October 1, World Day of Older Persons

When writing the Shalom article on the Church-based group for the Elderly, I at age 86 on November 1 this year was inspired and touched by the article of my friend the Spanish Dominican theologian Fr. Fausto B. Gomez of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. I was inspired because it deepened my belief in the gift of life. I was touched because it made me say within, Wow! What a beautiful witnessing for the elderly!

But Fr. Gomez does not mention in his article the October 1 celebration recommended by the United Nations in 1982. This is mentioned in another important document in the same issue of Boletin Eclesiastico de Filipinas.

This document is the one issued by the Pontifical Council on the Laity titled the Church on the Older People and its Mission in the World. It contains also a lot of positive UN declarations and activities on behalf of the elderly while it has several important recommendations for the mission of elderly in the Church. In the same issue of Boletin we can read the rich and insightful letter of St. John Paul II to the Older People in the Church.

Those bishops and consecrated persons as well as the mature lay leaders in the Church who desire to promote the Catholic Ascending Life and bolster the World Day for Older People celebration will be greatly helped by these three articles of Fr. Gomez, of the Pontifical Council and of St. John Paul II. Hopefully.