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"GO AND YOU TOO DO THE SAME"

Pastoral support for the elderly

 

This study deals with the elderly by referring to the parable of the Good Samaritan and the lesson given to us: "Go and you too do the same." The text analyzes, following the course of human history, the evolution of the three essential moments of this parable.

Here is a summary of the analysis of the first moment:

How do we perceive the elderly person who needs help? How is the elder considered throughout history?

In society

In the ancient world, the elderly person was seen as a source of wisdom and a well of memory and culture. In the Old Testament the elders are often the recipients of divine action.

The Renaissance is characterized by a culture of optimism that relies on the cheerfulness of young people and begins to despise old age.

The fundamental value of today's society is productivity. Being is replaced by having it as the foundation of dignity. There is no time to care for the elderly in the family, no time or resources to bring children into the world, the age pyramid is reversed.

But man has an elongated life expectancy thanks to scientific advances.

Governments are not facing the serious problem of this demographic change, which is becoming more critical every day. The elderly person is often isolated, abandoned and without dignity.

Despite this, elders are still key players in the intergenerational transmission of faith and culture.

In the Church

It was in the 21st century, under the pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, that the Church began to consider the elders as a priority.

In his encyclicals St. John Paul II often refers to the situation of the elders:

  • Encyclical Letter "Centesimus Annus» where the Pope recalls the marginalization of the elderly and denounces society of “having it"
  • Encyclical Letter "Familiaris Consortio” where the Pope analyzes the following aspects: Intergenerational transmission, marginalization, family apostolate and the loneliness of the elderly.
  • Apostolic exhortation "Christifideles Laici"   where the Pope addresses the elderly person as the recipient of an apostolic mission.
  • Encyclical "Evangelium Vitae" where the Pope denounces threats against the dignity of the elderly. Dignity as value has been replaced by material efficiency and productivity. Society is beginning to see euthanasia as a means of solving the problem of demography. Nevertheless, the elderly still has the great mission of intergenerational transmission, a mission that he must not abandon.
  • "Letter to the Elderly" This letter deals with the fundamental aspects of the elderly: Wisdom and experience, its evangelizing mission, the place it must occupy naturally in the family and society. The letter deals with the issues of the meaning of life to the end and the search for spiritual maturity.

Benedict XVI also often refers to the situation of the elderly. The following texts mention four passages in which the Pope talks about the elderly:

  • Message to the Crescendo Network in 2005. The Pope welcomes Crescendo's initiatives and he talks about the role of the elderly who is becoming more and more important in the Church and which must be taken into account.
  • In the opening address to the 12th International Conference of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral of Health in 2007, the Pope recalled that the elders have many needs but are also an important source of human and spiritual resources. He enhances the dignity of the person and rejects euthanasia. He advises the family to welcome the elders into their homes with gratitude and love and to offer them the warmth of the family to live the end of their lives.
  • In his 2008 address to the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Pope expresses the desire that the elders find an active role and a living presence in the Church. He criticizes the new models of the family and the relativism of society that have limited the fundamental values of the family.
  • During his visit to the St. Peter de Lambert residence in London in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI stressed the need to recognize as a blessing the growing presence of elders in the Church and to respect the dignity and life of the person regardless of age.

After the edition of the book, Pope Francis, aware of the situation of the elderly, has convened the world congress dedicated to the pastoral of the elderly "The wealth of the years", which has just been held in Rome.

"Ageism"

Mosén Manuel Bajo closes this chapter with an analysis of the phenomenon of "Ageism", a term that comes to mean "gerontophobia or contempt for the elderly".

The elderly person who suffers this disdain often ends up with a sense of self-marginalization that has its origin in three phenomena, analyzed by the author: the feeling of being a burden, geriatric abuse and the limitation of health resources.

The analysis of this first moment of the parable ends with the following dilemma: What to do today?  Caring for the elderly or avoiding it?

 

Review of the study by Mosén Juan Manuel Bajo Llauradó    conducted by Jaime Tamarit

The analysis of the following chapters will be continued in the next newsletters