Day for Life is the day in the Church’s year dedicated to raising awareness about the meaning and value of human life at every stage and in every condition.
The Church teaches that life is to be nurtured from conception to natural death. This year’s Day for Life is celebrated on 5 June in our Archdiocese.
Caring for the Older Person
The focus of the Day for Life this year is to support and protect people at the end of life.
“We invite people to think again about the value and worth of older persons in families, in society, and to make practical choices to build bridges between the generations.” - Rt Revd John Sherrington, UK Bishop for Life Issues
Pope’s Catechesis
Pope Francis has recently offered a very different and more positive perspective. In his Catechesis on Old Age, he writes:
“The alliance between generations, which restores all ages of life to the human, is our lost gift and we have to get it back. It must be found, in this throwaway culture and in the culture of productivity.”
Providing accessible palliative care
We invite people to think again about the value and worth of older persons in families, in society, and to make practical choices to build bridges between the generations. We call for people and parishes to devote quality time, energy and creativity in caring for the older persons in our communities.
We invite engagement in political debate on providing adequately resourced care of the older person so that no-one feels like a burden in our society.
We challenge our politicians and healthcare system to provide accessible palliative care for all the dying.
We encourage people to learn from a closer accompaniment of the elderly that there is a real richness in the journey through old age, which offers a deeper meaning and a new rhythm to the whole of life; something which can be celebrated and lived with hope in eternal life.
St. Joachim and St Anne, grandparents of Jesus, pray for us.
A special Day for Life collection will be taken in parishes on 5 June or donate direct: https://bit.ly/archdayforlife
Find out the work of the Archdiocesan Pro-Life Office from Paul Atkin: prolife@staned.org.uk or 0131 623 8917. The above article is an abridged version of this Day for Life article.