'Day for Life' is the day in our calendar set aside to celebrate life from conception to natural death. In 2022 the focus was on caring for and valuing the elderly.
Sunday, 19 June 2022
Do not cast me off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength is spent.
Psalm 71:9
The COVID pandemic highlighted the desperate plight of many older people, especially those in care homes and those struggling with long-term chronic conditions such as dementia.
They carried the highest burden which included prolonged isolation, the distress for families being unable to visit, delayed medical interventions and tragic, isolated, deaths followed by shortened, minimal, funeral rites. Many family members and friends continue to bear the wound of deep grief which hurts and is still in need of healing.
Read the message from our Lead Bishop for Life Issues, the Right Reverend John Sherrington.
Make secure online donations to support Day for Life projects – upholding the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death.
In 2022, over a number of weeks, Pope Francis used his weekly Wednesday audience to offer in-depth catechesis on old age. There are many pearls of wisdom in this series including this one:
The little ones learn the power of tenderness and respect for frailty: irreplaceable lessons that are easier to impart and receive with grandparents. For their part, grandparents learn that tenderness and frailty are not solely signs of decline: for young people, they are conditions that humanise the future.
Pope Francis, Catechesis on Old Age
Pope Francis has sent a message to our Lead Bishop for Day for Life, Bishop John Sherrington, offering his support and prayers for those celebrating the day on Sunday, 19 June 2022.
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.
Here you will find a prayer for the elderly and some suggested bidding prayers to help offer to God our intentions for Day for Life 2022.
The Church teaches that life should be protected and nurtured from conception to natural death. Please support this vital work in any way you feel able.
Clifton priest Canon Christopher Whitehead gives a commentary on the lives of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, Christ's grandparents, from the frescoes of Taddeo Gaddi painted in the Franciscan church of Santa Croce in the beautiful city of Florence in Italy.
