“Age is something that comes to us all. It brings its joys and its diminishments but ‘It’s still me!’ This is the critical message in providing care for the elderly by the Catholic community. It enables us to see that behind all the political, economic and social questions of growing old is a human face, a life, a person – a mother, a father, brother or sister who is part of us and has helped to make us who we are. The elderly are not a burden but a gift – without them our lives and our society would be impoverished and diminished. They have a right to our resources and our care.”
(Archbishop Vincent Nicholls, the head of the Catholic Church in England & Wales).
On June 16 I shall celebrate my birthday. I am a “Senior Citizen” in a world in which there is war being waged daily in our communities against Senior Citizens. Elder Abuse is a public health and human rights issue. Yesterday the world marked the 8th Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day aimed at providing an opportunity for communities around the world “to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons by raising awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect”.
