragile members, are called to manifest the love of God, who never abandons anyone,” Cardinal Farrell said.