Life expectancy has risen dramatically in the last two centuries. Trends now show that people are living longer and healthier lives. “People who turn 65 today have a lot of years ahead of them,” Dr. Dorothy Farrar Edwards told those attending the recent Catholic Charities Aging Conference held at the Bishop O’Connor Center.
Tag: living
Moving parents to another city
Q My mother lives in northern Illinois. This is home, where we grew up. My mom is in her late 80s, dad died several years ago. My mother gave up the family home and moved into an apartment and has been doing okay, but recently she has been telling me how she is losing so many of her friends. She feels alone.
I am thinking about asking her to move in with me. My brother and sister live in California and Georgia and I know she would not want to live in either of those states.
I wonder if living with me would help her feel less lonely and help me feel less guilty about not always being there for her. (From a daughter in Wausau).
Christmas prepares us for new beginnings
In John 3:16 it says, “For God so loved the world that God gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but might have eternal life.”
Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote that out of love for us, “The hands that made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle and too tiny to change his own clothes or put food in his mouth. To share God’s love, Jesus experienced infant helplessness.”
Scripture tells us that God created us in his image. Since God is love, we image God best when we love. But sin keeps us from loving.
Expressing gratitude for ordinary saints
November always brings several things to mind. It has traditionally been a time when we pray for those who have gone before us and give thanks for the ordinary saints, living and deceased, who have touched our lives. We also celebrate Thanksgiving, which is supposed to be the favorite holiday of most Americans.
Every time I go to a wake or funeral — and I have been to many lately — and hear the beautiful comments made about the persons who died, I cannot help but wonder how many of those things were said to that person when he or she was alive?
Scouts create living Advent wreath
As his Eagle Scout project, Phillip Fonfara — with the help of Boy Scout Troop 333 — built a living Advent wreath for Sacred Hearts Parish in Sun Prairie.