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CENTER SECTION: MULTIGENERATIONAL MINISTRY
Bette lived at St. Dominic Village in independent living located on the same campus as the Galveston-Houston Archdiocesan Office of Aging Ministry. She stopped me one day and said, “I just want to feel useful.” The following week Bette accompanied me to an Advisory Council meeting of our local Area Agency on Aging. Bette was soon invited to serve on the Advisory Council. The following year she was elected to serve as a Texas Silver Haired Legislator and actively promoted the aging agenda to elected Texas officials. Through this position and until her death, she campaigned for a Medicaid benefit for assisted living. All Bette needed was an invitation and an opportunity to use her talents for the benefit of older adults. Jane retired from nursing and thought she would be content at home. Within the year she decided she wanted to find a structured volunteer program where she could use her talents and give back to her community. Jane served as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer for two years, promoting a self-sufficiency program called Family Pathfinders. Jane now works part time as an instructor with St. Dominic Village, providing new employees with proper orientation to the needs of older adults. Our community is better served when we channel the skills and talents of older adults into service and civic engagement. Urabel said yes when we asked if she would be willing to film a public service announcement that would educate the Houston aged and disabled members of the community on proper evacuation during a hurricane. It was “lights, camera, and action” and the piece was to be aired in the summer of 2008. Urabel volunteers in her parish and assists with her parish senior group; she is a weekly volunteer at St. Joseph Hospital and the Dominican Convent. She serves as treasurer for the Central Senior Senate and assists the office with quarterly bulk mailing projects. The Sacred Heart Rosary Guild is a small group of parish women in a rural parish who have been making rosaries for the past several years. Rosaries are distributed through the Office of Aging Ministry to first Communion classes, the Legion of Mary, foreign missions, and even to prisons. To date, the Rosary Guild has made over 200,000 rosaries. As each rosary is being made, it is dedicated in memory of one of their deceased parishioners. Through a community collaborative, the Office of Aging Ministry co-sponsored the publication of an interfaith booklet entitled “The Book of Alzheimer’s for African American Churches.” Senior volunteers shared their stories of caregiving for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease. The book is distributed to African American churches to encourage outreach in pastoral care and active participation in caregiver support for families struggling to care for loved ones. Today’s church would be hard-pressed to continue its services and ministries without the volunteer efforts of it older parishioners: extraordinary ministers, lectors, ushers, greeters, money-counters, lawn and garden volunteers, pantry volunteers, St. Vincent de Paul volunteers, office volunteers, leaders in ministries, religious education teachers and aides, volunteers in community assistance ministries … the list goes on. We are called to share the Christian belief in the value and importance of family life at each stage it is lived. Each of us is called to minister according to the talents and gifts given us by God throughout our life’s journey. The Mission of the Office of Aging of our Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston remains the same today as it was 30 years ago: to recognize the gifts as well as the needs of elders and respond with resources and programs that enhance these later years. Today over 100 parishes in the archdiocese have active senior adult groups; each group is formed based on interests and needs of the local parish seniors and with the support and approval of the pastor. We assist parishes in completing a needs and interest survey to help identify the focus of the group as well as the talents and opportunities that exist within the parish. We often hear experts use the phrase “third age” to indicate a time of retirement that includes retreat from the work world—a time for resting, reading and relaxing. We prefer to look at three stages or ages of our human life cycle as learning, earning, and returning. The “first age” is the age of learning; this is a time for acquiring the knowledge and skills that will serve us in our adult lives. The “second age” is one of earning; we are in the work world earning what we need to care for ourselves and our families. The “third age” is one of returning. This is a gifted time in life when older adults have the opportunity to share with others the gifts, talents, and wisdom gained over a lifetime. It can be a time of self-discovery, a deepening of one’s relationship with God and recognition of the unique ability to pass on a legacy of faith to future generations. The Office of Aging Ministry serves as the resource within the archdiocese providing consultation to and resources for other archdiocesan offices, parishes, families, and senior groups dealing with the issues of aging. We offer training, leadership and support to parishes in the development of senior adult ministry programs that enhance the spiritual, social, and physical well being of elders. The office sponsors leadership and advocacy training and days of prayer and reflection as well as workshops and educational programs on issues affecting the lives of older adults. We are frequently called on to assist with information and referral for services needed by seniors as well as for long-distance caregivers. We co-sponsor an annual day of prayer and reflection for all seniors. As part of this year’s Older Americans’ Month, Auxiliary Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, archdiocesan chancellor, invited seniors from the archdiocese to celebrate the liturgy in our new Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. Through pouring rain, bus after bus stopped in front of the co-cathedral to discharge seniors coming to pray: wheelchairs, walkers, canes, people of all shapes, sizes, and abilities filled the co-cathedral to capacity. More than 1,700 seniors gathered in prayer and song to celebrate grace-filled aging and a true testament to their deep devotion to God. Older adults in our archdiocese are willing and able to give of their time and talent. The challenge is identifying the venues and opportunities to match their talents with needs, encouraging community and parish engagement. Our office is privileged to assist with opening doors to new, life-giving activities essential to staying active and committed in later years. With the very old (age 85+) the fastest growing segment of society, we are certainly faced with pastoral implications to care for our frail homebound elders. None of us knows what the future may hold. At some point many of us will be called to care for an aging or ailing parent. The U.S bishops are cognizant of this ever increasing segment of our parish communities and the unique gifts and challenges that they present. In Blessings of Age: A Pastoral Message of Growing Older within the Faith Community (1999) the U.S. Catholic bishops invite “older persons, their families and their faith communities to help us develop new initiatives that encourage the participation of older persons in society and in the church.” Recognizing the social, economic, and spiritual implications of this rapidly growing age group, the bishops encourage a fresh perspective that embraces the gift of aging.
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“Arriving at an older age is to be considered a privilege: not simple because not everyone has the good fortune to reach this stage in life, but also, and above all, because this period provides real possibilities for better evaluation of the past, for knowing and living more deeply the Paschal Mystery, for becoming an example in the Church for the whole People of God” (Pope John Paul II—Christefideles laici, The Vocation and Mission of the Lay Faithful in the Church and in the World, 1988).
