To Combat Social Isolation and Abandonment: Friendship with the Elderly

All are invited to join the Community of Sant'Egidio for their monthly gathering at the Cathedral. The evening begins with night prayer in St. Anthony's Chapel at 6:30pm, followed by reflection and fellowship in the West Conference Room at 7pm. This week’s topic will be the importance of appreciating the elderly through friendship.

To learn more about the Community of Sant’Egidio and their friendship with the elderly, please visit: http://www.santegidio.org/pageID/24/langID/en/The_Aged.html or email santegidiodc@gmail.com. Please read on for more information on this month’s discussion.

“Population ageing is one of the most significant trends of the 21st century. It has important and far-reaching implications for all aspects of society. With one in nine persons in the world aged 60 years or over, projected to increase to one in five by 2050, population ageing is a phenomenon that can no longer be ignored.” (Source: UNFPA report 2012).

Quotes from the Letter of John Paul II to the Elderly, October 1, 1999:

• "A MODERNITY WITHOUT MEMORY" 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.
• "ACCEPTANCE AND APPRECIATION" As the number of older people increases, it will become more and more important to promote a widespread attitude of acceptance and appreciation of the elderly, and not relegate them to the fringes. 

The Community of Sant’Egidio has been present to the elderly since 1972; this friendship has continued faithfully through the years and it has helped them to understand more deeply the ‘elderly world’. Every Sant’Egidio Community from North to South lives out this special love for the elderly; they share their anxiety, their lives and their faith. This experience has been a school of human maturity for the Community.