Population aging is accelerating rapidly worldwide, from 461 million persons older than 65yrs in 2004 to an estimated 2.1 billion by 2050, one 1 in 6 people.
This is most dramatic in low and middle income countries. In many developing societies, there is an erosion of traditional filial piety.
China is feeling the consequences of its policy of one child, who now has four parents needing care.
We are woefully unprepared. Profound changes to family, with children moving away for work and urban apartments not built for elder care, alter the ability of families to assist their elders.
It has created an ethical crisis of care for the aging.
Ageism and attitudes
For many, aging is a medical condition to be treated, not a crucially important time of life.
The high cost of health care fuels ageism and predictions of a “tsunami” of seniors taking health care from the young and middle-aged.
The ‘elderly’ are a diverse population. 90% live independently in the community functioning until a catastrophic event such as a fall or stroke changes everything and requires nursing care.
Move to a facility, with loss of privacy and control, is dreaded by individuals and experienced as a failure of care by family.
Elders in salvation history
Scripture is filled with stories of the remarkable role of elders in salvation history. In their barren old age, Abraham and Sarah learn “nothing is impossible for God” as they bear Isaac, founding the Jewish people.
The elderly Moses leads the Exodus out of oppression in Egypt.
Ruth’s care for mother-in-law Naomi is a witness to intergenerational non-abandonment.
Jesus recognized the vulnerability of seniors when he says to Peter “they will take you where you do not wish to go.” (John 21:15-23).
From the cross, His last act is to ensure John’s care for his widowed mother, Mary. The early Church created deacons to care for widows and orphans.
The power of stories
Narrative gerontology, a field of aging studies, provides the insight that we are story-tellers by nature. Story telling help us create and discover our unique personal identity.
A brief event can take hours to share; a long period can be captured in a word or phrase like “bad times.”
If our life is “a good story” there is resilience and peace.
The way forward
The 2018 Sharing The Wisdom of Time: By Pope Francis and Friends, is a remarkable example of elders around the world sharing their stories.
It helped him develop his challenge to seniors to consider their unique vocation “when fragility takes over.”
Pope Leo XIV’s 5th World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly called for a “revolution of gratitude and care” for the elderly and renewal of intergenerational relationships.
This July 26, 2026 6th Day he addressed the loneliness, and stereotyping of elders.
He too calls us to reframe the narrative of aging and create a new story of their grace and wisdom.
- Nuala Kenny is a Sister of Charity in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a pediatrician. An officer of the Order of Canada since 1999, she has published several books, including Healing the Church (Novalis, 2012) and Rediscovering the Art of Dying (2017). She is co-author of Still Unhealed: Treating the Pathology in the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis (Novalis and Twenty-Third Publications, 2019). She most recently published A Post-Pandemic Church: Prophetic Possibilities (Novalis and Twenty-Third Publications, 2021).