March 4, 2025 // Bishop

Appreciating the Wisdom of the Elderly

Todays Catholic

On Tuesday, February 25, leaders of Saint Anne Communities – a nonprofit health care and retirement community – hosted the organization’s inaugural fundraising gala at the Parkview Mirro Center in Fort Wayne. Nearly 200 supporters and residents attended the event, including Bishop Rhoades, who gave the evening’s keynote address.

Bishop Rhoades began his speech by talking about the history of Saint Anne’s, which opened near Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne in 1967. In 1960, under the direction of the late Bishop Leo Pursley, the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend conducted a survey on the needs of the elderly in the area. Results of that survey led to the establishment of Saint Anne’s.

Photos by Scott Warden
Bishop Rhoades delivers his keynote address during Saint Anne Communities’ inaugural fundraising gala at the Parkview Mirro Center in Fort Wayne on Tuesday, February 25. Bishop Rhoades spoke about the dignity of the elderly and the importance of their wisdom to the Church and society.

The bulk of Bishop Rhoades’ address, however, expounded on the Church’s teaching on the dignity of the elderly. The following are excerpts from Bishop Rhoades’ speech:

The Church has always taught the primary importance of recognizing and fostering the intrinsic value of persons of all ages. The Church’s attention and commitment to older people are nothing new. We face some particular challenges today in our society and culture regarding a certain negative image of old age, its meaning, and its value. So, we see movements to legalize physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. We strenuously oppose such efforts since we consider life as a gift of God who created us out of love in His image and likeness. We believe in the sacred dignity of every human person. We value the life of an unborn child from the moment of its conception as well as the life of the elderly and infirm. We respect life as something inalienable and sacred. We see the elderly as a gift, not a burden.

Scott Warden
Sister M. Elise Kriss of the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration prays at the Saint Anne Communities gala at the Parkview Mirro Center in Fort Wayne on Tuesday, February 25.

There is a certain marginalization that the elderly may encounter in their lives. This is a relatively recent problem. This takes place when a society glorifies youth over old age, when it values “doing over being” (a utilitarian ethic), when it values individualism over the common good, and when it values independence over interdependence. These factors can lead to the elderly being marginalized, consigned to the fringes of society. The most painful dimension of this marginalization is a lack of human relations. Some elderly people suffer from abandonment, loneliness, and isolation. It is vital that our parishes ensure that their elderly parishioners, especially if they are homebound, do not feel marginalized from the parish. It is also vital that the residents of Saint Anne’s or other elderly care communities do not feel marginalized from the communities from which they come. This is a responsibility of us all. … This is a responsibility of us all. Thankfully, at Saint Anne’s, our residents also make new friends and have the human contacts of the Saint Anne’s community, which provides an atmosphere as close to that of the family as possible. Staff and residents become another community, another family, for them. Still, they should not feel segregated from society. The provision of social and cultural activities, including from outside volunteers, including clubs, choirs, etc., from our Catholic schools is important.

It is important that we all embrace our call and our responsibility to stay close to our older family members, wherever they live. It is a duty of us all to accompany them in their old age. As a teenager, I worked a few summers in a local county nursing home. There I saw a lot of loneliness and sadness, especially among the residents who rarely or never received visits from family members or friends. It was heartbreaking. I found that one of the best services I could do, beyond providing them physical care, would be just to sit down and chat with them, listen to their stories, and show them interest and affection.

Visiting the elderly is a corporal, work of mercy. Sometimes, we may talk about going to visit an elderly relative or neighbor, and even desire to do so, but we don’t get around to finding the time to do so. We need to step back and ask ourselves about our priorities, or better, ask the Lord about what His will is regarding the use of our time. If it really isn’t possible to visit, why not a phone call to an elderly relative every week? Now, I know it’s not always easy to visit elderly relatives or neighbors, for example, if they have lost memory, or maybe some other reason. Yet, it is an act of love, an act of mercy to do so, a sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord (perhaps a Lenten resolution). There’s also the wonderful initiative I see in some of our people who not only visit the elderly but take them to their home parish for Mass, or take them home or out to a restaurant for a meal, or to a concert or cultural event. This may not always be possible due to mobility problems, but, when it is possible, it can be a wonderful experience that brings such joy to an elderly person who may feel marginalized. …

We can think of the wonderful gift of wisdom that many elderly people have in the autumn of their life and that they pass on to the young. Pope St. John Paul II wrote the following in his beautiful letter to the elderly in 1999: “Elderly people help us to see human affairs with greater wisdom, because life’s vicissitudes have brought them knowledge and maturity. They are the guardians of our collective memory, and thus the privileged interpreters of that body of ideas and common values which support and guide life in society. 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. Precisely because of their mature experience, the elderly can offer young people precious advice and guidance.”

The spiritual wisdom and maturity of our elderly is important to the life of the Church, including the domestic church, the family. … Pope Francis has spoken and written a lot about the vocation and mission of grandparents in the family. I see this now as I see the wonderful relationship between my sister and her husband and their grandchildren, especially in helping with their education in the faith. I see the joy of the grandparents and the grandchildren, and what a help this is to the parents!! Four years ago, Pope Francis established the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly to be celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday of July, close to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus. The Holy Father wrote: “How important grandparents are for family life, for passing on the human and religious heritage which is so essential for each and every society! How important it is to have intergenerational exchanges and dialogue, especially within the context of the family.” We need the elderly to transmit the experience and witness of their lives to the young. Our elderly have the beautiful mission to pass on the faith to the young. Of course, this presumes that they are men and women of faith, a faith that has grown and deepened throughout their lives, including through the difficult experiences of life, like grief at the death of loved ones, sickness, sufferings, and other losses. Their faith has experienced trials, yet, if they have persevered, they have matured in faith through those experiences of sharing in the cross of Jesus. …

One of the fundamental principles of Catholic social teaching is solidarity. I’d like to end with a comment on this important principle as it applies to the elderly. The young and the old in our communities of faith are called to be involved with each other. We need to have intergenerational solidarity in the Church and in our society: the young offering companionship to the old, and the old offering wisdom and guidance to the young. We need to cultivate these relationships in our communities. Our unity and solidarity are ultimately centered in Christ and our bond with Him. It is an enrichment for the whole Church when neither the old nor the young are on the margins of the life of the Church but are both in solidarity with each other as God’s children, helping each other to grow in Christ. The Church needs both the young and the old to fulfill its mission. We’re all on the same journey, headed to our ultimate destination. Our older brothers and sisters are further along on that journey and approaching the end of their pilgrimage on earth, the threshold of eternity with God. It is important that we pray for them and that they pray for us. This is the greatest solidarity, the solidarity of prayer rooted in love.

May the Lord bless and watch over all our elderly family members and friends, elderly parishioners, and all the residents of our Saint Anne Communities. And may our Mother and her parents, Sts. Joachim and Anne, intercede for them!