By Father Charles Fuld
I was truly amazed by the number of people who attended the Easter morning Mass that I celebrated at St. Gabriel Church in Poway. The place was packed! It was “standing-room-only,” both inside and out.
After the Mass concluded, I had an opportunity to chat with some of the people who had flown in from Florida and New York or driven in from distant towns to be there with Mom and Dad and/or Grandma and Grandpa.
When I brought this up at my Priest Support Group meeting a few days later, I was delighted to find that our situation at St. Gabriel Church was not unique. There were goodly crowds, including out-of-towners, at my brother priests’ churches, too.
There’s a message here for Catholics of advanced age.
In today’s world, there’s a strong temptation to shirk our religious obligations, to sleep in on Sundays, and to prioritize the things of this world over the things of the next, to accumulate useless trinkets instead of storing up treasure in Heaven.
But through the example that they set and the encouragement that they give, seniors can be a counterweight to this downward pull. Seniors, you can be the instrument that God uses to keep your loved ones within the Church as practicing Catholics.
When I recall the high turnout on Easter Sunday, I give a lot of credit to the seniors in attendance. Had it not been for them, for the witness they gave to the importance of attending Mass, and the invitation that they personally extended to their loved ones, it’s quite possible that some of the youngsters wouldn’t have “bothered” to attend. And they would’ve missed out on everything that our loving God has to offer on Easter Sunday and on all of the mini-Easters (a.k.a., every other Sunday) of the year.
A while ago, an elderly widow told me that she decided that she was too old to live alone and planned to move out of the area to live with one of her kids and his family.
When she shared that they weren’t regular church-goers anymore, I noted that this could be an opportunity to lead them back. I suggested that she could begin by asking them to provide her with transportation to the nearby Catholic church on Sundays and holy days of obligation. Hopefully, she did that and made those days special for her new housemates.
One final point: Now that I’m 90-plus years old, I’ve decided that I can no longer drive safely and have turned in my California Driver’s License to the local DMV office. And yes, I have turned to my family members to drive me to St. Gabriel Church, so I can celebrate Mass on Sundays. I also have been offered rides by lots of friends and church people, including the Knights of Columbus.
I’ve learned to be humble and very grateful for all their help. They value what I do and seem always ready to lend me a hand. Sure, I can say, “I’m old and don’t want to be a burden on my family and friends,” but the truth is that we can chart the course, and there are those who will lovingly help us along the way.
Father Charles “Chuck” Fuld is editor emeritus of The Southern Cross.
